Continued from here.

Luhan had been right, two months down the line and twelve weeks into his pregnancy and Minseok was struggling to fasten the button on his jeans. Since he knew he was pregnant it didn’t result in him freaking out and going on a diet only to end up in the hospital like the girl in Luhan’s weird tv drama but it had in a sense come as a surprise. He was a P.E teacher so he tended to wear a lot of sportswear, and not only at work. He didn’t see why he should wear fancy clothes around the house when he’d only be cooking or cleaning or watching tv, it would be pointless so his work wardrobe and home wardrobe were pretty much the same. And sportswear as a rule didn’t tend to need zipped or buttoned up so he hadn’t really noticed any of his clothes getting tighter. It was only when he’d been invited to Chanyeol’s parents for a family dinner and he’d decided to look for something nice to wear that he’d realised how much his waistline had expanded. His first choice of outfit and the trousers wouldn’t do up at all which had been embarrassing to say the least. So he’d tried again and gone for a pair of jeans that weren’t skinny fit but even then it had taken more than one attempt for him to get the zip up and the button fastened and they’d felt so uncomfortably tight that he hadn’t really been able to enjoy dinner. When they’d finally gotten home the first thing he’d done was head for the bedroom and change them for a pair of shorts. The second thing he’d done was stand in front of the mirror and lift his shirt so he could get a proper look at his stomach. If his jeans weren’t fitting then surely there should be a noticeable change. And he supposed there was, it just wasn’t one he was happy with. Because while he didn’t look pregnant yet that didn’t mean he couldn’t see a difference between now and how he’d looked a few weeks ago. His waist was a little less defined and his stomach looked a little softer, it reminded him of how he’d looked just after Christmas, bad weather had meant less exercise and the holiday season had meant more food so by the time New Year had rolled around he’d gained a few pounds and he’d spent the following two months trying to lose them. How he hadn’t noticed how much weight he’d put on this time he didn’t know, looking at his reflection now the difference was pretty obvious. But then he’d had a lot on his mind he supposed, finding out you were expecting a baby was kind of a big deal so maybe he shouldn’t be too hard on himself. It was still depressing though, how it had snuck up on him he thought, prodding at his now far from flat stomach. He knew how much some people struggled to lose their baby weight so there was a possibility it would never be as flat as it had been again and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. The fact that he might never get his pre-pregnancy body back was a little scary to be perfectly honest.

And when Chanyeol finished putting the leftovers that his mother had sent home with them away and finally made it to the bedroom that’s where he found him, still standing in front of the mirror prodding at his stomach with a frown on his face.

“What are you doing?” He’d asked, clearly confused.

“Nothing.” Minseok had said and he dropped his shirt, his cheeks turning pink.

Chanyeol had looked sceptical. “It didn’t look like nothing.”

And with a sigh Minseok had told him the truth. He’d explained how he hadn’t noticed how much weight he’d put on until he’d tried to fasten his jeans and he’d told him that now that he had noticed he didn’t like it because he didn’t look pregnant he just looked fat. If he squinted then even his face looked chubbier. He couldn’t believe no one had mentioned he'd gained weight. Only their close family and friends knew about the baby so everyone else must be thinking he’d let himself go. It was embarrassing.

“You don’t look chubby.” Chanyeol told him with a hint of amusement. “You look healthy, there’s a difference. And even if you don’t look pregnant to anyone else, you look pregnant to me." He added and he stepped forward and slipped his arms around his waist before resting his chin on the top of his head. Then he was pulling himcloser and sliding one hand under Minseok’s shirt so he could bring it to rest on the slight swell of his stomach, “I know that our baby’s in there and that’s all I can see when I look at you.”

“You should just ignore me.” Minseok said, feeling stupid for making such a fuss. “I’m supposed to be gaining weight, I know that. The fact you can notice it now shouldn’t be bothering me, I mean I knew it was going to happen at some point. I’m being an idiot.”     

And Chanyeol automatically tried to make him feel better. “You’re not an idiot. It’s normal to feel insecure at this stage of your pregnancy. Your body’s changing pretty quickly and you have no control over it. That can be scary.”

“And how do you know what’s normal right now and what’s not?” Minseok asked, unable to hold back a smile. He found the fact that Chanyeol was trying so hard to make him feel better ridiculously adorable.

“I read it in a magazine.” Chanyeol shrugged, rewarding him with a smile of his own.

