Continued from here

Being pregnant mostly . The bigger he got the more bulky and clumsy he felt and he was fast getting tired of people looking at his bump instead of at his face when they spoke to him. And then there was the whole sleep thing, sleep wasn’t something he’d had a lot of just lately. It took him forever to get comfortable now and if he did manage to get to sleep at a decent hour he’d only end up waking up a few hours later anyway because he needed to use the bathroom or because his daughter was kicking the crap out of him or both. And his feet, his feet hurt all the time. He couldn’t walk around for more than five minutes without them starting to ache.

It wasn’t all bad though. He’d been at home by himself all afternoon and usually after an hour or two of having no one to talk to he’d be bored out of his mind. But it was nearing dinner and he’d been home since lunch and he was fine. Because he wasn’t alone, he had his daughter there to keep him company. He’d had her there to listen to all his complaints about the crappy daytime dramas he’d been watching, his main complaint being that everyone was stupidly skinny and how that wasn’t fair.  And yeah it wasn’t like she could answer back but maybe that was a good thing. He’d been a little touchy lately (it was probably down to hormones, not that he’d ever admit it to anyone) and Jongin could be kind of slow sometimes, failing to pick up on the fact he wasn’t in the mood to be argued with until it was too late so it was nice being able to talk to someone and not have to worry about them saying something stupid.

“Now, do you see her?” He asked, his feet propped up on the coffee table and one hand resting on his six month bump as he pointed at the tv screen. “Well no, you can’t see her I guess. You’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that she wouldn’t be that skinny if she’d just had a baby. There’s no fat on her anywhere, it’s just not realistic. Surely they could have stuck something under her shirt or found a way to make her cheeks look a little fuller. Because I’m not being funny but once I’ve had you there’s no way I won’t need to go on a diet. The amount you’ve had me eating recently has been insane.” He was rewarded for this comment by a nudge against his palm and a rumble from his stomach reminding him of the fact that lunch had been hours ago and he sighed. “Yeah, yeah I know.” He said, giving his belly a rub. “We’ll eat when Daddy gets home I promise.”

And then the front door was opening and Sehun was pulling his hand away like it had been burned because talking to the baby when nobody was around was one thing but to have Jongin catch him at it would be really embarrassing, especially since he tended to make fun of his boyfriend for the nauseatingly sweet voice he used when he did the same. He didn’t think he sounded quite as bad as Jongin, in fact he was pretty sure he’d been talking to her like she was a person as opposed to a puppy the entire time but there always a chance his voice sounded different too when he talked to her and he’d rather not be laughed at for it if he could help it.

But when he looked up at the door, half expecting to be met by a judging look because he’d been too late pulling his hand away it was Jongin who looked like he’d been caught doing something that he shouldn’t have been. He’d frozen after closing the door, his hand still on the door handle, a rather surprised look on his face. “I thought you’d still be at work.” He said after a moment of two of stunned silence.

“I had the dentist this morning so I’m working tomorrow instead, I told you this yesterday.” Sehun said, more than a little annoyed by the fact Jongin clearly hadn’t been paying attention to him. And then he spotted the bag in Jongin’s hand. The one he was holding slightly behind him as if hoping that would be enough to hide it from Sehun. It wasn’t. “What is that?” he asked. He was ninety per cent sure he knew the answer to that question already but it seemed only fair to give Jongin the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he hadn’t been out spending more money on pretty but ultimately useless things, maybe he’d bought something they actually needed like more bibs or a baby monitor. They didn’t have a baby monitor yet.   

“It’s nothing.” Jongin said and he started walking towards the bedroom, head down.

Ah so it was something ultimately useless then. “You really need to stop buying things just because they’re pretty.” Sehun told him and realising there was no point trying to avoid the subject when he’d already been caught Jongin stopped and turned back to face him.

“I know.” He said which was what he said every time. “I know, but doesn’t our daughter deserve pretty things?”

