Warm light floods into their room, blackout curtains pulled to the side to let the rays in. Yixing slowly opens his eyes and turns his head away from the light that appears to be a little too harsh, burying his face into the pillow. From a distance he can hear someone laugh, the voice familiar. He knows who it is even without facing the other; years of knowing each other, and being in a relationship for a good part of it, helps. He feels the mattress dip, then a hand is caressing his shoulder down to his arm before gently turning his body so he's lying flat.

"Good morning, love," Yifan beams down at him, hair still wet from his shower. Only his lower half is covered by a towel and, if Yixing was any more awake, he'd have complained about that, as well as the water droplets falling on his face. Instead, the omega just lifts his arms and throws them around his husband's neck, the heavy scent of pine and earth that oozes from the alpha is comforting, and urges him to pull the elder down for a kiss.

"So energetic this early in the morning," the alpha comments in between kisses, laughing each time Yixing groans as Yifan leaves his lips to speak.

"Do you really have to leave?" Yixing asks, after coming up for air, his hold on Yifan still strong as he keeps the elder where he is. 

The alpha feels slightly bad about having to leave, especially when it hasn't even been two weeks since he had to leave for another business meeting overseas. But it's part of the job and, if he wants to keep working, he has to do everything needed. He's also in the running for a promotion and, if he's successful, he'd have more options, either he could send somebody else to do the job. Or, just bring Yixing with him.

"Yes, baby," Yifan responds, pushing his husband's bangs away, his touch apologetic, before tilting his head up to kiss the younger's forehead. Whispering the words against Yixing’s forehead before kissing his way down the other's lips once again, he reassures him, “I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can. It’s only five days, baby.”

"Okay.” There's a pout on the omega's lips when he replies. Yifan kisses it away and pulls him off the bed, makes him wear the nearest shirt they discarded on the floor the night before prior to pulling Yixing close and instructing him to put his legs around the elder's waist. Yifan carries Yixing like that into the kitchen, where he places the omega onto the counter and makes him wait while he fetches them a single bowl, two spoons, a box of cereal, and a carton of milk.

When they hear Yixing's phone alarm, the elder leaves the other to get dressed, but only once he has given the younger a few placating kisses. He comes back to find Yixing washing the dishes they had left last night in favour of going to bed and making love. Usually he wouldn't smell Yixing's scent if there’s a good distance between them, unless it is his heat or during . But lately, Yifan seems to be surrounded by it whenever he's home and with his husband. He's not certain if he's just imagining it or if he's gotten so used to smelling the younger's scent. There's really no complaint about it, from his end, it just has him curious.

Yifan leaves his luggage by the entrance of the kitchen and steps forward, hugging Yixing from behind. He senses the surprise from his husband but it quickly dissipates as he hears giggles when he starts kissing the omega's neck.

"Are you sure you want to go to that business trip?" Yixing teases. It is followed by a moan when the alpha on the soft skin of the omega's shoulder, close to a love bite he left behind last night.

"I really don't want to," Yifan whispers into the shorter man's ear, smiling against the shell of it when Yixing shivers in his hold. "You know that."

"But you have to," Yixing emphasizes as he dries his hands before turning around. He trails his hands up his husband's arms while maintaining eye contact with him. Normally, in this situation, there would be a glint of mischief in the omega's eyes but, in the moment, it only had understanding in it. "Come on, or else you'll be late," the younger urges, freeing himself from Yifan's embrace, tugging his hand and pulling him to the entryway of their house.

"I'll text you when my flight lands," Yifan promises while he puts on his coat, slipping his feet into his shoes.

"I know you will." 

Yixing teasingly taps Yifan’s nose while he's bent down slightly to fix his shoes, the smile on his face hiding the want to keep Yifan at home.

"Take care while I'm away," the alpha tells the younger, kissing his cheek gently ahead of aiming for Yixing's lips. 

The omega just nods, keeping their forehead touching for a moment longer before pulling away to open the door for Yifan. Yixing opts for not walking his husband out to the car given, that he's wearing nothing but the alpha's shirt. Although they are already married, and have been for a long time, it still makes for a scandalous image. So, Yixing just tugs Yifan's sleeve before he can walk away from the door, lifting his head for another kiss then letting go completely.