“What else did it say in the magazine?” Was Minseok’s next question.

“It said I should remind you how attractive you are to me on a regular basis.” He’d replied. And he’d spent the rest of the evening doing just that.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

A month later and Minseok’s stomach definitely looked rounder. Going into week fifteen he’d looked more pudgy than pregnant but going into week sixteen he suddenly found he had a bump. He’d really popped, or at least that’s how Luhan had put it before going on to poke and prod at his belly without permission. And now that he had it wasn’t just Luhan who was having trouble keeping his hands to himself. He’d be in the kitchen making dinner and Chanyeol would unexpectedly appear behind him enveloping him in a hug as he reached round with one hand to rub at his stomach. He’d be sitting on the couch watching tv and the next thing he knew Chanyeol would sliding one arm behind his back and pulling him into his side then he’d be slipping his free hand under his shirt and leaving it there. He’d be in bed, lying on his side and silently be the fact he could no longer sleep on his front and he’d suddenly feel Chanyeol’s breath on the back of his neck and an arm would be draped over him effectively pinning him in place and he’d have to lie there and wait for his boyfriend’s breathing to even out before he could throw the arm off and try for a second time to get to sleep.

And he knew he shouldn’t be bothered by how hands on Chanyeol was being. He’d always been affectionate and he was clearly excited about the baby so it was something he’d been expecting. But he was bothered by it. Every time Chanyeol slid a hand under his shirt to caress his bump it reminded him of the fact he had a bump. He didn’t like looking pregnant any more than he’d liked looking chubby, he just couldn’t get his head around the fact that the reflection he saw in the mirror every morning was his. He didn’t look like himself anymore and it was freaking him out. He was getting bigger by the day and it wasn’t even as if he could disguise his rapidly growing stomach by wearing more clothes. It was the middle of summer, a particularly hot summer at that so if he started wearing a hoodie all the time not only was he going to end up sweating buckets but people were going to think he was crazy.

“I don’t want to go in.” he said to Chanyeol one morning as he was getting ready for work. He hadn’t felt so insecure about his body since he’d been a teenager and he didn’t like it one bit. “The kids keep looking at me like I’ve sprouted another head or something. It’s really disconcerting.”

“You look properly pregnant now and I guess that’s weird for them.” Chanyeol replied, not seeming overly concerned. “I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon though.”

“I doubt it.” Minseok said not feeling much better. “As time goes on I’m just going to get bigger and bigger. How am I supposed to keep teaching P.E when I look enormous already? It’s a joke.”

“You don’t look enormous.” Chanyeol argued. “You’re only just starting to show.”

“Okay, so I might not be enormous yet,” Minseok conceded, “but I will be soon. And I’m going to look absurd.”

“You’re going to look amazing.” Chanyeol amended. “I’m sure you’ll look just as perfect when you’re nine months pregnant as you do now so you don’t need to worry.”

And Minseok couldn’t help going slightly red at the compliment. Even if it wasn’t true, even if he knew for a fact he was going to end up looking like an elephant it was always nice to hear those kinds of words come from his boyfriend’s mouth. So he’d thanked him with a kiss and finished getting ready for work feeling a little less self-conscious.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~

He was twenty-two weeks pregnant and even though everyone kept telling him how small and neat his bump was Minseok really was starting to feel huge. Maybe it was because he’d not been all that big to begin with but when he looked in the mirror now bump was all he could see. But as enormous as he felt it was something he was starting to get used to which was a good thing really since he had another eighteen weeks or so of his pregnancy left to go. He was only going to get bigger and the sooner he came to terms with that the better.

Something he wasn’t used to yet though was how susceptible he now was to advertising. It wasn’t all advertising, he could watch a car ad on tv without feeling the need to go out and buy a car he could see read a review for a new model of mobile phone in a magazine and not be tempted in the least to check it out. What got him though, every time was food. Ads for supermarkets, cooking shows, fast food places, pizza delivery services, restaurants, noodles, ice cream, yoghurt... it didn’t matter what it was, if he saw anything edible these days he wanted it. And the more saturated fat or sugar that the advertised foodstuff contained the more he wanted it and that was what was bothering him the most.

