Jongin walked home from school slowly, taking the time to try and clear his thoughts.  It wouldn’t do him any good to keep dwelling on Sehun.  It would just cause him more stress, and that wouldn’t be good for him or the baby.  As much as he wished his life wasn’t his own at the moment, he was terrified of doing something wrong and hurting himself or the tiny life inside him.

Even though he had only known about it for a day, he was already weirdly attached.  Finding out that he had been caring for another person for the past seven-ish weeks (he and Sehun had only forgone protection the one time, go figure) without even knowing it made him feel several different things all at once.  For one, he felt bad that he hadn’t known and had gone on about his life as usual, which didn’t always include him making the healthiest choices for himself.  It also made him feel protective.  He didn’t know anything about this new person, wouldn’t even get to meet them properly until next summer, but he wanted to take care of them the best he could.

Eventually he would have to talk to Sehun about it.  It was just as much Sehun’s as it was his.  Whether Sehun wanted to be involved or not was something they would have to discuss.  If not (which looked to be the case), well, then… Jongin would just have to deal with that outcome when the time came.  That conversation didn’t have to happen right away, though.  Jongin could afford to take the next few days to process the information more thoroughly, himself, and give Sehun time to do the same.  Hopefully by the weekend they would be able to talk to each other about it and figure out what course of action to take.

Jongin let himself in the front door of his house, ready to plop down on the couch and watch TV by himself for the rest of the evening since his mom had to work late.  Maybe he would order that pizza he had promised Baby when he skipped lunch earlier.  He didn’t expect to hear someone call out to him from the kitchen as soon as he closed the door.

“Jongin, is that you?”

“Yeah!” he yelled back when he recognized his mom’s voice.  He kicked his shoes off and dropped his bag on the floor under the coat rack, then shuffled down the hall toward the kitchen, stopping and leaning against the doorway as he watched his mom take things out of a grocery bag on the counter.  “I thought you had to work tonight.”

Jongin's mom glanced over her shoulder at him when she heard him speak so closely, but continued putting away everything she took out of the bag.  “I got Martha to cover my shift tonight,” she explained, taking the last thing out of the reusable bag and folding it up to store it in the pantry.  “I figured we could have a pizza and movie night and just hang out, maybe talk a little,” she said, turning to him with a smile and leaning back against the counter casually.

And wasn’t it just like her to know exactly what he needed?  No matter the situation, Jongin could always count on her to make things better.  He had been ready to accept his fate of a lonely night, to let himself get carried away with woeful thoughts, but there she was ready to help him turn it around.  Before he could let his sudden flood of emotions manifest into something as ridiculous as tears, he stepped fully into the kitchen and hugged her, leaning down to rest his head on her shoulder and staying there.  “That sounds perfect,” he said, feeling some of the tension that had built up in him since the day before melt away as she rubbed his back soothingly.

“How are you feeling?” she asked when he finally stood up straight again, putting her hands on his cheeks and directing him to look up at her.  “Have you eaten anything today?”  The loud rumble that sounded from Jongin's stomach at that particular moment was answer enough.  “Jongin,” she said, voice stern and smile disappearing.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” Jongin said with a grimace, once again feeling guilty when he thought about neglecting his needs, and in turn his child’s.

“Don’t apologize to me.  I’m not the one who’s going to suffer if you starve yourself.”  She patted his cheek and gave him a sympathetic look that only made him feel worse.

“I know,” he said again, taking a deep breath.  “I’m going to do better.  I just didn’t feel like being around that many people at once today, so I didn’t go to lunch.”  He left out the part about his encounter with Sehun, not wanting to open that can of worms just yet.  He hadn’t told her who the other father was yet, having been so overwhelmed at the news, himself, that he hadn’t been able to say much of anything when they left the hospital the day before.  She hadn’t pressured him into opening up about it right away.  Instead, she dropped him off at home and went to work, giving him time to come to terms with it before she upset him with too many questions.  He had no doubt those questions would come eventually, but he was grateful that she was holding back for now.  “It won’t happen again,” he promised.

