32: Even on good days, Kai's pretty sure he's too young to be a father. There's a baby in Minseok's belly though, so in 9 months the hapless husband becomes a dad, whether he's ready or not. Pairing!XiuKai, Warning!Mpreg, Domestic!Fluff, Sliceoflife!AU, TimeLapse!AU

Trimester: 1/3; Month: 1

(The baby begins...Early signs of pregnancy include fatigue, feeling bloated, frequent urination, mood swings, and nausea.)

Jongin had joked to his older brother that he and his husband were really enjoying "baby making" recently. Kris was disturbed by the thought of a ually active younger sibling—even though Jongin and Minseok had been married for nearly four years—and Jongin had no idea that he was essentially speaking his and Minseok's first child into existence. They didn't realize it at first, of course, but Minseok was already pregnant by the time this phone conversation between the brothers happened.

A few days later, Minseok rushed into their master bedroom in a complete panic; he was waving a pregnancy test around like it was the wand to his Harry Potter, and his glare, though adorable, was kind of freaking his husband out.

"Minnie, baby," Jongin started, unable yet to see what Minseok held in his hand, and trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

Before he could finish, though, Minseok collapsed onto their bed with a sudden sob. "Don't baby me!" He declared in exasperation. "Baby the baby!"

Jongin, at first, didn't understand. All he knew was that his husband looked near tears; that, in itself, was never a good sign. "Whose baby?"

"Ours!" Minseok declared, sounding exasperated as he sat up abruptly and flung his hand out so that Jongin could read the positive results of the test. "We're having a baby," he cooed in excitement, his mood shifting unexpectedly from desperate to ecstatic in a matter of seconds.

"A baby?" Jongin couldn't believe it. "A real, live baby? You and me?"

This time it was Jongin who fell back onto the bed in shock. His husband chuckled good naturedly before disappearing into the bathroom to dispose of the test and wash his hands. When Minseok returned, he climbed onto his side of their bed and snuggled into Jongin's chest with a contented sigh.

"We're having a baby," Jongin repeated, sounding awed as he wrapped his arms around Minseok securely and kissed his husband's forehead. The younger expected some sort of response—a nod or hummed agreement, maybe—but when Jongin looked down into his husband's face, he realized that Minseok had fallen asleep almost as soon as he'd gotten comfortable in their cuddle. Jongin tried not to worry yet about what kind of father he would be, instead choosing to marvel in the miracle of the tiny life he and Minseok had created together, before closing his eyes too and joining Minseok for a nap.

Trimester: 1/3; Month: 2

(The baby's heart begins to beat...A pregnant body at this stage produces extra blood during and the heart beats faster because of it—this is sometimes evidenced by increased libido.)

After the first appointment revealed that 1) Minseok really was pregnant, and 2) there was some family history of birth complications on Jongin's side, Jongin had insisted Minseok visit the doctor every two weeks or so, just in case. Though Jongin was an SM choreographer with pretty traditional 9-5 days, Minseok was a potter who worked from home and had flexible hours; as such, he was usually alone during these appointments, or else with Yixing, who was both Minseok's Chinese cousin and best friend, and was always disturbed when people assumed he was the baby's father.

It was at one of these appointments that the doctor explained the usual progress of a baby's growth during this stage in the pregnancy. Minseok knew how much his husband wanted to be there every step of the way, so it was with great pleasure that he met Jongin at their front door with a hug and a welcome home kiss before exclaiming excitedly, "The baby has a heartbeat!"

Jongin just sort of gaped in shock. "Already?" When Minseok confirmed with a nodding grin, Jongin added, "That's amazing! Our kid's a champ."

Minseok laughed and slapped his hand against Jongin's broad chest. He meant to correct his husband and inform Jongin that almost all babies developed a heartbeat around that time, but the feel of firmly rippling muscles under his hand made Minseok shiver suddenly. His countenance changed in an instant—from cheerfully informative to hungrily aroused—and Jongin almost wasn't ready for the sudden grip on his shirt that pulled him closer so that Minseok could press his lips against Jongin's own.

