“You walk on the outside an’ I walk on the inside.” Haru told Jimin as they walked along the sidewalk, hand-in-hand.

“Yup. So Daddy can protect you from the cars and people riding bicycles.” Jimin gently squeezed her fingers. I trailed behind them, one hand resting on my stomach as I waddled along. At seven months pregnant, I had officially started to waddle.

“Ah, it’s hot out for the month of May.” I complained. “I wanna take a cold bath and fall asleep in it.”

Jimin chuckled and held tight onto Haru’s hand. “Just a little farther, sweetheart. Just a few more minutes and we’ll be back in the air conditioning.”

“Hooray, hooray!” Haru cheered. Jimin had tied her hair back in little curly pigtails and dressed her in a white eyelet dress. She insisted on putting blue ribbons in her hair so they would match her blue Keds. I loved her little spring look going on; she looked fashionable and adorable. My little style icon daughter.

Jimin looked pretty fresh that day, too. He had on shorts that were a bit on the shorter side, which I appreciated because honestly, why hide those thighs? He also wore a long tank top with grey and tangerine stripes that fell just below his . The sleeves dipped low, so that when he moved, you could see his chest. Which I also appreciated, because why hide that toned chest?

While my family looked marvelous, I, on the other hand, looked terrible. I tried to dress up, really, but when I tried on all of my maternity clothes from when I was seven months pregnant with Haru, none of them fit. I ended up sitting down on the edge of the bed with half the contents of my closet strewn on the bed. Jimin came in and took one look at me before he sat down next to me and pulled me into his lap. I burst into tears when he grunted underneath my weight and he wiped my tears with a maxi skirt.

“Why are you crying? You’re beautiful.” Jimin murmured, his voice so gentle and sweet that fresh tears cascaded down my cheeks.

“I have, like, eight chins.” I sobbed. “And my stomach is huge.”

“Okay, well, you’re pregnant. That’s what happens.” His words were blunt, but his voice continued to be gentle. “Why all of this body hate? This isn’t you. Even though your weight has fluctuated over the years, you never were like this. Love yourself.”

“It’s really hard, you know? I like…know I’m carrying a baby, but I’m so worried, like, what if I can’t lose the weight?”

“Who cares?” Jimin patted my head. “Who cares if you’re not thin? I don’t care.”

“I care.” I mumbled. “I care a lot.”

“Why?”

“Why? Are you seriously asking me why? You’re the one who’s on a diet all the time, you tell me why I care.” I snapped, pushing his hand away as he tried to wipe my tears again.

“I wouldn’t do that if I wasn’t an idol and you know that.” Jimin pulled me closer to him and tucked my head underneath his chin. “You’re pregnant. Be happy.”

“I’m happy.” I wiped my snot on his pajama shirt.

“You’re crying in my arms right now. How happy can you be?”

“I’m hormonalllll.” I whined. “And I feel like I did in middle school when I tried to wear a bikini on a school trip and the guy I had a crush on called me fat and said my eyebrows looked like caterpillars.”

“Oh, baby.” Jimin cooed, hugging me close. “You’re okay. You’re beautiful. I think you look so cute like this. You’ve got the chubbiest cheeks and your is huge. Like literally, I think your is bigger than my thighs you’re sitting on right now.”

I half-laughed, half-sobbed. “Yeah? You think that’s cute?”

“Yeah. You’re really y when you’re pregnant. Especially this pregnancy. Like, damn girl, I hope you keep this .”

“I won’t be able to fit into your boxers anymore.” I moved to lay my head on his shoulder.

“My boxer briefs will fit. They’re stretchy.”

I giggled. “Yeah, they fit over your , so I’m sure they’ll fit over mine.”

“Baby, you know you’re always beautiful, right? I don’t care if you have stretch marks and cellulite and lovehandles.”

“And my thighs jiggle when I walk.” I added.

“Yeah, they do.” Jimin pinched my inner thigh. “Cute.”

“Are you lying?” I moved to kiss his cheek. He let out a breathy sigh and rubbed his nose against my hair.

“You know, you’ve always had thick thighs. And you’ve always hated them. So just stop and love yourself.”

Jimin pushed my head with his nose and pressed a kiss on my mouth. “You look good. You’re pregnant and you’re beautiful and you don’t need to be skinny to be hot. Alright? Love yourself.”