Because there was no need for him to be craving fatty and sugary food. It wasn’t as if he needed the extra calorie intake, he’d hardly been starving himself. In fact he’d been doing his best to make sure he was eating enough or at least enough of the right foods. Their cupboards were well stocked with various beans, lentils and leafy green vegetables and if he ever got peckish between meals there was always plenty of fruit in the fruit bowl.

And he was pretty hungry he thought, eyeing the bowl on the table, so it was just as well there was. What he really wanted though, and had been wanting since early that morning when he’d gone to check the mail and been met by a handful of take-out menus was a bucket of fried chicken of all things but that could hardly be considered a snack. But if he couldn’t have that then he supposed he could settle for an apple or a handful of grapes. Although he had had an awfully big lunch he reminded himself, he’d gone out to eat with Luhan and while the food had been healthy the portions had been huge. And dinner was just around the corner so maybe it would be best to hold off. Yeah, yeah he’d just leave it, wait to eat until Chanyeol got home.

~~

Ten minutes later the apple was gone and he was starting on the grapes. Why he was still eating them he didn’t know, to be honest they weren’t doing much to ease his hunger pangs. That probably had something to do with the fact that he couldn’t get the thought of sitting down to a bucket of fried chicken out of his head, it was hard to enjoy what you were eating when you were busy fantasizing about eating something else. But he couldn’t help it, no matter how much he tried to tell himself that he didn’t need it, that if he gave in and ordered it for dinner he’d be doing his baby out of a healthy and balanced meal he just couldn’t stop thinking about the god damned stuff. Never before had he wanted to eat something so much that it had him struggling to think straight. He had lesson plans for the upcoming term to finish before Monday and he’d been trying to make a start on them all day but every time he sat down and tried to concentrate his mind would start wandering and before he knew it he’d be thinking about food again meaning he’d hardly gotten anything done. It was crazy.

What was even crazier was the fact he could now smell it. He swore he could. He was eating grapes but he could smell chicken. He was obviously going insane.

Then the kitchen door was opening and Chanyeol was there, a carrier bag in each hand. “I brought dinner,” he told Minseok, looking incredibly proud of himself.

And Minseok realised he wasn’t going crazy after all, the reason he’d been able to smell fried chicken was because there was currently fried chicken in his house. Well that was just great. “Why would you do that?” he asked Chanyeol, his tone accusatory.

“I know it’s your turn to cook but you were out shopping with Luhan most of the afternoon. I thought you might be tired.” Chanyeol explained. He looked a little confused. Obviously he’d been expecting to be thanked with a smile not questioned with a frown.

“That’s not what I meant.” Minseok told him. Chanyeol had messaged him earlier and asked how he was and he’d replied with the words ‘stupidly tired’ so he’d sort of worked that part out for himself. “I meant why would you buy chicken? You know I’m trying to eat healthily and you’ve brought a bucket of saturated fat home for dinner.”

“I brought two buckets.” Chanyeol corrected him. “There’s potato wedges too. And ice cream for dessert.”

He’d gone back to looking pleased with himself and Minseok found himself shaking his head. “Then you’re going to be eating all that fried chicken by yourself because I’m not touching it. One of those buckets probably adds up to more than my recommended calorie intake for an entire day.”

“You don’t have to eat all of it.” Chanyeol pointed out, placing the bags on the table in front of him. “A couple of pieces won’t hurt you. Especially not when you’ve been obsessing about the stuff all day.”

He’d mentioned how much he missed being able to eat fatty foods without worrying about the baby before Chanyeol had gone out to work, then when Chanyeol had texted him at lunch and asked if he’d eaten he’d told him about the pasta he’d had and then said that it had been pretty amazing but he’d still wished it had been chicken instead. So maybe he had been obsessing over it a little. And Chanyeol picking up on that and going out of his way to buy it, well that was really thoughtful of him. Turning it down was kind of rude when you thought about it that way. So maybe just this once he could make an exception and eat something that wasn’t all that good for him if it meant letting Chanyeol know how much he appreciated him. “Okay, so I have been thinking about it all day.” He admitted with a sigh. “And you’re right, I guess I don’t have to eat all of it, a couple of chicken wings and some potato wedges aren’t going to kill me.”

~~

Minseok felt like he was dying. He’d literally stuffed himself and now he was paying the price. He was surprised he’d managed to make even the short walk from the kitchen table to the couch he was now sprawled on, just the thought of moving when he felt as full as he did had him biting back a groan.  And he was blaming it on Chanyeol. Why on earth hadn’t he stopped him?