"But the baby!" Jongin spluttered after a long moment during which time he'd temporarily forgotten Minseok's pregnant state under the delicious influence of matrimonial intimacy. He tried to make up for his lack of physical resolve by pulling away from his husband and suggesting tentatively, "I'm not sure we should be doing this, Minnie. We wouldn't want to hurt the baby."

Minseok literally growled, looking like a young tiger about to pounce when he wrapped his arms around his husband's neck and yanked Jongin down to once again bring their lips together. "Are you suggesting," he asked huskily, "that we remain mutually celibate for the entirety of my pregnancy?"

Jongin appeared to consider this, seeming pained by the suggestion, but then becoming firmly resolved. "If we have to," he agreed slowly.

"It's like you want me to leave you," Minseok muttered with a glare. "The doctor told me and Xing that increased ual libido is completely natural at this point." He stuck his husband with a pointed look as he his lips, pulled Jongin close again, and continued. "And I'm so right now that if you can't—won't—satisfy me, I feel desperate enough that I might turn elsewhere."

Wow.

Jongin had been trying to do his research about this whole process, but he, like most overly nervous fathers-to-be, assumed any and all ual activity was off limits. Never would he have imagined Minseok like this, either; though Jongin could admit that aggressive Minseok was pretty attractive, particularly since his personality changes stemmed from the fact that he was carrying Jongin's child.

Still, Jongin felt compelled to make absolutely sure. "You're positive?" He asked his husband gingerly, not wanting to be snapped at for being extra-protective.

When Minseok nodded and winked a promise of fun things to come, Jongin's grin matched his husband's almost exactly. It wasn't until they were in the bedroom and already half undressed that an unpleasant thought occurred to Jongin.

"But Minnie," he hesitated aloud suddenly, trying and failing to resist the sight of his husband's slightly swollen lips and flushed cheeks. "I don't want to have in front of the baby!"

Minseok growled, again, and came up behind his husband to give Jongin a tight back hug. The elder's lips caressed the sensitive spot of Jongin's nape, and Minseok whispered almost threateningly, "I love you, Kim Jongin, but if you don't stop freaking out about this," he paused and his breath was hot against Jongin's neck, "I don't even know what I'll do."

Jongin shuddered when Minseok followed up his words with a few nips across the skin of Jongin's shoulders. As he flipped himself around to embrace his husband's waist tightly, Jongin rationalized that the baby should know his parents loved each other, and he literally said, "Oh, what the hell," before pulling Minseok's bare chest even closer against his own for better access when Jongin brought their mouths together once more.

Trimester: 1/3; Month: 3

(The baby begins to make spontaneous movement...Most early pregnancy loss—miscarriage—happens in the first trimester.)

"Jong?" Minseok rolled over in bed one Saturday morning to face his husband with sleepy good morning kiss. He grabbed Jongin's hand, removing it from where it was tossed across Minseok's back and placing it over Minseok's belly. "Do you feel anything?"

Jongin paused in concentration for a moment before shaking his head slowly. "No," he admitted. "Am I supposed to?"

Minseok rolled his eyes and muttered accusingly, "Do you even read the pregnancy books Tao buys for you?" Tao was Kris' husband, and he'd taken to buying informational texts for Minseok and Jongin because he hoped that when he eventually got pregnant himself, the two would return the favor in the form of Gucci kids clothes and shoes.

"Well," Jongin was affronted that Minseok didn't realize the amount of time Jongin spent pouring over those very books, "do you?"

Countering haughtily that he didn't need to because the doctor told him everything he might need to know, Minseok proclaimed, "Dr. Kim said the baby starts moving around this time, but I don't feel anything." He bit his lip and Jongin suddenly realized that his husband was worried.

"What's really the matter, Minnie?" He inquired of his husband gently, slowly rubbing soothing circles into Minseok's stomach as he spoke.

"He also told me that most miscarriages happen around this time, too." Minseok's voice sounded small and afraid, and Jongin knew without needing to look that his husband was close to tears. "So then I woke up this morning and felt nothing even though the baby's supposed to be moving, and I just had this horrible thought, you know? What if it's because there's nothing to feel?" This all came out in a shaky rush that had Jongin whispering comfortingly sweet nothings into Minseok's hair and brushing soft kisses onto all the contours of Minseok's frowning face.