She sighed and gave him a pitying look.  “I know this is hard for you, Jongin.  I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be in your position.  But you made a choice, and now you have to deal with the consequences.  I know,” she started, holding up her hand to stop him from interrupting her when he opened his mouth and forging on in extreme mom mode, “I know you couldn’t have known this would happen, but it did.  You could have just as easily ended up with some kind of disease and had that to deal with instead.  Luckily you didn’t, but that doesn’t mean you got the easy option.  I’m not going to sugar-coat it; your life is going to be more challenging that a lot of peoples’ now.  You’re going to have to go outside your comfort zone a lot more than you’re used to.  Including going to the crowded cafeteria when you don’t want to, because you have to eat.”  Here she paused and her face softened again.  “But I want you to know that you can always come to me when things get rough.  I love you more than anything, and I will always be here to help you in any way I can.”

Jongin didn’t even realize he was crying until his mom reached up to wipe away his tears.  “Ugh, ing hormones,” he mumbled, stepping away from her in embarrassment and wiping the rest of the wetness from his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

“Hey, language,” she scolded him without severity, swatting at his shoulder gently.  He rolled his eyes, but cooperated and kept his vocabulary clean. 

“So, speaking of you needing to eat, I stopped at the store and got some things for you today.  I stocked up on foods that are good for you.  And I also got you some vitamins,” she said, turning and grabbing a bottle from the counter behind her.  “Make sure you take them every day.”  She handed him one of the pills and filled a glass with water for him.  Jongin popped the pill into his mouth and downed the entire glass of water with it, earning a satisfied smile from her.

“I also made an appointment for you to see a doctor on Monday after you get out of school,” she went on, taking the empty glass from Jongin and setting it in the sink.  “So I’ll pick you up at the end of the day.  Make sure you’re out on time, no hanging around with Sehun after class.”

Jongin ignored the uncomfortable twist in his gut at the mention of Sehun’s name, nodding in understanding.  “Thank you,” he said sincerely, hoping she knew how much it meant to him to have her there, helping him through everything.  He truly didn’t know if he could do it without her.  She could easily have been like so many others who turned their back on their friends and family when they found out they had a carrier in their midst, but she didn’t.  Instead she accepted the news and his new lot in life, offering nothing but her full support without hesitation.  Jongin felt truly lucky to be able to call her his mother.

“You’re welcome,” she said, patting his cheek affectionately again with a warm smile.  “Now, what do you want on your pizza?”

-

To say that Sehun was frustrated would be an understatement.

His day had started off rocky when he woke up late, got worse when he ran into Jongin at lunch, and was currently at its lowest point.  He had had to sit through several hours of training videos and computer simulations when he got back to the coffee shop that afternoon, and he thought that that, as boring as it was, would have been the worst part of his new job, but he was wrong.  No, nothing could compete with Kyungsoo standing behind him while he was at the register and correcting every little thing he did wrong.

Technically, technically, Kyungsoo was just doing his job; teaching Sehun the proper way to use the cash register and interact with the customers.  But Sehun had a feeling he was taking an indecent amount of pleasure in pointing out each and every mistake, no matter how small, and correcting him in great detail.  If Sehun wasn’t desperate to keep the job (and maybe a little bit concerned about what Kyungsoo would do if he backed out now), he would have walked out the door already.  Every time the urge rose up in him he had to remind himself that he was doing this for Jongin and their baby.  They needed him, and he was going to be there for them, dammit.

Luckily, after Sehun handed the man standing on the other side of the counter his receipt (something he had forgotten to do one time and would never forget again after the ten minute lecture on why it was important), Kyungsoo told him that he could take a break.  He happily stepped away from the register and let Becky, a first year creative writing major at the community college in town, take over for him.  He followed Kyungsoo through the same doors as he had that morning, but this time they went all the way to the end of the hall to a door on the right.

The break room was small, barely big enough for the folding table and chairs set up in the middle and the mini fridge with a microwave sitting on top of it pushed into the far corner, but at least it was quiet.  Sehun sat down heavily on one of the chairs and laid his head on the table.  He automatically went to pull his phone out of his pocket before remembering that it was dead and letting his hand flop to his lap instead, groaning.