“Okay, but you need to love yourself, too, you know.” I kissed him and he sighed against my lips. “Don’t skip meals anymore, hmm?”

Jimin chose not to answer me in favor of pushing open my lips and sliding his tongue in my mouth. I pushed him away and he swiped his arm across his mouth, eyelids half-closed.

“Are you right now?” I demanded. “Are you seriously during this serious conversation?”

“Well, all this talk about your .” Jimin lifted a corner of his mouth in a devious little smirk. “You know how I feel about your .”

“I know.” I patted his chest. “I know, baby.”

“Soo…can we make out?” Jimin swiped a tongue across his lips.

“So…are you gonna stop skipping meals?”

Jimin laughed and his hair fell in his face. He did one of those low, happy laughs that I loved and he looked absolutely adorable.

“Don’t use making out as leverage.” He playfully scolded me.

“Don’t skip meals.” I suggested, pulling my shirt over my head. I scooted closer and pushed his hair away from his face.

Jimin’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “You know, we have rules about . Not many, but two very good ones. Can you tell me what they are?”

I lightly kissed his nose. “Don’t use as punishment or a bribe and only have if you want to have .”

Jimin held my hair in his hands, twining his fingers through the curls. “That’s right, baby girl. So, what are you doing right now?”

I kissed his cheek. “Being a tease.”

My hair fell through Jimin’s fingers as I laboriously swung myself off of his lap. He sighed and fell back against my pile of clothes on the bed.

 “You’re always a tease. I get all worked up and hardly ever get any kind of relief.” He took off his pajama shirt and splayed his hand out on his bare chest.

“Aw, poor baby.” I tugged a pair of jeans with an elastic waistband out from under him. Jimin glanced at them and gave a thumbs down.

“Lemme pick your outfit.” He sat up and rifled through my clothes. “You wanna wear a dress?”

“No.”

He gathered all of the dresses and skirts and tossed them to the floor. Our bedroom was a wreck, anyway. We were in the midst of packing, staying at one apartment one night and another the next night. We’d had the foresight to buy personal hygiene products for both places, but Haru wasn’t sleeping well with the constant change.

“Shorts?”

“No.”

“Pants?” Jimin offered.

“No.”

“Do you want to wear anything?” He turned to me with a smile. “Or do you just want to stay all day? I’m fine with you staying all day.”

“We have a daughter.” I reminded him. He had a cocky little smirk on his face.

“She’s at daycare.” Jimin slipped out of his basketball shorts, leaving him only in his boxers.

“Jimin, stop.” I laughed and threw the pants at his head.

“Wear a maxi skirt today.” He demanded. “You wore a maxi skirt on one of our first dates, did you know that?”

“No. How do you remember that?” I rummaged through the skirts on the floor and picked out one I liked.

“I couldn’t stop staring at your and you called me out on it.” Jimin snickered. “And I bet your would look even better now in a maxi skirt.”

I stared at him for a moment. He threw himself across the bed and lounged carelessly, hand trailing up and down his chest.

“You’re a bastard.” I commented. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re trying to seduce me.”

“Mmm, maybe.” Jimin ruffled his hair, making it fall into his face. He pouted his thick lips at me. “But I wanna watch you get dressed first.”

I made a face at him. “Why?”

“Cause. I like your in a maxi skirt.” He gestured to the fabric in my hand. “Put it on.”

“It’s gonna get dirty. All gross and sweaty, you know it’s like a million degrees outside today and I’m already working up at sweat. Rolling around on the bed in my clothes is not gonna help that.”

“Put it on. Please?” Jimin asked me, so sweetly.

I rolled my eyes, a fond smile on my face. “Alright.” I conceded, then added, “ bastard.”

So, I looked like a hot mess next to my beautiful family because Jimin liked the outfit I picked out a little too much. I went to go pick up Haru from daycare in Jimin’s ratty- basketball shorts that had clearly seen better days and a t-shirt from an event that Bangtan had sung for. The teachers at Haru’s daycare judged me, I could feel it. Jimin just laughed at me, but he didn’t notice how they all looked at him with hearts in their eyes. Or lust. He always just laughed at me. Probably was so used to people swooning over him that he was immune to it now.

He looked back at me as Haru skipped along next to him, singing a nonsense song about a baby bumblebee. I stuck my tongue out at him and he winked.

“Love you.” He whispered.

