“Sungmin-ah?” Ryeowook’s knocking on the bathroom door was getting louder- as was the younger male’s complaining. “Hyung, please hurry up! I need in the bathroom too!”

For almost a month now Sungmin had been feeling strange. It started weeks ago when he had too much to drink at a party and then couldn’t stop throwing up the next day. It had been a great party though. He still felt sick to his stomach whenever he ate but the last few days the vomiting had been minimal. 

Today on the other hand, they’d gone to a big party and even though he’d been careful not to drink any alcohol, he had certainly thrown up the pizza and ice cream he’d had.

He washed his face and put some toothpaste on his toothbrush. He didn’t like to but he could use the sink in the kitchen to finish cleaning up. He barely saw the squirming blur that zipped past him as soon as he opened the door. “Thanks hyung!”

His stomach still felt weirdly queezy but at least he wasn’t going to throw up anymore. If he didn’t know better he’d swear that he must be pregnant or something…

He paused, chewing thoughtfully on the bristles of his toothbrush. He’d always been fond of children but this wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he thought of raising a family.

Sungmin went back to the bathroom door and knocked politely. “Wookie, I’ll be on the 12th floor if you need me.”

“I… okay, hyung.”

Sungmin hurried to finish brushing his teeth and left his toothbrush on the dish rack to dry.

“Teuki!” Sungmin cried as he bounded up the stairs. “I think I know what’s wrong with everyone! Teuki! Hurry up and open the door, Dongie!”

“Ah, Sungmin-shi I have a head ache,” Heechul growled from his place on the sofa as Shindong opened the door for Sungmin.

“Sorry Hyung, but I think we’re probably just pregnant.”

“What??” Heechul demanded jumping to his feet. “How could that happen?”

“You, me, Teuki and Ryeowook lost the drinking game so we bottomed, didn’t we? And now we are all sick too. What does that tell you, hyung?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sungmin-ah,” Teuki had poked his head out of the bathroom only to run right back in.

Heechul started pacing because the more he thought about it, the more he started to fear that Sungmin could be right. “Oh …”

“Heechul, relax.” Leeteuk shook his head. “Yes, we bottomed but we’re still guys, Sungmin.” 

“I said we’re pregnant. I didn’t say it made sense yet, hyung,” Sungmin huffed.

“We’re men. Men don’t get pregnant.”

“We did.”

Teuki gave an exasperated sigh, but no one had an answer for that. 

“I don’t like this,” Heechul growled. He felt helpless and frustrated but the more he thought about it, the more he agreed with Sungmin. “We better call the manager though. I mean, what else can we do?” 

“Okay. I’m going to go call the clinic and get a doctor’s appointment,”

“Wait!” Sungmin’s eyes widened at Teuki’s sharp screech. “Sorry, it’s just that we need to do this quietly. We’re idols, remember?”

“I know.”

“Well, I mean let’s wait and see what the Manager-hyung says...”

For Sungmin, the next week was agonizingly slow to pass; the others refused to believe him and didn’t even want to think about it. But he continued to demand that he at least be allowed to visit a doctor anyway.

So, the company found a safe and discreet place for the boys to be examined. They were put on a chartered flight to New York City and from there; they were herded into a hotel suite for the night. The company had thought it wise not to send an outside interpreter along and had settled on Kibum. 

It was officially unclear how long they would need to remain in New York. But Sungmin already knew he was pregnant- and it kind of scared him that he was so certain. 

“Sungmin-ah? Do you really think that they will… find anything tomorrow?” Ryeowook asked worriedly.

Sungmin was afraid of their examination tomorrow as well. But at least in America they would have top notch doctors as well as privacy that they could never hope to find anywhere in Asia. “Yes.”

The younger male shuddered and looked away as he pulled the bedroom door shut between them.

Sungmin didn’t sleep well that night. Visions of baby bottles and a herd of toddlers annoying Heechul had kept him awake. But he was the first one ready to go to the clinic when a van arrived to take them to the clinic. The others were already obviously frightened and he didn’t want to burden them further with his fears.

He felt responsible some how, as if spilling the beans had made things worse. Personally, he figured the only way things could get worse was if none of them knew what was going on and they had to keep wondering until they got fat...


Throughout his examination the doctor was able to speak with him, but Kibum found the whole thing hilarious as soon as he figured out that Sungmin was the one undergoing pregnancy tests.

He laughed even more when the doctor confirmed that he was not only pregnant, but there were four of them. Four? Sungmin wondered. How could that have happened?

His blood tests had revealed plenty of abnormalities but the babies were apparently healthy and for the moment that was all that the doctor was willing to talk about. He asked Kibum to reassure him that he would talk to them more about what he found once the others had been examined.

Once he left the exam room he sat beside Wookie and sighed. He felt numb and knew that it was because he was scared. But at the same time he was glad to know that he’d been right. Teuki didn’t look like he wanted to know but Heechul was ignoring everyone else and Ryeowook had started to cry.

“Sorry Hyung.” Kibum chuckled, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “I suppose I shouldn’t laugh but I think you’re right about Heechul.”