“Are you ok?” Kyungsoo asked for the second time that day from his seat on the other side of the table.  Sehun raised his head off the table and looked up at Kyungsoo, who was watching him intently.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sehun said once again, sitting up straight.  “Just, you know, it’s been a long day.  And I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”  Kyungsoo continued to watch him too closely for comfort, and Sehun had to force himself not to squirm under the scrutiny.  The way Kyungsoo was looking at him told him that Kyungsoo knew there was something else going on, but he didn’t ask any more questions.  Nevertheless, Sehun felt like he needed to come up with a better answer to appease him.  He took a deep breath and looked down at his hands before opening his mouth, choosing his words carefully.

“Okay, so, I kind of did something that had… unforeseen consequences.  I’m going to have to deal with some serious relatively soon, and I don’t really know what to do.  Yes, it’s the reason I needed a job at midnight last night,” he said, answering Kyungsoo’s question from earlier in the day.  He looked up briefly to gauge Kyungsoo’s reaction, but Kyungsoo’s face remained neutral, so he went on.  “I’m kind of freaking out because I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can’t really say anything else about it right now.”  Thinking about it was making him anxious again.  The fact that he still hadn’t talked to Jongin was weighing heavily on his mind, assaulting him every time he had a moment alone with his thoughts and making him feel like an even bigger jerk.

Sehun’s mental battle with himself was interrupted several moments later by Kyungsoo’s simple, “Okay.”

“Okay?” Sehun repeated, confused.  “That’s it?”

Kyungsoo shrugged.  “I mean, what do you want me to say?  That was a pretty vague story.  I don’t know what you did, so I don’t really have any advice to offer.  Look, I’m not going to force you to say anything you don’t want to say, but I meant what a said earlier.  I know we’re not great friends, but we are friends.  If you need to talk to someone, you can talk to me.”

Sehun nodded slowly, not quite sure what else to say since he couldn’t elaborate any further.

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you’re doing a hell of a lot better out there than most people do on their first day,” Kyungsoo said then, trying to lighten the mood.

“You’re kidding, right?”  Sehun was skeptical.  With the way Kyungsoo had been berating him all afternoon, he figured he was the most useless employee to ever work there.

“Yes, really.  Believe it or not, you’re actually catching on to everything really quickly.”

“Oh, so you were just being an whenever you ed at me for something.”

“Only sometimes.  I have to entertain myself somehow,” Kyungsoo said mischievously.  Despite everything going on, Sehun had to let loose and laugh at that, grateful for the normalcy of Kyungsoo’s behavior.  “But for real, though, you’re doing way better than Becky did when she first started.  It took at least a week for us to trust her to use the register unsupervised.  I’m pretty sure you could handle it now.”

“Okay, I guess that does make me feel a little bit better,” Sehun said, preening somewhat at the praise.  It was a little weird to hear it from Kyungsoo, but he would take what he could get.

Just then the break room door swung open and in walked Becky, eyes glued to her phone and thumbs tapping away at an impressive speed.  She didn’t say a word to either of them as she took a seat in the chair closest to the door.

“Becky.”  Kyungsoo tried to get her attention, but she barely acknowledged him.

“Hmm.”

“Becky.”

“What?”  She finally peeled her eyes away from her phone screen and looked up at Kyungsoo, clearly miffed at being dragged away from whatever she was doing.

“Becky, who’s watching the register?” Kyungsoo asked pointedly.

“It’s time for my break,” she said in lieu of an actual answer, showing no remorse at leaving the store unmanned as she looked back down at her phone.  “You guys have been back here forever.”

Kyungsoo scoffed at her excuse, but couldn’t say much in his and Sehun’s defense as a glance at the clock on the wall told him that they had, in fact, been sitting there longer than they should have been.  “Next time make sure you say something before you walk away,” he said as he stood up.  Sehun followed suit, and the two of them returned to their post where an agitated soccer mom was waiting to order a grande, iced, sugar-free, vanilla latte with soy milk, “And could you be quick about it?  I’m running late.”

“Go ahead,” Kyungsoo said, gesturing for Sehun to take over the register.  “You take orders, I’ll make the drinks.”

Sehun nodded, ready to prove that he could handle his job without a babysitter.  He entered her order and took her payment with a smile, even as she sneered at him for keeping her waiting. 

i know there wasn't much in this chapter, but hopefully it was still worth your time.  i had more planned for it, but if i had included everything it would have been too long.  but that means i have most of the next chapter planned, so i should be able to get it done faster than this one.  thanks for reading!