“What is your obsession with sour lately?” Sehun asked, grimacing as Jongin popped another lemon section into his mouth.  The lip-puckering fruit had become a staple in his diet over the course of the last few weeks, along with any kind of sour candy he could get his hands on.  Kissing him was like a game of Russian roulette anymore, and Sehun was ready for it to end any time now.

“I don’t know, it’s good?” Jongin replied without looking up, seemingly unbothered by Sehun’s apparent disgust.

Sehun watched as Jongin chewed a few more pieces of fruit before he realized he was staring.  He shook his head, trying to refocus, and turned his attention to the book he was supposed to be writing a paper about.  “So, have you read this book yet?” he asked Jongin, flipping randomly through the pages without really looking at any of them.

“Uh, yeah, actually,” Jongin said, finally looking up to see what Sehun was talking about.  “I was in bed most of the day yesterday, so I figured I’d do something productive.” 

“Seriously?  You stayed home sick yesterday… and did homework?”

Jongin gave him an impressively unimpressed look and said, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but the reason you’ve made it this far in school is because I actually pay attention to and make sure you know enough of it to get by.”  He tossed the last piece of lemon into his mouth and chomped on it a little more aggressively than strictly necessary.

“Ok, ok, fair enough,” Sehun said, raising his hands in surrender, feeling it best to stop an argument before it started.  Jongin was easy to annoy lately, and Sehun wasn’t looking for another blowout like the one from the week before when he commented on the unusually messy state of Jongin’s bedroom.  “So what is this book- you know, you were probably sick yesterday because of that,” Sehun pointed out, changing course mid-sentence when he saw Jongin pull a bag of sour skittles out of his backpack.

Jongin froze, skittles package barely open, and glared at Sehun.  He dropped the candy back into his bag, picked it up as he stood, and walked toward the cafeteria exit.

Ok, that was a bit more of an overreaction than Sehun had expected.

“Wait, what about-“

“Read it yourself!” Jongin yelled back over his shoulder and continued out the door.

“What did you do to piss him off this time?” Kyungsoo, one of their regular-lunch-table-mates-but-not-super-close-friends who had been witness to their recent spats, asked as he sat down next to Sehun at the table.  Sehun shrugged his shoulders, staring at the door Jongin had disappeared through in confusion.

---

From Jongin 10:14 pm
hey

To Jongin 10:15 pm
yo

From Jongin 10:17 pm
so. sorry i was kind of a earlier. i don’t know what that was about. i can come over and tell you about the book.

To Jongin 10:17 pm
yeah sure you can come ;) ;)

From Jongin 10:18 pm
…and talk about the book

To Sehun 10:18 pm
right ;)

From Jongin 10:18 pm
stop with the winky faces you ert!

From Jongin 10:18 pm
i’ll be there in ten minutes ;)

---

“You look like ,” Sehun commented when he met up with Jongin the next morning outside the front doors of the school.  He instantly regretted it when he recalled the way Jongin had reacted to his mild criticism the day before, but Jongin didn’t seem to care this time.

“Well that works out just great because that’s exactly how I feel.”  Jongin crossed his arms over his stomach as he followed Sehun through the door into the building.  Just after he crossed the threshold he stopped abruptly, almost falling backwards, when Sehun’s hand flew up in front of his face and connected with his forehead.  “Dude, what the ?”  He reared back, reaching up and swatting Sehun’s hand away.

“Chill out, I’m just seeing if you have a fever,” Sehun said, securing Jongin's swinging hands in one of his own and putting the other back on his forehead.  “You don’t feel hot.”

“Yeah, I know, that’s why my mom wouldn’t let me stay home again.  She thinks I’m trying to get out of a test or something.”

“I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time.  If I were her I’d be suspicious, too.”  Sehun dodged the punch Jongin threw at him as they started walking again.  “Maybe you have an ulcer,” he suggested.

“I don’t have an ulcer.”

“I told you all that sour was bad for you.  It burned a hole in your stomach.”

“That’s not how you get ulcers, .”