They don't say goodbyes, a wave of the hand conveying the words their mouths cannot, do not want to, say. Yifan watches their house 
become smaller and smaller as he goes farther down the road, until it disappears as he turns to a corner. He just has to be done with this trip and come home to Yixing as soon as he can. When he gets to the airport later, he messages Yixing. He does so again when he boards the plane, their conversation is curt as he knows the other must be working on his latest manuscript already, considering it's already well into the morning. The last response he gets from his husband fuels his desire to finish his work right away.

'come back before i miss you too much. love you x'

It's on the second day of Yifan's business trip to Singapore when Yixing starts feeling it. He's been experiencing a lot of dizzy spells at work and blames it on the amount of work he's been doing. Aside from working on a new book, the omega also works part-time contributing to a magazine to pay for bills while he finishes his book. And, he tries his best to post short stories on his own website. It is the reason why he's working from home that week while Yifan is away. The idea was Lu Han's, the magazine's editor and Yixing’s best friend. And, though it will probably help since he can be away from stressors, Yifan will be overseas for that seven days, which means it would be boring to be home. Sure Yifan mostly works at his office but he sometimes takes his work home, if possible, especially when he knows that the shorter male is also there. The house feels so empty and it only serves to make Yixing miss his husband even more.

Yixing is in the middle of walking back to the office after fetching more tea when his surroundings start spinning until they blur. He holds onto the nearest piece of furniture, a table that Yifan’s had since he moved away from home to go to university in Shanghai. The omega puts the mug down and grips on the edges of the table, waits for the dizziness to subside before moving to the couch. He sits there comfortably, eyes closed as he waits for it to disappear completely.

Even with his eyes closed, he instinctively reaches for his phone inside his pocket, debating whether he should tell Yifan about feeling like that or not. The thinking makes his head spin, so he decides to keep it to himself. He doesn't want his husband to worry, especially since they’re apart and Yixing is certain that it will go away soon after some rest. He stays in the living room until he can manage to stand up without his world spinning before moving back to the office. Yixing only gets to finish half of what he wants to do that day as the dizziness returns from time to time.

The next day Yixing wakes up at the crack of dawn and the first thing he does is to run to the bathroom, not to pee but to vomit. It's not a great amount but it still keeps him bent over the toilet bowl for a good two minutes before he's able to stand up and clean himself. He spends a large portion of the morning trying to go back to sleep as he argues to himself that it might help to solve his problems. When that proves unsuccessful, he peels himself away from the comforts of their bed and thinks of what he ate the day before that may have caused for him to puke his dinner. Going through the fridge, he throws away the leftovers from the night before, afraid that they could be the reason. Gingerly, he also takes the apple pie he made and puts it in the waste bin. He remembers, after telling Yifan about his baking venture, Yifan sent a photo of himself, pouting, with the caption: 'why did you make my favourite without me :(‘

The rest of the day goes uneventfully, fortunately. He was able to do more work than he did the day before and, although he would usually stay late to put in more work, he decides that sleeping early would be better, hoping no repeats of prior events would occur.

However, the sleep doesn't seem to help his case at all. The next morning, he wakes up early again, his stomach urging him to fold himself over the toilet, retching for a few seconds before his dinner comes out in bits. After his stomach calms down, Yixing sits in front of his desktop with a chamomile tea, hoping the internet will be able to give him answers for the things happening to him lately.

The results for 'vomiting in the morning and dizziness' come quickly and the ones at the top have Yixing gasping, a hand flying to his mouth after his eyes read the first few words and his sleep addled mind understands them. He clicks the second result and reads through it, hand remaining over his mouth as his eyes scan the words on the monitor. His hand only leaves his mouth when he's done reading the article, balling the hem of his pajama shirt, an old one of Yifan's from college.

The omega takes in a few breaths and exhales them slowly. He and Yifan have been together, and have been married for quite a while, meaning that he has pushed the possibilities of this to farthest corner of his mind. Once again, he reads the heading of the article before standing up, deciding he needs to buy something to confirm his suspicion.

'Signs of Pregnancy'

Many thoughts run through his mind as he takes the short walk to the nearest convenience store. The idea of him being pregnant did come across his mind fleetingly in the past weeks but, because of how busy he's been with work, he easily dismissed it for exhaustion instead. He didn't share these thoughts to his husband, not wanting to make him expect, only to be disappointed in the end, again.

Yifan and Yixing have only been married for three years but, to some, that's already a long time to h