It was Wednesday morning and Jooheon had woken up feeling queasy for the second day in a row, the fourth if you counted Sunday and Monday when he’d woken up with very little appetite and put it down to the heat. But the weather was cooling down now so he couldn’t put it down to the heat any more. And he couldn’t put what had happened last night down to the heat at all.

Being on an early shift had meant he was the one in charge of dinner and he’d been planning to cook. But he’d accidentally fallen asleep on the sofa and had still been asleep when Changkyun had arrived home three hours later so they’d ended up ordering pizza again. It was the second time that week he’d asked for it but it was the only thing he’d really wanted and Changkyun had given in, ordering tuna for himself and pepperoni for Jooheon. And when the pizza had arrived and Jooheon had gone to the fridge to grab some cola to go with it he’d grabbed the kimchi too. Changkyun had then watched in mild fascination as Jooheon had covered his whole pizza in it while Jooheon tried to convince himself that lots of people ate kimchi pizza so adding some to his own wasn’t weird. So what if the pizza he was adding it to was pepperoni?

And it had tasted really good. When he’d offered Changkyun a bite he’d even agreed with him.

It was Changkyun offering him a bite of his own pizza that had sent things down hill. Now Jooheon wouldn’t usually go for tuna on pizza of his own volition but he had eaten it before. It was something Changkyun ordered quite often and he sometimes stole a slice when he did. But this time, as Changkyun had held out the pizza to him the smell of tuna had immediately invaded his nostrils, overriding everything else. It was like the Minhyuk and the fish stew debacle all over again but magnified by ten because the smell was right under his nose. And Jooheon had automatically reared back, shaking his head, a hand going to cover his mouth.

Understandably surprised Changkyun had dropped the pizza back into the box. “Are you okay?” He’d asked and Jooheon had dropped his hand and tried to take a steadying breath.

It hadn’t helped, and Changkyun getting up and coming around the table hadn’t helped either. Since he’d just been eating the stuff he’d brought the smell of the tuna with him causing Jooheon’s stomach to roil and he’d found himself gagging. Then he was pushing past Changkyun and making a dash for the bathroom as his stomach physically heaved. He’d thankfully made it to the bathroom before his stomach rebelled completely but it still hadn’t been pleasant.

Changkyun had understandably been worried, escorting him to the couch when he was done throwing up and asking him if he wanted him to call Kihyun and let him know he wouldn’t be coming into work the next day. Jooheon, with Minhyuk’s words from the other day running through his mind had told him he’d see how he was and call Kihyun himself later if he needed to.

And sure enough, as soon as Changkyun’s pizza was gone he’d instantly felt better. Well enough to eat the rest of his own pizza which had tasted even better cold than it had tasted warm.

Changkyun had asked him if he was sure he wanted to eat again so soon after throwing up and had looked really confused when he’d informed that yes, he was sure, he was starving. Jooheon could relate. It had confused him too, it wasn’t normal. But it hadn’t stopped him eating the whole thing.

Then that morning when he’d said he didn’t feel like eating breakfast Changkyun had shaken his head and reminded him that he’d warned him that pizza wouldn’t sit well with his stomach when it was clearly feeling delicate. He’d offered to call Kihyun again too.

But again Jooheon hadn’t let him. He was pretty sure he wasn’t actually ill.

And as the morning wore on he was becoming more and more sure of that. When he’d sat down for snack with the kids his appetite had been back so he’d helped himself to some apple and raisins too. He was still tired and he didn’t feel one hundred per cent himself but he was otherwise fine.

What Minhyuk had said, about him being pregnant wouldn’t go away though. He’d been thinking about it all morning and was still thinking about it now, even as he was telling Doyoung to hold onto the railing and Jaehyun not to jump down the stairs. They were on their way down to feed the fish but Jooheon was distracted. Either Minhyuk was right and he was pregnant or he’d subconsciously convinced himself that Minhyuk was right and his brain was telling him he should feel sick and tired.

Was he pregnant or was it all in his head?

He was hoping it was all in his head. But he was starting to think that it wasn’t.