As soon as he’d taken that first bite of chicken all thoughts of a trying to stick to a healthy balanced diet had gone out the window. All he’d been able to think about was how good it tasted and as such he’d failed to keep track of how much he was eating. Chanyeol though, Chanyeol should have noticed him starting on his third piece of chicken when he’d said he was only going to eat two. Chanyeol should have said something when he’d finished half the bucket and then asked him to pass the potato wedges. Chanyeol should not have pushed even more chicken towards him when he’d finished his own and said he was still hungry, it should have been obvious that Minseok’s brain and stomach were not communicating because there was no way anyone could be hungry after eating the amount of food he’d just eaten. And Chanyeol really shouldn’t have reminded him about the ice cream when he was done and let him finish off half the tub.

Although to be fair by the time he’d finished the chicken his brain had finally picked up on what his stomach was telling it. And his stomach was telling his brain that he’d eaten more than enough and it was suggesting that he should stop shovelling food into his mouth. He’d ignored it and asked Chanyeol to get the ice cream anyway. And the ice cream had tasted so amazing that he hadn’t stopped eating until his stomach had stopped suggesting he stop and started telling him it was about to pop so maybe the fact he now felt as bad as he did wasn’t entirely his boyfriend’s fault after all.

“I don’t ever want to see another piece of fried chicken again.” He groaned when Chanyeol finally joined him in the living room.

“Twenty minutes ago you were saying it was the best thing you’d ever tasted.” Chanyeol reminded him, making his way over to the couch and sitting down on the floor in front of him.

“Twenty minutes ago my stomach didn’t feel like it was going to explode.” Minseok stated flatly.

“You did eat quite a lot.” Chanyeol mused.

‘Quite a lot’ was an understatement and a half. “Chanyeol, you bought enough food to feed at least four people and I ate more than half of it. Why didn’t you tell me to slow down?”

“Okay so when you finished off your own chicken and then started hinting that you wanted mine I did think about saying something.” Chanyeol conceded. “But I haven’t seen you enjoy your food like that in a really long time and I didn't want to stop you.”

“I did enjoy it.” Minseok admitted with a sigh. “It was really good chicken. The wedges weren’t bad either. And the ice cream, well the ice cream tasted amazing. But right now I’m seriously regretting the fact I let myself eat as much as I did.” He told him, a hand going to rub at his distended belly. He was sure it must be twice as big as it had been before he'd started eating.

“Are you hurting?” Chanyeol asked, a note of concern in his voice.

“Yeah, my stomach’s aching a little, but it’s not unbearable.” Minseok said, trying to think of the best way to explain it. “Mostly I just feel really uncomfortable and little bit sick.” Which was all he needed. He’d done enough throwing up in the first few months of his pregnancy to last him a lifetime, he really didn’t want to revisit those days anytime soon.

“Hmm.” Chanyeol murmured, thinking his answer over, then he was pushing Minseok’s hand out of the way so he could push his shirt up over his bump and pressing his lips to the taut skin above his bellybutton.

“What are you doing?” Minseok yelped in surprise, pushing himself up on his elbows so he could glare at him properly.

“Kissing it better.” Chanyeol told him as if the answer should be obvious, then his hands were on either side of Minseok’s bump, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles and he was doing it again.

“Well don’t!” Minseok told him. “I feel gross right now, I don’t want your hands and mouth all over my stomach.”

“Sorry,” Chanyeol mumbled, his mouth still pressed to Minseok’s skin. He sounded half sheepish and half resigned which was quite a feat Minseok thought. Then he was making a move to pull back but before he got that far he froze. He had one hand on the edge of the couch now but his left hand was still on Minseok’s bump and he was staring at it intently.

“What?” Minseok asked, taking in the shocked expression on his boyfriend’s face.

“The baby, has he been moving?” Chanyeol asked, looking up and meeting Minseok’s eyes.

“Yeah, he’s going nuts in there right now.” Minseok told him, he had been for the last ten minutes, he didn’t know if he was complaining about how much he’d eaten or if he was trying to tell him he approved of the fact he’d now satisfied his cravings but whatever it was that had set him off Minseok wished he would just stop. Having him wriggling around in there was doing nothing to help his stomach-ache.

“I think I felt him.” Chanyeol said quietly, his eyes drifting back to the hand he still had resting on Minseok’s abdomen.