"I do read, actually," Jongin defended quietly. "And you know what I read the other day, love?"

Minseok shook his head and sniffled into Jongin's shoulder. "Just because the baby is moving doesn't mean that our son or daughter is big enough yet for you to actually feel it, alright? What you're experiencing is perfectly natural, Min-ah," Jongin concluded with a brief press of his lips to Minseok's.

The kiss was less sensual than comfortable, and it was Jongin's way of saying "I'm sorry that most of the time I'm not much help to you in this, but I'm here and I love you." It was true that Jongin was quite hopeless when it came to supporting Minseok through the pregnancy, but he was doing his best and in that moment, at least, that's exactly what Jongin's husband needed.

Trimester: 2/3; Month: 4

(The of the baby can sometimes be determined through ultrasound...Those experiencing first time pregnancy usually begin to show.)

Minseok and his cousin had seen the doctor so many times that by the beginning of the second trimester, Yixing and Dr. Kim had been on more dates that Jongin had been to appointments. For once, though, Jongin had a day off, and since Dr. Kim promised an exciting surprise the next time Minseok came in, the (also) Kim couple made sure to get an appointment when Jongin was free.

"It's the elusive dancer husband!" Dr. Kim Junmyeon said in greeting as Minseok and Jongin walked into the ultrasound room and Dr. Kim shook Jongin's hand. "It's good to meet you," Dr. Kim added. "Your husband is always singing your praises."

That was sort of funny to Jongin since it seemed to him recently that Minseok's only words were "Dr. Jun this" and "Dr. Jun that." This had become especially true following Dr. Kim and Yixing's successful series of dates, so Jongin was happy to meet the man he'd heard so much about, and admitted this to his husband's doctor with a warm smile.

"It's good," Dr. Kim began, "that you're here today, Jongin." He turned to his patient, instructing Minseok to get onto the examination table, and warning, like he always did, that the gel would probably be cold.

Jongin watched with wide-eyed wonder as he gripped his husband's hand and listened to the doctor's words intently. Minseok was doing great, apparently, and everything looked very normal; as for the promised surprise, Dr. Kim looked between the two husbands with an eager grin and asked in excitement, "Do you want to know what it is?"

Jongin was unimpressed. "It's a baby," he deadpanned, wondering why he paid so much in medical bills to be told something he already knew.

"That's not what he meant, Jong," Minseok barked out in laughter. He loved his husband dearly, but sometimes the younger Kim was a little slow on the uptake. "He's talking about gender," Minseok turned to the doctor with barely concealed anticipation, "right?"

"Exactly!" Dr. Kim cheered loudly; this was always one of his favorite parts—catching the amazement on the soon-to-be parents' faces was definitely a highlight of Junmyeon's job.

Minseok and his husband were indeed awed to discover that they were having a baby boy, and Jongin was happy to tell absolutely anyone who would listen as he and Minseok made their way out of the hospital.

That night, Minseok stood shirtless in front of their floor-length closet mirror and cupped his hands in measurement against his belly. He was trying to imagine how big or small their son was so far; instead, he made a heartwarming discovery and called Jongin into the room with a shrieked "Nam pyun!"

Jongin, who, like always, assumed the worst, came rushing in to find his husband crying. The smile on Minseok's face proved that his were happy tears, though, and it was with quietly asive joy that Minseok turned to the side and confessed, "I'm showing, yoebo. Look!" He covered his belly with Jongin's warm hands and added, "We can finally begin to see him."

Jongin's voice was barely a whisper as he adoringly caught Minseok's gaze. "Our son."

Trimester: 2/3; Month: 5

(It is usually possible to feel fetal movements for the first time during the fifth month...It may feel like flutters or butterflies.)

Jongin came in one afternoon from the studio with his clothes soaked in sweat, his hair plastered to his forehead, and his odor strong enough to make Minseok nauseous.

"You're gross," he greeted his husband, glancing up from where he sat watching Oprah on the living room couch.