Well of course she did. She deserved the best of everything, that’s what she deserved. Sehun just didn’t think she needed a room full of pink, frilly tat. Ever since they’d found out they were getting a daughter and not a son it had been impossible for Jongin to pass by anything girly without having the urge to buy it. Meaning they now had a drawer full of impractical dresses, all bows and flowers and lace that she was probably never going to wear more than once. And the toys, god the toys, cute little kittens with bows, puppies in pretty collars, fluffy pink bunnies, the butterfly mobile above the cot, the music box on the dresser complete with spinning ballerina. Walking into the nursery was like walking into a toy store aimed exclusively at little girls. If it turned out the doctor had been wrong and it was a boy they were having they were going to be screwed. “I’m sorry,” he said with a sigh, “but we can’t afford to be spending money on things we don’t need right now. You know that.” He almost sounded like a responsible adult Sehun thought wryly. It was a little scary but then he supposed that’s what having a baby did to people, it made them grow up that bit faster.

“I won’t pick up anything without asking you first, not again.” Jongin told him. Sehun would find it a lot easier to believe him he thought if he hadn’t heard the same promise half a dozen times already and he was about to tell his boyfriend so but before he could Jongin was talking again. “But this,” he said, holding up the bag. “I really think you’ll like this.”

“Is it another dress?” Sehun asked, not feeling particularly hopeful. As far as he was concerned all the dresses Jongin had bought for their daughter so far looked pretty much identical.

“No, no it’s not a dress.” Jongin told him and in two seconds flat he was on the couch beside Sehun and opening up the bag. Sehun was a little jealous of the speed in which he’d moved across the room, it had been a long time now since he’d been able to move that fast. But then Jongin was talking again and he was putting that thought to the side. “I wanted to wait to show you, there are still a few more things I need to put in it but I suppose you’ll want to see it now.”

“You’re right, I do want to see it now.” Sehun agreed, whatever it was though he just hoped Jongin had kept the receipt because he’d be asking him to take it back. If he wanted Jongin to realise he was serious when he said they didn’t need any more girly pretty things then he was going to have to start putting his foot down and start making him return stuff.

“Here” Jongin said and he slid what appeared to be a photo album from the bag and held it out for Sehun to take.

“My Story.” Sehun said quietly looking down at the book now in his hands, brushing his fingers over the raised letters on the front. They cover was white, the lettering silver and beneath the title there was picture of a teddy bear. “Is this one of those baby books?” he asked. It was a nice thought he supposed and the album really was pretty, less fussy and much simpler than what he’d thought Jongin would have picked out, it was more like something he would choose himself he realised but it still wasn’t something they needed.

“Yes.” Jongin confirmed looking incredibly proud of himself. “I saw it when I was out and I realised we didn’t have one yet. And you have that memory box don’t you? You’re always putting things in there. So I thought you might like it. Do you like it?”

“Yeah, yeah I like it…” Sehun said slowly. How was he supposed to tell Jongin to take the thing back when he looked so pleased with himself? He’d been so thoughtful too, Sehun did like making a record of things, taking photos, saving keepsakes and the fact Jongin had remembered that when he’d spotted the book made him want to hug him instead of scold him. It was probably hormones again he thought with a sigh. Out of control hormones were ruining his life.

“Do you really?” Jongin asked, obviously noticing the touch of reservation in his answer.

“Yeah I do… I just… you keep saying you’ll stop buying things on impulse and you keep doing it and…”

“I know and I’m sorry.” Jongin said as he trailed off, “But if you just open it I’m sure you’ll love it.”

And Jongin looked so earnest and sincere that Sehun couldn’t refuse his request. So he opened the book and took a look at the first page. ‘How it all began’ the title read and underneath the title there was a picture, a photograph, and that photograph was all it took for Sehun to forget about asking Jongin to take the book back entirely. “Where did… that was the… it seems like forever ago that we…” was all he managed to stutter out.