“If you had been there that night you would have been on our team. So you’d be having one too, Bummie.”

“Yep,” Kibum nodded. “Turns out those acting lessons have mine were good for something after all.”

“We sure miss you though.”

“Thanks, hyung. I’m glad they called me.”

Sungmin nodded. “I’m pretty sure I know when it happened actually. It was at that big party for the Company a few weeks ago. I was already drunk when this girl handed me some purple drink. It tasted funny but it was good. After I drank that, I didn’t know which way was up anymore but I didn’t care cuz I got laid a lot.”

“Too bad I missed it. Sounds like it was one hell of a party,” Kibum grinned. “I better get back in there; it sounds like Teuki-hyung is having a cow.”

Sungmin nodded as Leeteuk’s panicked voice shouted for a third time, “No! Not This!!”

“Stupid Yesung…” Ryeowook growled, glaring at his phone. 

“What’s wrong?”

“He just sent me a text that said the doctor is wrong because you aren’t pregnant.”

“Does he really think that is helping? I don’t know how to fix it…” Sungmin sighed. 

“Well can you really blame him? I don’t ing believe it either!” Heechul hissed and slammed the door to the waiting room’s restroom, but even after he disappeared he continued ranting. “. This can’t be happening!”

“Since he said I’m having four, I think the doctor is totally serious...”

“Wait- four? Was that like the number four- 4 babies?” Ryeowook looked confused. “One would be improbable but 4? How?”

Sungmin shrugged quietly, still stunned by the news, his attention started to wander. What would they tell their families? And, while he loved children, he never imagined himself with four of them. On the other hand, he couldn’t imagine having an abortion either…

He still wasn’t ready to openly admit that he was gay but this certainly seemed to have left him little choice. He had already admitted to Kibum that it was a good party because the afterwards had been amazing. That still didn’t make him comfortable with the thought of being a mother, though.

When the others and the doctor came back into their private waiting area, their manager was the first one to greet them. Sungmin sat tiredly on the couch, uncertain what to do or even how to feel.

The waiting room was deserted except for their small delegation, but the doctor looked anxious anyway as he led them down another corridor and into a small conference room.

“Well, my preliminary findings is that all four of you are indeed, definitely pregnant. The problem is that of course, it is completely artificial meaning there is a terrible risk to both each of you as the mother, and to the babies. I would recommend an operation to terminate each pregnancy as soon as possible.” The doctor said, and as Kibum finished his translation, Sungmin shook his head.

“But how can we do that? Isn’t life sacred?”

“Yeah,” Ryeowook sighed. “We didn’t get a choice in this, but life is a gift right?”

“But we’re idols- do you realize what this will do to our careers?” Heechul demanded.

Sungmin glared at him. “Do you realize what it could do to our careers anyway if it ever gets out that the four of us had abortions?”

Leeteuk sighed. “Do you have any idea how this happened, doctor?”

After Kibum translated the question, the doctor paused a moment before responding. “Well, I have two of my nurses and the receptionist looking into some of the periodical medical journals in my office for confirmation, but yes. I believe I know how it was done.”

“I don’t get it though, we’re men. It isn’t like this could just happen on its own,” Heechul snapped impatiently.

“That is the problem. When I was in Medical School at Berkley University, a woman who was about to graduate the program one year ahead of me got into a fight with a few other female students off campus. She was beaten pretty badly but the school did nothing about it because it was off campus and no witnesses came forward to take her side.”

The doctor paused to allow Kibum to translate. “So, for revenge this student used her medical knowledge to get the entire female cheerleading squad pregnant- artificially. It raised a few eyebrows but nothing was done for four months, not until one of the cheerleaders died quite suddenly. When the autopsy results came back it was found that she had died of severe internal hemorrhaging- because the baby had developed deep inside of her right ovary, eventually tearing through it completely.”

“So what happened?” Leeteuk asked. 

“I only remember this because the cheerleader who died was my girlfriend at the time, and of course our baby died with her. Anyway, upon being questioned, the medical student I spoke of earlier, Alison Davis admitted to lacing all the food and drinks at a party she knew would be attended by the cheerleaders with a special concoction of extremely powerful fertility drugs. Her actions were seen as a violation of the Hippocratic oath that all doctors must take, so she was immediately dismissed from the program at the University-”

“Okay, but what does all of that have to do with us?” Heechul demanded.

The doctor nodded after Kibum translated the question, “After she was dismissed from Berkley, Alison completely disappeared from the medical field as far as I knew… That is, until last year, when I noticed an article that she got published in an international journal of medicine- in it she detailed an odd but brilliant theory detailing how it would be possible to impregnate a man- without a change.”

There was silence at the table after that until their manager spoke up. “You said it was international journal? Where is she publishing from now?”

“South Korea.”

Sungmin’s stomach dropped so hard that he thought he was going to throw up again…

The doctor added, “She was always exceptionally brilliant, that hasn’t changed. Since she still can’t be a medical doctor, she went overseas to study something else. Apparently, she now holds doctorates in both biochemical engineering and as a fertility scientist. And, while I don’t know why she targeted you, I believe that you are her newest guinea pigs…”