Mark was sick of being pregnant and he was only just over halfway there. He’d thought the morning sickness had been bad and it had been, there had been days when he hadn’t wanted to move from the couch because just moving had him wanting to throw up. But that had gotten better over time and now it hardly bothered him at all. The taste of mushrooms still made him feel slightly sick but he could deal with that, he just had to avoid them. The problem he was currently having though wasn’t going to get better any time soon. In fact it was just going to get worse.

He was showing now. And that was fine, he’d been expecting it to happen sooner or later. He felt a little self-conscious about the fact most of clothes no longer fit him properly but mostly he felt relieved. The bump under his shirt was proof that there was a baby in there, something he’d been having a hard time getting his head around. The morning sickness had been proof of a sort but it wasn’t quite the same thing as being able to look down and see the evidence. So the fact his stomach was getting rounder wasn’t all bad. But that didn’t mean it was all good either.

No one he’d spoken to had told him being pregnant would be a walk in the park. He’d had plenty of people tell him it could be painful at times or uncomfortable. But no one had described it as being incredibly annoying and he wanted to know why. Because if you discounted the relief that having a visible reminder that his baby was growing as it should be gave him, that’s all that having a bump was to him, an annoyance.

Firstly because he’d always preferred sitting on the floor when he was watching TV to sitting on the couch but now he had to think twice before doing so. He could still get up without help but he had to put some thought into the process. Occasionally he’d attempt to spring to his feet like he used to and this never ended well. Toppling back onto the floor with a bump when all you’d wanted to do was get up and grab the remote was kind of embarrassing and more than a little frustrating.

It was almost as frustrating as no longer being able to sleep on his front. He hadn’t realised that was something he did until he could no longer do it. But apparently it was because now whenever he tried to get to sleep he’d inevitably want to roll over. Then he’d spend far too long cursing the fact that he couldn’t before eventually falling asleep.

Another thing he wasn’t a big fan of was the behaviour it brought out in s. He’d thought Jinyoung would be the one to start acting overprotective, it was his baby after all. And he had started offering to do things that he was perfectly capable of doing himself,  that was true. If Mark said he could manage though Jinyoung would normally listen. Jaebum however was a different story. He wouldn’t even let him watch while he was cooking anymore, never mind let him cook. He didn’t want him to be on his feet too much, that's what he'd said when Mark had complained. He'd told him that this was ridiculous, he wasn’t even that big yet but Jaebum had ignored him. And when he’d tried to argue that he was older than Jaebum meaning he couldn’t tell him what to do Jaebum had pulled the leader card and reminded him that he was taking a break from activities, he hadn't quit. He was still part of the group so he could still tell him what to do.

Then there was Jackson and BamBam. They’d never been shy when it came to showing affection, he was used to them draping an arm over his shoulders, linking arms with him or taking the seat right next to him on the couch even when there was plenty of space to spread out. But now that he was showing they seemed to have dialled it up a notch. One of them always seemed to be attached to his side and even worse than that they both had a really bad habit rubbing a hand over his stomach without asking. It was like they viewed his bump as its own entity, they forgot that when they put their hands on it to say hi to the baby they were putting their hands on him. But as uncomfortable as that made him he didn’t have the heart to tell them to stop. Sometimes he thought they were looking forward to meeting his son or daughter more than he was and he didn’t want to put a dampener on that.

Yugyeom on the other hand had gone the other way. For the first couple of months of Mark’s pregnancy he’d been the same loving and affectionate maknae that he’d always been. But as soon as Mark had started to show that had changed, he was still as helpful and good-natured as ever but he’d started to flinch away from physical contact.  Mark wasn’t sure if it was because he was worried about hurting the baby or because he found it really weird that the swell of his hyung’s stomach was caused not by overeating but the growth of a miniature human but either way the change in his behaviour was really disconcerting.

The only person’s behaviour that hadn’t changed was Youngjae’s. Most days Mark viewed this as a blessing. He didn’t have to worry about Youngjae telling him what to do, touching his stomach without asking or staring at him as if he’d sprouted another head. It did mean however that Youngjae spoke to him just like he always did. And this was usually fine, Mark had always liked talking to Youngjae. They shared a lot of the same interests and opinions. But there was one downside and that was the fact that he didn't seem to have a brain to mouth filter. He tended to say exactly what he was thinking which considering Mark’s increased sensitivity to criticism lately could sometimes be a problem. 

“Hyung, you look like a dog that’s got fleas.”

And there was an example. It was something that Mark couldn’t really argue with. It was something else he found annoying, the more his skin stretched the more it itched and it was driving him nuts. So yes, he’d been scratching a little but that didn’t stop him glaring at Youngjae for pointing it out.

It didn’t stop Jinyoung from flicking a piece of popcorn at him either.

Youngjae squawked in indignation as it hit him square on the nose.

“Nice.” Jackson said approvingly, clapping Jinyoung on the shoulder. This was immediately followed by Jaebum snapping “Don’t start” and levelling a warning look at Youngjae.

All seven of them were gathered in the living room, Jackson, Jaebum and BamBam taking up the couch, the rest of them sprawled on the floor. It was the first time in a month that they’d all found themselves in the dorm at the same time and Jaebum had suggested that they spend some time together. Since Mark and Jinyoung were planning on moving out soon and they didn’t know when they’d have the chance to do so again everyone had agreed.  So Yugyeom and BamBam had been sent out to buy snacks then they’d all settled down to watch a movie. One that Jaebum had been looking forward to seeing which was why he kept shushing them whenever they got loud. The shushing defeated the purpose of them getting together somewhat but Mark didn’t mind. He hadn’t done much that day but he was already tired. Tired, itchy and annoyed didn’t add up to him being in the mood to deal with loud either.

“I don’t know why you’re looking at me.” Youngjae protested. “I’m not the one who started throwing food.”

He was practically pouting and Mark couldn’t help smiling. Which was odd considering that two minutes ago he’d been contemplating strangling him. It was probably his hormones or something he thought with a sigh, letting his head drop onto Jinyoung’s shoulder. He was being conditioned to look kindly on small and cute things in preparation for the baby coming and Youngjae was surprisingly good at pulling off cute.

Apparently Jaebum wasn’t quite as affected by the cute as Mark had been though because his response was to flick some popcorn of his own in Youngjae’s direction.

Youngjae successfully dodged it this time and still pouting slid across the floor to sit closer to Yugyeom.

As things went quiet again Mark found himself yawning. He took hold of Jinyoung’s arm and snuggled closer into his side. His boyfriend didn’t make the most comfortable pillow, his shoulder was a little on the bony side and the material of his shirt was rough against his