It was a photograph of the two of them on a ferris wheel, he’d taken it himself, his arm draped across Jongin’s shoulders to keep him close. The Jongin in picture looked both happy and a little bit shocked Sehun noted, smiling a little at the memory it conjured up. The shock had been understandable, as first dates went theirs had been a disaster. The first place Jongin had taken him to for lunch had no record of the reservation he’d made and had told them it could be over an hour until there was table available. The second place they’d gone to had messed up their order and instead of bringing Jongin what he'd asked for they’d brought him a dish that had made his eyes water and not wanting to make a fuss he hadn't returned it. After that they’d decided to walk down the beach to the theme park Jongin had booked them tickets for rather than take the bus and it had started pouring with rain ten minutes into the half hour walk. The downpour had lasted a good ten minutes and neither of them had had an umbrella. Sehun’s shoes, chosen that morning because the weather forecast had made no mention of rain had ended up completely waterlogged and taken the rest of the day to dry out. When they’d made it into the theme park the rollercoaster Sehun had been looking forward to riding the most had been closed for maintenance and when he’d said how disappointed he was Jongin had looked so miserable that Sehun had quickly dragged him over to the line for the nearest ride and had told him he’d been looking forward to going on that one too. The ride had happened to be the ferris wheel which had broken down when it had reached the top and it had taken forty five minutes for an engineer to get it moving again. After the ‘hold tight, we’re doing our best to get you down’ announcement Jongin had looked close to tears and that’s when Sehun had pulled his phone out and suggested they take a picture. Jongin had been incredibly relieved, he’d thought that after the disaster of a day they’d had Sehun would want nothing more to do with him and there he was wanting to capture the memory on camera. Kissing had followed, because what else was there to do when you were stuck at the top of a ferris wheel and when they’d finally made it to the ground Jongin had asked him if it was something Sehun wanted to do more of, the dating thing not the being stuck at the top of a ferris wheel thing. Sehun had said yes and that had been that, they’d been inseparable ever since.  

“It was three years ago.” Jongin said quietly, bringing a still smiling Sehun back to reality. Jongin had been incredibly cute back then, all awkwardness and nerves, how could he not smile at a memory like that? “Well almost. It won’t be three years exactly until next week, which was why I wanted to wait to give it to you.”

“Next week.” Sehun repeated looking up at his boyfriend, the smile replaced by a confused frown.

Jongin nodded.

“Our three year anniversary is next week.”

Jongin nodded again. “Yes.” He said. “Next Friday it’ll be three years exactly since that picture was taken.”

“Are you sure it’s next week?” he asked. If it was that close then surely he’d have remembered it was coming up before now. “I thought it was in June.” He added as he tried to work out what date it was in his head.

“Sehun, tomorrow is the first.” Jongin told him gently.

“The first of June?” No way was tomorrow the first of June. If tomorrow was the first of June that meant today would have been pay day and pay day was something he always remembered. He spent so much of the month complaining about how far away it was that it was hardly something he was likely to forget.

“Yes, the first of June.” Jongin told him and to prove himself right he whipped his phone out of his pocket and held it up so Sehun could see the date. And yes, yes the date read May 31^st.

“I thought today was the twenty somethingth.” Sehun told him, still confused. “How could I get that wrong? I mean I had the dentist this morning, I had to hand over my appointment card, my appointment card with the date on it.”

“You’ve had a lot on your mind.” Jongin told him, trying to make him feel better but the obvious amusement evident in his voice let him down.

“It’s not funny.” Sehun muttered, not appeased in the slightest. “Being pregnant is turning my brain to mush. I spent five minutes yesterday looking for my phone before realising I’d used it to call my mum and I was still talking to her.”

And yes, Jongin unsurprisingly found that just as funny, so funny in fact that he couldn’t help laughing. “Really?” he asked. Then he noticed the daggers his boyfriend was glaring at him and immediately quietened down. “Sorry, I’m sorry.” He said quickly. “You’re right, it’s not funny. It must be really frustrating for you, I shouldn’t have laughed. It’s just, that’s so cute. Admit it, if it was the other way round you’d be smiling too.”

