To say that Yongguk was nervous was an understatement. Upon the nerve-wrecking deliverance of his child, he had relapsed into a child himself. In the living room of his house, he was surrounded by his friends and having a mental breakdown.

            Youngjae looked at his oldest hyung and wrinkled his nose. “Yongguk-Hyung, don’t you think you’re a bit too old to be playing with plastic swords?” He asked as Yongguk parried an imaginary and lunged forward, nearly stabbing Youngjae.

            He knows he has gone a little bonkers, but Yongguk couldn’t help himself. His wife’s contractions started a little over an hour ago but nothing has happened as the nurse hasn’t called him up. He sighed. If only his mother wasn’t so stubborn and demand an at-home delivery. Maybe at the hospital, he would have more incentive to act like an adult.

            He knew that his friends were judging him but Yongguk was scared. He didn’t know if he would be a good father, and he’s heard the horror stories about childbirth. He didn’t really want to be up there when she was screaming her head off. He didn’t want to see her in pain, and he definitely did not want to get the circulation cut off from his hands when she held him as support.

            The entire living room was decorated with toys and presents from the baby shower a few days ago. The baby was early too, not much, but that was also a concern. What if the baby wasn’t as healthy as he should be? Yongguk bit his lip and dropped the sword, and began pacing.

            “And there he goes, reverting right back into worried grown up mode,” Youngjae whispered. Yongguk scowled and heard shouts from upstairs. He immediately began to sweat and ran to the bottom of the staircase.

            His mother stuck her head out the door. “Sorry. We saw a cockroach,” she informed them. “She’s still not dilated enough. You can control yourself and then come up when the midwife arrives. She should be here soon.” It was a barrage of words and Yongguk scowled. Way to worry him.

            He spotted a plastic horse on rolling wheels and sat on it. Yongguk began rocking himself backwards and forwards and he heard Himchan say, “Yep, he’s really lost it.”

            He closed his eyes and tried to block everything out and focused on his breathing. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he jerked, nearly falling off the toy. His wife was smirking at him. “Shouldn’t I be the one focused on the breathing?”

            He blushed deeply and coughed defensively. “Well, I was just trying to put myself in your situation, you know. Be the understanding husband and feel your pain.”

            Her eyebrows shot up and she almost scowled. Uh oh, here comes the inner banshee. “Do you really want to feel my pain?” He shook his head, already regretting his words. “If you really want to feel what I’m going through,” and she leaned in to hiss in his ear, “you can try to expel a ten pound watermelon. Maybe that would show you how I’m really feeling.”

            Yongguk held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, tiger. I’m sorry I said anything. Let me walk you up the stairs?” She winced then and bit her lip. He held onto her and she nodded.

            “That would be a really good idea,” she whispered. And once more, the tame kitten he fell in love with was back. She leaned against him gratefully and Daehyun patted his .

            “Yeah, go Hyung!” he cheered as he took Yongguk’s place on the toy chair.

            The midwife arrived right when the contractions really began to escalate. She gripped onto Yongguk’s hands tightly and breathed heavily. He ran a thumb soothingly over her hand. “Shh, you’re doing great,” he tried to encourage her only to have a pair of bloodshot eyes glare at him angrily. He pretended to zip up his lips. “Okay, no more. I’ll just suffer with you in silence.” She tried to laugh but another wave of pain caused her to clench tighter.

            The midwife was concentrated as she massaged her stomach. “Just a little more. The baby is crowning,” she informed everyone and both mothers sighed in relief.

            Yongguk had a vague idea of what that meant but he continued to watch his wife anxiously. She grew significantly paler and the sweat was rolling off her face. He kissed her forehead and she screamed again. There was another, smaller cry and everyone was cheering. He barely had time to register as the midwife swaddled the baby and presented it to Yongguk.

            “Cut the cord,” she encouraged. He did and stared at the small wrinkly face for a while. He pursed his lips. How could something so small be the cause of his anxiety?

            “Done staring?” he heard a sarcastic voice behind him.

            He laughed and saw his wife propped on her elbow. She reached weakly for the baby and he handed him over. She scrunched her nose at him and wagged a stern finger at the unaware infant. “You better make us proud for all the trouble you gave us. Even giving your daddy a mental breakdown. You should hit him for stealing your rocking horse. ‘Bad daddy, bad daddy,’” she cooed in a high pitched voice and kissed the baby on his cheek.

            The midwife took over and took the baby to be bathed and Yongguk smiled at her. “I love you.”

            His wife crossed her eyes, still able to joke around even after having dealt with the long ordeal that was childbirth. “I know. Which is why I keep telling myself to love you back.” When his face dropped, she laughed out loud and pinched his cheek. “Silly. Why would I go through all that trouble to bring our baby into the world if I didn’t love you?”

sighs Daddy Gukkie ♥