“Ok, well, maybe you have the flu.”  As soon as the words left Sehun’s mouth, an ugly realization dawned on him, his face contorting in dismay.  “Oh, no.  If you have the flu that means I’m gonna get it.  We swapped so many bodily fluids last ni-“

“Oh my god, would you close your mouth!”  Jongin stage whispered, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them.  Luckily they were in a nearly deserted hallway.  Literally not a single person needed to hear about what the two of them got up to on their own time.  “If I had the flu I would have a fever.”   He pushed Sehun’s shoulder violently, sending him stumbling to the side. 

“Hey, watch it!”  Sehun righted himself and fell into step with Jongin again like nothing had happened.  “So, I was going to invite you over for the weekend since my parents are going to visit some of their friends in Vegas or something.”  He gave Jongin a lascivious look, which Jongin just rolled his eyes at. 

“And they’re trusting you to stay home alone again?”  Sehun’s punishment from the last time he had been left alone had just ended recently.  Was he really willing to go through it again so soon?

“I can’t fail an entire class in two days, so I think I’m good.”

“Sure, if you say so.  I guess I can come over if I’m not feeling like death by then.”

“Sweet,” Sehun said, sneaking a quick, discreet of Jongin's backside just before they entered their first class of the day.  Jongin jolted in surprise and pinched Sehun’s side in retaliation as he followed him to the back of the room to take their seats.

Halfway through the 90-minute lesson, Sehun noticed that Jongin was looking increasingly ill.  In a matter of minutes he went from looking slightly uncomfortable to pale and shaking, perspiration gathering on his forehead as he breathed heavily.  Half a second before Sehun could open his mouth to ask if he was going to be ok, Jongin bolted from his seat and out the door, ignoring the teacher who tried to call him back.

“Where did he go?” the teacher asked Sehun when it was apparent Jongin wasn’t going to return.

Sehun shrugged as all eyes in the room turned to him, grateful for the impromptu break in the middle of class.  “He said he was sick, so probably to throw up somewhere.” 

The teacher sighed in defeat, used to random interruptions from either one of the two almost daily and knowing it was useless.  As he went back to his lecture, Sehun pulled his phone out of his pocket under his desk and texted Jongin to see what was going on with him.  A few minutes later he got a reply.

From Jongin 9:15 am
did you know vomiting in the nurses office automatically gets you sent home?

To Jongin 9:15 am
I didn’t, but that’s good to know

From Jongin 9:15 am
will you drop my stuff off on your way home later?

Sehun looked at the bulging backpack sitting on the floor by the desk next to him.

To Jongin 9:16 am
you really expect me to carry your around all day??

From Jongin 9:16 am
please? i’ll let you do that thing you like while your parents are gone this weekend

To Jongin 9:17 am
…fine. but you better not be lying about that

---

“I knew you were faking,” Sehun said when Jongin answered the door.  It was Friday, and Jongin had once again been too sick to pull himself out of bed to go to school.  “I brought you your homework.”

Jongin let Sehun in, closing the door and taking the piece of notebook paper that had his assignments written on it from him.  “I wasn’t faking,” he said, looking over the list.

Sehun pointedly looked at all the junk food wrappers spread over the coffee table, a controller for the game paused on the TV barely visible amongst the mess.  “Really?”

Jongin followed his judgmental gaze and frowned.  “Yes, really.  I was ungodly nauseous this morning when I woke up.”

“So you decided the best remedy for an upset stomach was to eat Twinkies and Doritos all day?”

“No, moron,” Jongin said, glaring at him.  “After I finally threw up I felt perfectly fine, and then I was starving.”

“And you decided to remedy that by eating Twinkies and Doritos all day?” Sehun repeated.

“You know what, you for judging everything I eat lately.  You aren’t any better,” Jongin snapped, fed up with Sehun’s attitude towards his diet when Sehun had been known to have days when he ate nothing but Starburst.  Jongin tossed his list of assignments on the table and flopped back down on the seat he had been occupying all day.  He grabbed his controller from under a chip bag and resumed his game.  Sehun wisely chose to not comment any further on the matter, instead finding the second controller and waiting for Jongin to let him join the game.