Once Jongin might have responded with a sarcastic "Speak for yourself," but his husband was a little more emotionally sensitive lately and Jongin was sometimes thoughtless, but not completely stupid. Instead he just rolled his eyes with a lovingly smile and blew Minseok a kiss before going to take a shower.

When he emerged 20 minutes or so later, the sight of him absolutely took Minseok's breath away. Minseok's husband was indeed beautiful, and their child would be lucky to look like his dad. He felt a funny sort of fluttering in his belly and admitted to Jongin sweetly, "It's been four years and you still give me butterflies."

Jongin stepped forward to join his husband on the couch. "I love you too, Minnie," he replied as he leaned close and kissed Minseok leisurely. When the two men separated, they moved together so that Minseok's back could rest against Jongin's chest and Jongin's arms could wrap securely around his husband so that his hands rested on the baby in Minseok's belly.

He started, suddenly, at a small movement against his settled hands, and yelped in excitement. "Minnie! It's not me; it's the baby!"

Minseok was confused and had been in the middle of falling asleep, so he was now also a little grumpy when he asked, "What the hell are you talking about, Jong?"

"The butterflies I gave you weren't really from me. It's our son!" Jongin was almost vibrating from his enthusiasm, and once Minseok caught up, he was too.

"The baby's kicking?" He almost couldn't believe it and his hands flew to land curiously against his own abdomen. "Is he really?"

At first, nothing. But then there it was: a slight nudge, a small kick, a quickening. Minseok had known to expect it soon, but he hadn't been ready for the surge of love that flooded through him.

"This is really happening," he murmured to himself. "We're really having a baby."

Jongin's smile was blinding as he returned himself and his husband to their earlier position, and went back to Oprah. "It really is," he whispered with his lips pressed against Minseok's temple. "It really is."

Trimester: 2/3; Month: 6

(Eyebrows and eyelashes usually develop...Some pregnant bodies experience Braxton-Hicks contractions which feel like a painless squeezing of the uterus or abdomen.)

Jongin sometimes admitted to hoping their son would be pale like Minseok because he didn't want the teasing he'd experienced as a kid to carry over to his familial next generation. In Minseok's opinion, though, Jongin's tanned skin was striking and unique, and secretly Minseok hoped their son would inherit most of his husband's looks instead of his own.

Minseok didn't really see himself as especially good-looking, maybe just okay and sort of cute, on a good day. Jongin, though, had it all going for him; so when Minseok learned from Dr. Kim that the baby was currently growing eyelashes, he couldn't help hoping their child would get Jongin's.

"That's one of the first things I noticed about you, you know," Minseok commented lazily as he and Jongin huddled together, eating hot dukbokki and drinking tea against the December cold. "You looked at me through those long lashes and I was a goner. You were it for me; I just knew."

Jongin smiled and mentioned that Minseok's were pretty too. His husband blushed lightly and smiled before adding with a playful lilt, "Apparently he's growing eyebrows now too."

His own eyebrows raised, Jongin contemplated Minseok's words for a moment and then laughed abruptly. "I bet you're glad you married me and not Kris-hyung, huh?" Minseok nodded with a knowing grin and Jongin said, "Poor Tao doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. Their kids are going to have panda dark circles with angry brows to match!"

He obviously thought he was hilarious because Jongin was laughing heartily to himself when Minseok suddenly clutched his belly and doubled over, a look of total anguish blowing sharply across his face. Jongin, not knowing what was happening and not knowing how to help, was understandably panicked by the whole thing and sat stock still, his hands hovering close to his husband but not actually touching him.

Minseok, surprisingly, sat up as abruptly as he'd leaned forward and began consuming his street food with renewed fervor like nothing was wrong. His husband still gaping, though, Minseok just sort of smiled sadly and explained, "It's called Braxton-hicks and Dr. Jin says it's pretty common actually."

Commonality didn't make Jongin feel any better. "Does it hurt?" He asked in concern. "Is the baby alright?"

"It's not physically painful," Minseok reassured his worried husband with a kiss to the cheek and a hand on top of Jongin's own. "It's just my body sort of practicing—for labor, you know?"

