“I said I’m pregnant.”

“…Oh,” Sehun said intelligently, his brain freezing up when the words that Jongin had spoken registered.  That was probably the last thing he had expected to hear.  He had been preparing himself for the worst; cancer, a flesh eating disease that would kill him slowly and painfully, an alien implant that his body was rejecting in a violent way.  But this?  This was not a situation Sehun had even thought to consider.  And while it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, per se, it did come with its own set of difficulties.  “So you’re a…”  He trailed off, unable to bring himself to say the words.

Jongin let out a hollow laugh.  “Yeah, I’m a carrier.”

Even though Jongin being pregnant obviously meant he was a carrier, hearing him say it out loud was still a shock to Sehun, and he flinched before he could stop himself.  Carriers weren’t well-tolerated by the general public.  People considered them unnatural, and associating with a carrier, or anyone who openly supported them, earned you just as much ridicule as if you were one yourself.  Sehun and Jongin, being the young and generally stupid boys they were, had made some unsavory comments about them in the past themselves.  This was obviously karma coming back to bite them in a big way.

Jongin felt Sehun jerk minutely against him, and felt his eyes start to sting again.  If he was honest with himself, he hadn’t expected a positive reaction.  Had hoped, maybe, that Sehun would put aside past prejudices and support him.  But hadn’t expected it.  Not when Jongin was still working on letting go of those same prejudices himself.

But even though he hadn’t expected Sehun to take the news well (hell, he had accused the doctor of playing a sick joke on him when she first told him), the silence he was met with at his admission still made his chest tighten with anxiety.  Sehun was the one person, apart from his mother, that he needed to be there for him, to help him keep it together when he felt like his life was falling apart.  That there was a chance that Sehun might distance himself from him because of this…  Jongin couldn’t handle abandonment on top of everything else.

“,” Sehun hissed, jerking further away from Jongin when his phone vibrated in his pocket.  He pulled it out and saw a text from his dad asking where he was, didn’t he remember what today was?  “, .  Today can’t possibly get any worse,” he grumbled, missing the pained look on Jongin's face as he detangled himself entirely from him and crawled off the bed clumsily, typing a message to send back and let his dad know he was on his way and would be home soon. 

“What’s wrong?” Jongin asked softly, watching Sehun grab his things and ignoring the urge to beg him to stay.

“My dad is going to kill me.  I was supposed to be home an hour ago.  His boss is coming over for dinner and we’re supposed to be the perfect host family or some bull.  !” he exclaimed again, tripping as he put his shoes on.  “I’ll talk to you later.”  And then he disappeared out the door.

And Jongin was alone.

Jongin supposed he should get used to being alone since he was probably going to lose a lot of friends once people found out about his… condition.  It just that the first one to go was the most important.

It was so unfair that people were going to judge him for this.  It’s not like he asked to be born different.  No one wanted to be told they were a freak of nature and that the world would be better off without them.  It was like saying people with curly hair were immoral and should be shunned, or people who were double-jointed were inherently liars and couldn’t be trusted.  Why should someone’s physical aspects be a reason to criticize them?

You would think that being different from most people would be something to celebrate.  Like, hey, you have this special thing that not many people do, you’re like a rare Pokémon or something.  But no.  People were s and had to condemn anything they didn’t understand.

And the worst part of it all, the thing that made Jongin feel the absolute tiest, was that it took him ‘becoming’ one of those different people to realize that he was one of the s before.  That it was stupid to judge people for things beyond their control. 

Jongin had always been pretty average.  He lived with his mom in a nice house, got decent grades, and grew up to be reasonably attractive.  He didn’t know what it was like to be bullied or made fun of because nothing about him made him stand out in a bad way.  But now…  It had only been a few hours since he found out what he was, and he had only had a small taste of what that kind of judgment felt like, but it was enough for him to know how horrible he had made people feel every time he made an offhand comment about someone being a freak. 

The doctor who had treated him in the hospital had been warm and welcoming when she introduced herself, promising to do everything she could to find out what was wrong with him and get him healthy again.  But when she came back later in the day with his test results it was like she was a different person.  Her smile was gone.  She wouldn’t look directly at him.  She was cold and detached as she shared his results with him, remaining professionally polite only because she had to.  After she gave him all the information she was required to (which was little more than a pamphlet with some phone numbers to contact some specialists), she sent him on his way without so much as a goodbye.

And that was…  Well, it still wasn’t really okay, but at least he didn’t have to see her again and deal with her being a judgmental .  Sehun, on the other hand, had been a permanent figure in his life for as long as he could remember.  They grew up together, shared things with each other that no one else would ever know about them.  Sehun was the second most important person in his life, and now, because of this one thing, he might lose him. 

Jongin rolled over to face the wall, the most he had moved in hours, and clutched a pillow to his chest.  It was a poor substitute for the person he wished was there instead to comfort him when he was so overwhelmed that it didn’t feel like anything would ever be right in his life again.  Sehun’s rejection, no matter how subtle, hurt more than he thought it could.  As Jongin felt a fresh trail of tears start to fall, he buried his face in the pillow and let himself cry. 

---

Sehun was on autopilot all through the evening.  He got home minutes before his dad’s boss was supposed to be there, not even bothering to argue back as he was yelled at for being irresponsible.  Instead he silently took the uncomfortable looking dress shirt and tie his mother shoved into his hands and went to put it on, finishing just as the doorbell rang.  He plastered what he hoped was a convincing enough smile on his face and went to greet their guests.