“Maybe.” Sehun conceded grudgingly. Jongin had a point, confused and bewildered was a really endearing look when Jongin was wearing it. And then Jongin was distracting him by turning the page.

“You took this the day we moved in.” Sehun mumbled, his eyes automatically drawn to the book in his lap. The photograph in question was again self-taken only Jongin was holding the phone this time, the empty apartment behind them the background. And this time it was Sehun’s turn to look startled because just before Jongin had hit the button he’d pressed a kiss to his cheek and while that was a hardly a first it had come without warning. “Why did you have to put this one in?” he asked, “I look ridiculous.”

Jongin was quick to correct him. “You look adorable.” He said. “And it was a pretty big step for us wasn’t it, moving in together? If that hadn’t happened then maybe there’d be no baby right now. That’s why I picked it for the book.”

At the words ‘no baby’ Sehun found himself frowning and moving his hand up to rest on his stomach. His pregnancy might not have been planned but the idea of there being no baby right now wasn’t one he liked. “It’s a good thing we decided to try living together then I suppose.” He said and he felt a bump against his palm. Obviously their daughter agreed with him he thought, feeling a little better now that she’d reassured him of her presence. Then his eyes were drawn back to the photograph on the page. “But really Jongin, couldn’t you have chosen a more flattering photo?”

“We didn’t take very many.” Jongin reminded him. “And some of the photos we did take aren’t exactly appropriate for the baby book.”

“The weather was hot.” Sehun mumbled, his cheeks reddening ever so slightly. Jongin being shirtless in so many of the photos taken that day had been inevitable, telling him to put his clothes on when he was already sweating would have been cruel. And there’d been a reason behind every single photo he’d taken. Jongin carrying the first box over the threshold, a moment to be remembered. Jongin hanging the blind in the living room, a moment to be remembered. Jongin struggling to put together the flat pack tv stand they’d bought, a moment to be remembered. Jongin sitting on the floor ordering take-out for the first time in their shared apartment, a moment to be remembered. Walking in to find Jongin fast asleep and snoring on the mattress that was acting as both couch and bed until both could be delivered, a moment to be remembered. So yes, each and every picture had been justified. It wasn’t his fault Jongin’s abs had stolen the spotlight in every single one of them, it was entirely down to the weather. What Jongin’s justification had been for half the pictures he’d taken though Sehun didn’t know. Jongin’s collection of pictures seemed to consist of Sehun taking various things out of large boxes which meant his backside was featured more than his face and while it was flattering to know that his boyfriend appreciated his enough to take photos of it he’d really rather keep their existence a secret.

“Excuses, excuses.” Jongin said with a grin.

“At least I had an excuse.” Sehun grumbled shoving his shoulder hard enough to make him sway sideways. “What was yours?”

“Those shorts looked really good on you.” Jongin said with a shrug once he was sitting back upright. He seemed completely unperturbed by the fact his boyfriend had tried to forcefully remove him from the couch, in fact he was still grinning.

“Yeah well, I guess that was a memory worth holding onto.” Sehun conceded. “Because they’re never going to look that good on me again. I doubt they’ll ever fit me again. I’ll probably have to throw them out.”

“You still have them?” Jongin asked, his eyes lighting up.

“Of course I still have them.” Sehun said, rolling his eyes. That really hadn’t been the point he was trying to make. “I put them away with the rest of my summer clothes.” And they hadn’t come back out again because for the entirety of this summer he was going to be very noticeably pregnant and sadly none of his summer clothes had been made with pregnant people in mind. “But I like I said, it’s not like they’re ever going to fit me again so you can stop smiling because I won’t be wearing them next summer either.”

“Of course they’ll fit you again.” Jongin argued. “You haven’t put on that much weight. If you discount the bump you can barely tell the difference between you now and you six months ago.”

“But there is a difference?” Sehun asked him, not feeling any better about the shorts situation than he had done before.

And Jongin belatedly realised he’d made a mistake and tried to back track. “Not much of one.” He tried to assure him. “In fact there’s hardly a difference at all, if people didn’t know you they wouldn’t be able to tell, not by looking at your face.”