Sehun kept his mouth shut for the next hour, letting Jongin destroy him in every game they played in an attempt to neutralize the atmosphere again. 

---

Jongin did go to Sehun’s Saturday night, but ended up leaving before Sehun got to claim his prize.  Sehun wasn’t entirely happy about it, but couldn’t hold it against him as he could hear the evidence of Jongin's queasiness when the older boy locked himself in the bathroom not long after he got there.

He managed to make it through classes on Monday, but just barely.

He didn’t show up Tuesday.

---

When Jongin was absent again on Wednesday, Sehun actually started to worry.  As much as they goofed off in class together and occasionally skipped a day here and there, Jongin really did care about doing well in school and getting into a good college someday.  It wasn’t like him to miss so much school for no reason.

Sehun texted Jongin during one of his morning classes and found out that he was on his way to the hospital, which didn’t make him feel any less anxious.  Jongin promised to keep him updated throughout the day, but never texted him again after that.  At first Sehun assumed it was just taking some time for whatever tests they were doing, but the longer he went without hearing anything the worse scenarios his brain started supplying him with.

Like, what if Jongin had stomach cancer or something?  How likely was it even for a relatively healthy eighteen-year-old to get stomach cancer?  Or maybe he had some disease that no one had ever even heard of, and there was no treatment they could give him.

By the time the final bell of the day rang, Sehun had worked himself into a near panic.  He had his bag packed and was rushing out the door before anyone else was even out of their seat.  He ignored any and all speed limits on his way to Jongin's house, barely slowing to what could maybe have been considered a stop when required. 

He was already at the front door and ringing the bell when he realized that Jongin's mother’s car wasn’t in the driveway.  Maybe Jongin wasn’t even home yet?  Whatever.  Sehun knew where the spare key was hidden if he needed to get inside to wait for him.  He ended up not needing it, though, when he turned the doorknob and found it unlocked.  So Jongin was probably home.  But not answering the door?  Or any of his texts all afternoon?  That couldn’t be a good sign…

“Jongin!” Sehun called out once he was in the house.  He didn’t get a response, but he really hadn’t been expecting one.  He made a quick trip through the living room and kitchen, even stopping to peek into the empty bathroom, before finally making his way to Jongin's bedroom.  The door was ajar and he could just see a Jongin-sized lump lying under the blanket in the middle of the bed.

“Dude, what the hell is up?  You haven’t said anything to me all day.  You’re kind of freaking me out,” Sehun said as he pushed the door open.  Jongin was obviously awake, judging by the unevenness of his breathing, but didn’t answer him.  Actually, his breathing was really uneven.  And that was definitely a hiccup.  Was he… crying?

.  Jongin did not cry.  Not even when he fell out of a tree and broke his arm when he was eleven.  Whatever was going on was an actual Serious Thing.  Sehun crossed the room and tugged the blanket down, revealing Jongin's red, tear-stained face.

“, Jongin, what’s wrong?” Sehun gently demanded, getting into the bed with him and pulling him into a hug.  Instead of answering, Jongin buried his face in Sehun’s chest and bawled. 

Sehun didn’t push him to talk, just held him and let him cry it out.  As worried as Sehun had been about hearing whatever news Jongin could have given him, it couldn’t possibly compare to what Jongin was going through if this was how he was reacting to it.  It was Sehun’s job as his best friend to be there for him and let him know things would be alright.  He would have to put his own emotions on the back burner for the time being.

By the time Jongin's sobs had diminished to the occasional sniffle, Sehun had drifted into a hazy, half asleep state.  Jongin mumbling something too quiet to hear clearly pulled him back to full consciousness.

“What was that?” Sehun murmured, brushing Jongin's hair out of his face so he could see his eyes.

Jongin refused to look up at him, instead focusing on a loose thread on his pillowcase.  It seemed to be taking an immense amount of effort for him to be able to repeat himself, so Sehun waited patiently, rubbing his shoulder and offering as much comfort as possible.  A few minutes later, Jongin finally took a deep, shuddering breath as his eyes started to water again, his voice coming out wobbly and barely audible.

“I said I’m pregnant.”