Before he could get too caught up in his thoughts though they’d reached the bottom of the stairs and Doyoung and Jaehyun were already ahead of him, waiting by the door to the reception area, practically bouncing up and down with impatience. Jooheon wasn’t sure why but every child in pre-school was obsessed with feeding the fish, it was a fought over job, and Doyoung and Jaehyun were very excited that is was their turn.

“No running,” Jooheon reminded them, reaching up to open the door.

They’d only made it two steps into reception though before Jaehyun was breaking that rule. But since his sprint towards the front desk was preluded by a shout of “Mummy!” and Jooheon could see that it was indeed Hyungwon standing there he couldn’t really tell him off.

“Hey baby,” Hyungwon said as Jaehyun threw his arms around his legs, the shout thankfully alerting him to his son’s approach in enough time so he could keep his balance.

“Are we going home?” Jaehyun asked, still clinging to his legs.

“No, not yet, sorry.” Hyungwon said eliciting a pout from his son. “I was just visiting the baby room with your brother.” He explained, “But I’ll be picking you up later and you can help me make dinner later if you want to.”

“Really?” Jaehyun asked, stepping back to look at his mother properly, expression brightening.

“Really.” Hyungwon confirmed.

While this exchange had been taking place Doyoung had been gravitating towards the fish tank and Jooheon had been gravitating towards the car seat sitting on the reception desk.

The reception area was busy. Hyungwon had been leaning over to talk to Kihyun who was manning the desk and Minhyuk was hovering around the filing cabinet where the accident and medicine books were kept. But Jooheon barely spared them a glance, he was totally captivated by the chubby cheeked baby in front of him.

He’d seen Hyungwon’s youngest son countless times but he couldn’t drag his eyes away. What if he was pregnant? He was going to have one of those soon. A gurgling, helpless baby of his own. Jisung was coming up for six months old now and wasn’t quite as helpless as he once was, he was learning to sit up now, Hyungwon had sent him a picture of him propped up against some cushions the other day, but he was still entirely reliant on Hyungwon and would be for a long time to come. Jooheon didn’t think he was ready for that kind of responsibility. He had enough trouble looking after himself sometimes.

Then Jisung looked up and noticed him approaching. As his eyes met Jooheon’s he gave an excited squeal, arms flailing, smile lighting up his whole face. And all Jooheon’s worry melted away. He was so beautiful. He just wanted to pick him up and squeeze him, shower him in kisses. He briefly caught himself wondering if his own baby would have Changkyun’s smile or his, Jisung definitely had Hyungwon’s smile only cuter because he was currently all gums, and then he had to remind himself that he wasn’t even sure if there was a baby yet. He still hadn’t ruled out the possibility that his symptoms were being caused by an over active imagination.

“How come you get that reaction, and when I say hi he just stares at me like he’s not sure what he’s looking at?” Minhyuk protested, as Jooheon stepped closer and placed his finger in Jisung’s open palm, smile widening as the little boy gripped it tight and tried to pull it towards his mouth.

“Because he’s not sure what he’s looking at.” Kihyun told him, sounding amused. “You’re an anomaly on many levels.”

Minhyuk gave a gasp of mock outrage and Jooheon was about to tell him not to be so dramatic but before he got that far he spotted what Kihyun was holding in his hand. It looked like a white, unadorned greetings card but there was clearly something inside because Kihyun had been studying it before he came in and discussing it with Hyungwon.

“What’s that?” He asked. It looked familiar but it couldn’t be what he thought it was. And if it was then it couldn’t belong to Hyungwon. He’d spoken to him yesterday afternoon when he’d picked up Jaehyun and he hadn’t said a word.

“It’s Hyungwon’s scan picture.” Kihyun told him. “Want to see?”

Jooheon carefully pried his finger from Jisung’s grip and took the card Kihyun was holding out to him. They were messing with him, weren’t they? They had to be.

Only they weren’t. He was looking at what was clearly an ultrasound image, a small baby shaped blob of white in the middle of a sea of black. In the top right hand corner was Hyungwon’s name and underneath that was yesterday’s date…

“He and Wonho are single handedly keeping us in business.” He heard Minhyuk say and if it had been under different circumstances Jooheon would have joined in the teasing. They already had three of their children attending the nursery and Jisung was about to be the fourth, this baby would make it five. It was kind of ridiculous. But he was