Unfortunately Sehun was not willing to let go of the subject. “But you can tell.” He pressed and Jongin sighed.

“A little bit.” He admitted obviously realising that Sehun was going to keep on at him until he told him the truth. “But the extra weight, it suits you. It makes you look healthier.”

“It makes me look chubbier.” Sehun corrected him, trying hard not to pout and failing.

“Cuter.” Jongin immediately countered. “Honestly, it looks good on you. I like it.”

Sehun wasn’t sure how to respond to that. On the one hand Jongin’s assurances were nice to hear, on the other the hand it was just even more confirmation that he was indeed putting weight on by the day.

But it looked like he didn’t have to worry about thinking up an answer because Jongin’s hand was suddenly at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer so he could press a kiss to his forehead and then his nose and then his lips.

And suitably distracted Sehun brought his own hand up and tangled his fingers in Jongin’s hair to keep him in place. Jongin took this as an invitation to deepen the kiss and the baby book fell from Sehun’s lap, momentarily forgotten as he fell back against the couch cushions pulling Jongin with him. With his bump to contend with there wasn’t much room to manoeuvre but Sehun didn’t really mind, it was hard to care when Jongin was kissing him breathless.

Then Sehun’s stomach decided to very audibly remind him just how long it had been since he’d last eaten and the moment was completely ruined, Jongin pulling away with a laugh and sitting up.  “Hungry?” he asked.

Sehun’s response to this question was to stay exactly where he was and cover his eyes with his hands in embarrassment.

Jongin found this just as funny, another bark of laughter escaping and Sehun was seriously considering kicking him off the end of the couch when he felt a hand slide up underneath his shirt and he froze.

“Hey baby girl, you want some food?” Jongin cooed, rubbing his tummy gently and Sehun didn’t know what he wanted to do more, vomit at the cheesiness or kiss his boyfriend silly. He was just too cute.

“Pizza.” Sehun mumbled, lowering his hands and looking up at Jongin. “She wants pizza.” He told him.

“Oh she does, does she?” Jongin asked, his hand still resting on his stomach and Sehun nodded.

“Yes,” Pizza had all he’d been able to think about all afternoon. And he’d given a lot of thought to what toppings he wanted.  “Barbeque chicken with mushrooms and banana.” He told him.

“Banana?” Jongin repeated, obviously thinking he’d misheard.

“Yes banana.” Sehun confirmed, embarrassment setting the second time in the space of two minutes.

“You mean for dessert?” Jongin pressed, still unable to get his head around what he’d just heard.

“No, no I mean on the pizza.” Sehun told him, his face heating up again.

“Oh.” Jongin said faintly, “that sounds…”

“Don’t judge me.” Sehun groaned, pushing himself up to sitting. It was quite a task, their baby being the rather healthy size that she was. “I can’t help it if our daughter has weird taste.”

“Barbeque chicken is sweet…” Jongin conceded, trying to make him feel better, “… and so are bananas so I guess it could work.”

“Right, it could totally work,” Sehun agreed.

“As cravings go it’s not really that bad.” Jongin continued, patting his shoulder soothingly.

“No, no it’s not.” Sehun said, trying to convince himself that it was true. People ate apples with pork, cranberries with turkey, why shouldn’t have banana on his pizza?

“It would be a good one to add to the baby book though.” Jongin said next, bursting his bubble immediately. “There’s a page in there for you to write down any weird cravings.”

“Well I better find a pen while you order the pizza then,” Sehun told him, resisting the urge to kick him yet again. After all the fact their daughter wanted to eat the strangest things wasn’t any more Jongin’s fault than it was his he supposed. Taking it out in him wouldn't really be fair.

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

AN: I thought this would be just as short as the last Sekai but it ended up being a little longer. It was just to much fun to write. Sekai are just too much fun to write in general. Thanks for all the subs and comments as usual. I appreciate them all. And I hope you keep enjoying my stuff xxx