Jongin nodded, even though he didn't really understand what Minseok was experiencing, and chewed his snack thoughtfully before wondering, "Not physically?"

Minseok nodded, too. "It's just a strange kind of pressure, like our son's being squeezed. And every time it happens, my body's fine but my heart feels like it's suffocating."

That, Jongin understood. "Like you logically know that everything's fine, but your instincts can't help feeling nervous?" At Minseok's amazed reaction—Jongin couldn't know because he'd never been pregnant himself, and yet somehow he did anyway—Jongin admitted sheepishly, "I feel that way about you and the baby all the time, actually."

Minseok's mouth made a surprised, but comprehending, 'O' before he turned to face his husband a little more directly. "You never told me this."

"I try not to bother you with stuff like this." Jongin's confession was pained, like he felt badly for saying anything about it in the first place. "I know that you're going through a lot of strain with this pregnancy, and you don't need my added worries to make things heavier on you."

Minseok shook his head and took one last bite of dukbokki before reaching to cup his younger husband's face. "I love you, Jong," he shared adoringly, "And that's incredibly sweet of you, really."

"But?" Jongin asked.

"But," Minseok confirmed feelingly, "You're my husband, and you're as much this baby's father as I am. I want you to be able to share you fears because for all you know, they might be mine too, alright?"

"Okay," Jongin agreed almost instantly. He leaned his face into the soothingly rhythmic brush of Minseok's thumb against his cheek and added, too, "And I love you."

Trimester: 3/3; Month: 7

(The baby develops more and more fat...Back pain is common.)

"I refuse," Minseok maintained in extreme aggravation. "I'm not going back."

Jongin had gotten a call earlier that day from Yixing, asking him to talk some sense into his husband because Minseok declared he was never going to another appointment with Dr. Kim ever again.

"He called our Sehunnie fat, Jongin!" Minseok was offended, especially since their son had had a name for all of two days before Dr. Kim had informed Minseok that "At this point, Sehun is basically done forming and is only getting fatter."

By that, of course, the doctor had meant that Jongin and Minseok's baby was gaining literal fat as he continued to grow. Practically speaking, Minseok knew the importance of this stage of his son's development, and he also knew that a little weight, in the grand scheme of things when most babies were born between 6 pounds and 10, was probably a good thing. Something about his doctor's expression of the fact was grating, though, and Minseok was done.

To make matters worse, Minseok himself had been feeling fatter recently, so he was highly conscious of any adjectives that related to additional body weight. Topping it all off was his back pain, which Jongin tried to relieve by helping his now very pregnant husband with morning stretches, but remained persistent all the same.

"But you love Dr. Jun!" Jongin was having a hard time staying patient and holding back his exasperation; recently, Minseok's mood swings were giving Jongin backlash. "And Sehunnie does too!"

Minseok looked skeptical, so Jongin reminded his husband that their son always kicked happily at the sound of the doctor's voice. "You've got to go back for the baby's sake, love."

Though his older husband harrumphed and crossed his arms defiantly with a pronounced pout, Jongin knew he'd won that argument when Minseok's eyes flashed down to his hands resting on his belly. No matter how upset or angry or annoyed his husband got with Jongin, with Dr. Kim, with the world, they both knew that Minseok would do anything for the baby inside him. Absolutely anything.

Trimester: 3/3; Month: 8

(Pregnant bodies often start feeling tired; hormones may make hair appear fuller and healthier.)

Minseok hadn't had a haircut in months, mostly because the smell of hair salons made him sick and he didn't think he could handle the tears that would surely come when the barber's scissors cut the split ends away.

"It's not their fault that they're dead," he cried to Jongin once, sometime around his seventh month.

Since then, though, he'd begun looking a little shaggy, and a glance in the bathroom mirror one morning strengthened Minseok's resolve that the long hair absolutely had to go.

"No more," Minseok declared grimly in the car, his husband's hand grasped tightly in his own as Jongin drove them to the salon.

When Minseok emerged an hour later with freshly washed, cut, and dried hair, he also had a newly red tint that Jongin complimented dutifully. Internally he was wondering if maybe his husband's hormones were messing with more than just the baby.