“Love you, too.” I blew a kiss to him and he pretended to catch it.

“Can we get ice cream?” Haru interrupted. “I wan’ ice cream.”

“Sure, we can get ice cream.” Jimin gave in easily.

“It’s one in the afternoon. Haru just ate lunch and she hasn’t napped yet.” I placed a hand on my back as I waddled along. I started to feel crabby as we marched through the heat. Stopping for ice cream sounded annoying and unnecessary and I couldn’t even ing eat it.

Haru hopped up and down while pleading with Jimin. “Ice cream, Daddy? Please? I wan’ ice cream.”

Jimin looked sideways at me. I knew he was mad that I had questioned his decision in front of Haru, but did he honestly want to deal with a hyper three and a half year old who wouldn’t take a nap after eating ice cream?

“Let’s get ice cream tonight. After dinner.” He said quietly. “We’ll go home and take a nap, and then maybe go to the park? Do you wanna go to the park?”

“Yeah!” Haru cheered. “I wanna go to the park. Can I swing on the swings? Cause I’m a big girl now. I can swing on the big girl swings.”

“Yeah, you can.” Jimin agreed. “I’m sure you’ll have lots of sugar energy after your ice cream.”

“Can we bring Yuton?” She lisped. My heart squeezed and I suddenly had the urge to scoop her up in my arms and snuggle her forever. I wished she would stay little forever and never learn how to pronounce our dog’s name correctly.

“Maybe.” Jimin said, shooting me a strange look as I stared at Haru with a pained expression. God, I just wanted to squeeze her. “Wanna hold Mama’s hand?”

Haru cast a glance back at me. “Uh…not right now.” She cocked her head at me and I tried not to feel hurt.

By the time we got home, Haru was curled up in Jimin’s arms, almost fast asleep. She looked at me from over his shoulder, her little eyelids fluttering as she fought off sleep. I ran my fingers through her curls and she blinked at me.

“You sleepy, little love?”

“’M not tired.” Haru yawned.

I smiled and kissed her nose. “Of course you’re not. You’re never tired.”

“I’m tired.” Jimin claimed.

“Why you tired, Daddy?” Haru buried her face in his neck, wiping her snot on the collar of his shirt.

He chuckled, a low, husky, sensual chuckle that frankly, I didn’t like our daughter hearing. I shot him a look as he smirked at me.

“Mama and I…” Jimin began as he slowed and took my hand, “did a lot of exercising this morning.”

I flushed and pinched his arm with my free hand. He laughed again and pressed our palms together in an affectionate squeeze.

“I do ex-uh-sizes.” Haru fumbled over the word in her childish way. “I do them at school.”

“Really?” I asked interestedly. She nodded fervently.

“Yeah. I do them with Miss Amy. We do yoga.”

Jimin groaned and shook his head. “Baby, did you know the daycare we send our daughter to was so bougie when you signed her up for it?”

“Well…” I shrugged my shoulders. “They also said they were all about effecting social change and justice in the community, so I thought Haru could learn a thing or two from them. If she comes home and tells me they had kale smoothies for snack, I wouldn’t necessarily complain.”

He kissed my nose and Haru reached out to pinch my cheek.

“Mama, my haht’s beatin’.” She informed me sleepily.

“Your heart is beating.” I agreed, a soft smile on my face. “I love to hear your heartbeat. It’s one of my favorite sounds.”

Haru smiled shyly at me. “I love you, Mama.”

“I love you, too, Haru.” I kissed her nose.

“Me too, me too!” Jimin cried. “Daddy loves you so much, Haru.”

“Mama, Daddy told me that Mama and Daddy’s love put me in you tummy.” Haru pushed her hair back from her forehead as she explained this important fact of life to me.

“You said that, Jimin?” I felt my mouth curve into a half-smile. “That’s kinda sweet.”

“Well, it’s true.” He shrugged. “That’s how she got in there.”

“How did you get in your mama’s tummy?” Haru asked me.

“My mommy and daddy’s love.” I answered. “Just like you.”

“What about this baby?” She jabbed a finger at my stomach. “How did he get in there?”

“Mama and Daddy’s love.” Jimin whispered into her curls, while staring at me with a dark, spine-tingling gaze.

“Yeah.” I nodded and kissed Haru’s curls. Jimin leaned forward and rubbed our noses together over her hair. “Mama and Daddy’s love.”