“Really?” Minseok asked, pushing all thoughts of how gross he felt to the back of his mind. If Chanyeol really had felt the baby move then that could wait. He’d been feeling movement for weeks but nothing that was strong enough to be felt from the outside, it was something Chanyeol hadn’t been able to hide his disappointment about so he really hoped he wasn’t imagining things. But on the other hand there was a good chance he might be, “Are you sure? Because remember, my stomach’s objecting quite strongly about what I just put it through so whatever you felt might have something to do with that.” he said. He hated the idea of Chanyeol getting his hopes up over nothing.

“I don’t know what it was, it just felt weird.” Chanyeol told him, still looking hopeful.

So with a sigh Minseok sat up a little more and moved Chanyeol’s hand slightly to the left. “Keep it there.” He told him, “that’s where I’ve been feeling him move most.”

As if of on cue he felt a familiar flutter followed by a twitch and he opened his mouth to let Chanyeol know the baby had moved but Chanyeol beat him to it.

“I didn’t imagine that.” He told him, “I just felt something push against my hand, I swear I did.”

“Don’t move,” Minseok told him, “see if he does it again.” There was a still chance what Chanyeol had felt had been a coincidence. Wishful thinking even. But then the flutter came again and Chanyeol looked up at him, an expression of absolute awe in his eyes.

“He did, he did it again. I felt him kick.” He said, breaking into a grin. “Our baby just moved and I felt it.”

And Minseok still felt pretty terrible, he didn’t feel any less sluggish or any less sick but he found himself grinning back.  Chanyeol looked so ridiculously happy that it was impossible to keep from smiling. “It might not have been a foot.” Minseok pointed out. “It might have been an elbow.”

“Foot… elbow… does it matter?” Chanyeol asked. “That was... that was our baby.” Then he was bringing his mouth down to his stomach again only this time he stopped before kissing it, his lips hovering less than inch away from the skin. “Hey baby, it’s Daddy,” he said and Minseok felt his breath catch in his throat because while he was used to Chanyeol poking and prodding his stomach by now speaking to it wasn't something he’d ever done before. And now here he was, introducing himself to their baby with such obvious adoration in his voice that Minseok was having a hard time not melting on the spot. “Can you hear me?” Chanyeol asked next, completely oblivious to the effect his actions were having on his boyfriend. “I don’t know if you can yet, you’re still pretty small but if you can hear me then I just wanted to say hi and tell you I can't wait to meet you.”

“Maybe he can hear you a little,” Minseok said, feeling yet another twitch from the baby, “I was reading one of those pregnancy magazines Luhan keeps shoving in my face the other day and I know he can hear me, my heartbeat and my voice. It didn’t say anything about noises from the outside but even if he can’t hear you properly yet then it won’t be long until he can.”

“So I should keep talking to him?” Chanyeol asked, rubbing gently at the spot where he'd been feeling movement.

“Definitely.” Minseok told him.

“Okay,” Chanyeol said and then he was turning his attention back to Minseok's belly. “So baby,” he said, his breath warm on Minseok’s skin, “it’s me again, Daddy, and I just wanted to ask you a favour. Next time you want fried chicken don’t force your mother to eat enough of it to feed two people, because like I said, you’re pretty small. You shouldn’t be eating adult sized portions yet so tricking Mummy into thinking he needs to eat that much to keep you happy, it’ll just make him feel sick and we don't want that.”

“No, no we don't.” Minseok agreed, making himself more comfortable on the couch. “And not only does overeating make you feel sick it makes you really really tired too, so if you can hear your daddy then please listen to him and don’t do it again.”

“I’m sure he won’t.” Chanyeol said, “I’m sure he hates seeing you feel bad as much as I do.”

And Minseok hummed his agreement and closed his eyes because he hadn’t been lying, he was tired, and maybe taking a nap would do him good. Maybe by the time he woke up he’d feel a little less full and a little more human.

“Okay,” Minseok heard Chanyeol say quietly, “I think that’s your Mummy’s way of saying he wants to go to sleep so if you could stop wriggling around so much that would be great.”

And Minseok, eyes still closed mumbled a ‘thank you’ and reminded himself how lucky he was. He was having a baby with someone he loved, someone who loved him right back. He really didn't have much to complain about when you looked at things like that.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

AN: So yeah, this got sickeningly sweet scarily fast. But I hope you enjoyed reading it anyway.