As if reading his husband's mind, Minseok informed Jongin cheerfully, "Apparently when you're pregnant your hair gets thicker." He ran his hands through his dyed hair in excitement. "It looks great, don't you think?"

Jongin couldn't lie and say he loved the red like Minseok clearly did, but he did appreciate the added lushness that Minseok's locks had acquired recently, and that was enough to elicit a hum of agreement. "You look beautiful," Jongin admitted genuinely, because that, at least, remained unerringly true.

Minseok disagreed vehemently, pointing specifically to his slightly pudgier cheeks and the dark circles he'd acquired from now chronic insomniac he was always tired but couldn't ever seem to sleep, and frankly, it was horrible.

Jongin, though, just shook his head with equal vehemence. "Stop," he ordered his still rambling husband. "Stop being self-deprecating like that. If I didn't think you looked beautiful, then I wouldn't tell you you did."

Minseok blushed and smiled gratefully when Jongin added thoughtfully after pulling the car to a stop at a red light and taking the opportunity for an appreciatively long look at his husband. "And you always do."

Trimester: 3/3; Month: 9

(The growing fetus places more and more strain on a pregnant person's body...Common pregnancy symptoms continue through the end of pregnancy.)

Both Kim's were so done with this whole pregnancy thing. Dr. Jun claimed that Minseok's was surprisingly easy, as pregnancies go, but the man wasn't sure he really agreed, especially since he'd started feeling more and more like death the closer they got to the due date. Jongin had none of the physical strain of being pregnant like his husband did, but at this point he certainly felt just as exhausted

It took a lot out of him, honestly; the constant worry alone was enough to warrant a weekly mental health day, three weeks in a row. March was horribly damp and cold that year, too, and when both Jongin and Minseok came down with a cold, their misery was essentially complete.

"This is the worst." Minseok's complaint was stuffy because he couldn't quite breathe through his nose as he stood over the stove, occasionally stirring the canned chicken noodle soup.

Jongin made a pathetic noise of agreement and mumbled a question. "Is this what it's like for you everyday?" He asked in hazy amazement; nine months was a long time, and he certainly wouldn't have made it if this is what it felt like to be pregnant.

Minseok nodded slowly—moving too drastically hurt his head. "The body aches, you mean?" Jongin groaned in confirmation and Minseok nodded slowly again. "Yeah. Except add nausea and cravings and feeling constantly huge, and that's essentially pregnancy."

He was too sick and too tired to recall the amazement and awe he'd felt for the first six months or so; at this point, with Sehun due to arrive at any time, Minseok was also too concerned with getting everything prepared to remember the blissful time back when his and Jongin's biggest hassle had been picking a name.

Neither of them knew, of course, that the labor pains Minseok would experience in a few short weeks were going to be much more painful and exhausting than having a cold, even at full term like Minseok. Jongin didn't know that he'd soon go home with a baby, but also a hand cast from the strength of Minseok's grip, just like Minseok didn't know that sleep would be elusive for at least another few months. They were ready, but at the same time they weren't; and, at the very least, as Jongin set the soup onto the center of the table so he and Minseok could consume their meal directly out of the pot, even if they were more prepared for being parents than they realized, it certainly didn't feel that way.

Month: 10

(The baby is born around this time.)

Sehun was born on an early morning in early spring. He was dark for an Asian, like his father, and absolutely adorable, like his other father; his eight was exactly 6 pounds; and his birth coincided with the date of Dr. Kim Junmyeon's happily accepted proposal to Yixing.

Jongin didn't know how he was going to handle being a father; he's barely made it through nine months of pregnancy. Through it all, though, Jongin had Minseok, and that was all the encouragement Jongin needed.

They dutifully recorded Sehun's homecoming in pictures posted to SNS with gushing captions details the perfection of their little family's newest edition. Real life, then, as so often happens after a huge, life changing occurrence, began where it left off; always with things basically the same except slightly altered, slightly different, and slightly better, too.

Disclaimer: I've never written mpreg in my life so basically I had no idea what I was doing. But I did say I would write any prompt that was not , so please comment and let me know your thoughts on this requested experiment!