Dinner passed by mostly in a blur, Sehun constantly reminding himself to focus on what was going on around him instead of losing himself in his thoughts.  He spent most of the time rearranging the food on his plate to make it look like he was eating, only contributing to the conversation when spoken to.  But he remembered to be polite and not say anything to embarrass his father, and that seemed to be good enough to get him excused early to “do homework”.  Relieved, he said goodnight to everyone and escaped to the sanctuary of his bedroom.

Once inside he collapsed backwards onto his bed and just laid there, staring at the ceiling.  For the first time since he got the text from his father earlier he allowed himself to think about the bombshell Jongin had dropped on him.

Jongin was pregnant.  And, although he didn’t explicitly say it, Sehun was sure it was his.  So that meant Sehun was as good as pregnant as well.

.

What was he supposed to do?  He didn’t know anything about babies.  He could barely take care of himself.  Sure, he could make sure he didn’t die if his parents left him alone for a few days, but they always left him with a fully stocked kitchen and emergency money.  He didn’t have any food or money to give to anyone.  , how much did it even cost to have a baby?  If he and Jongin both got jobs, would it be enough?  Would Jongin even be able to work?

Jongin could probably do it for a few months, but it would only be a matter of time before someone figured out that he was pregnant and invented a reason to fire him.  No one wanted to ruin the image of their business by having a pregnant guy working for them.  Not to mention, worrying about trying to keep a job while still going to school and keeping his grades up would be unnecessarily stressful, which wouldn’t be good for Jongin or the baby.  So no, Jongin probably wouldn’t be able to work, which meant that responsibility would fall to Sehun.

Sehun had never had a job.  How long would it take to find one?  He needed someone to hire him tomorrow, not two weeks from now.  He a limited amount of time to save as much as he could.  The longer it took to find a job, the less money he would have.  And the less money he had, the more Jongin would have to worry.  He didn’t want Jongin to have to worry about finances when his life was going to be hard enough as it was.

Groaning, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and googled jobs available in the area.  He scrolled through the results and lost more hope with every one he passed.  Most of them wouldn’t work with his school schedule, and the ones that would hardly seemed worth the effort of filling out the application.  Who wanted to work for a company that couldn’t even guarantee to schedule you to work more than one day a week?  Unfortunately most of the part time jobs available seemed to have that same problem.  Sighing in resignation, he was just about to click a link for one of the least offensive looking jobs when a memory flashed across his mind.

A few weeks ago at lunch, Kyungsoo had mentioned that he had been working at the coffee shop his uncle owned since the beginning of the summer, but didn’t think he would be able to do that and keep up with his AP homework anymore.  He had asked everyone sitting at their lunch table if they were interested in taking over his position, trying to entice them with above average pay and flexible hours.  At the time Sehun had told him he would rather staple his tongue to the locker room floor than give up a single hour of his free time.  Now, however, it sounded like the universe giving him the biggest break someone in his position could possibly hope for. 

Without waiting another second, Sehun closed the internet browser and pulled up Kyungsoo’s contact info and hit the call button.  Hopefully Kyungsoo hadn’t already found a replacement.

Just when Sehun thought he was going to be ignored, he heard an irritated groan followed by “Sehun, what the hell do you want?”  Kyungsoo’s voice was deep and gravelly, like he had just been asleep, and Sehun winced at the realization that he had probably woken him up.

“Hey, Kyungsoo.  Were you asleep?”

“Yeah, I was,” Kyungsoo answered, clearly annoyed.  “If that was all you wanted I’m gonna hang up and go back to sleep because I have to work in the morning.”

Well that answered that question.  Sehun fist pumped silently in celebration before hearing a rustling that was most likely Kyungsoo pulling the phone away from his ear to hang up.  “Wait!  Kyungsoo, wait.”

“…What?” came from far away.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about that job.  Are you still looking for someone to take your place?”

“…Yeah, why?”

Sehun sighed, choosing his words carefully so as not to expose Jongin's secret to anyone without talking to him about it first.  “I’ve recently been put in a position that requires me to have a reasonably steady income.”  Kyungsoo didn’t respond for a while, and Sehun wondered if the call had been dropped.  He didn’t think he had the courage to call him a second time.  A quick glance at his phone screen told him he was still connected, though.  “Hello?”

“Did you swallow a dictionary or something?” Kyungsoo asked, snorting as he made fun of Sehun’s unusual vocabulary.

“ you, I know words,” Sehun retorted, only slightly annoyed at his teasing.

“Okay, that sounds more like you,” Kyungsoo said, still laughing.  “So, I’m really curious what made you suddenly need a job you thought you were too good for when I asked you about it before, but I also really want to go back to sleep, so you’re off the hook for now.  Come in at seven tomorrow and we can talk to my uncle.”

“Seven in the morning?” Sehun asked unhappily, glancing at the alarm clock on the table next to his bed that told him it was after midnight.

“Yes, seven in the morning.  That’s why I was sleeping when you called me, remember?” Kyungsoo huffed.

“Right, sorry about that.  I’ll see you tomorrow.  Thanks.”

“Yeah, sure.” 

Before Sehun could respond, the call ended.  He locked his phone and dropped it on the bed next to him.  Getting a job didn’t seem like much of an accomplishment when he considered what the next few months would have in store for him, but it made him feel like he was at least a little bit more in control of the situation.  Clinging to that feeling instead of letting the fear and worry from before come creeping back, Sehun closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep.

hey, guys.  so i don't know if i'm 100% happy with how this turned out, but i think it's ok?  let me know if you see any errors that need attention.