--

“God, Hyukkie, that was amazing.” Donghae lies on his back, eyes shut in apparent utter bliss. “That has gotta be some of the best we’ve ever had. Where do you get all your energy?”

Eunhyuk stares at him from the edge of the bed, bewildered. His eyes shift from the open bottle of lube in his hand to the half- Donghae on the bed. “Donghae, we haven’t even started yet.”

“We haven’t? But I could’ve sworn…” Donghae pieces everything together, realizes he’s right, and plops back down onto the bed with a frustrated groan. “I hate this pregnancy brain.”

Eunhyuk puts down the lube and climbs into bed with him. “You know what, let’s do this another night. We’re obviously both too tired from work and to be honest, you don’t seem very aware right now so the thought of having with you scares me a little.”

“No, no, I can do it.” Donghae climbs on Eunhyuk’s lap, making the latter grunt as the other’s weight sets in. Donghae has gained a little weight these past few days, and it’s showing particularly in the belly area. Eunhyuk is hating this sympathy pregnancy more and more. He loves Donghae to death and he’s not lying when he says that he’d love him no matter what he looks like, but he finds it a little hard to become attracted to him like this. Even if Donghae is giving it his all to grind on him. “Oh yeah, baby, you like that, huh?”

Eunhyuk has to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing. “Uh, yeah, I like that. But, honey, listen, you ought to get some rest. We have to get ready for work tomorrow and I’d hate to keep you up.”

“Are you sure?” he tries to protest, but he can’t help but sound tired as Eunhyuk lays him down on the bed. “After all, I don’t want your hormones to build up and you end up ing some other chick.”

Eunhyuk flinches a little. Though he can’t blame Donghae for being wary, considering what happened a few months ago with their wedding planner. “That’s never going to happen, babe. I swear. Now, let’s both try to get some sleep, okay?”

“Okay.” Donghae hums as he makes himself comfortable in Eunhyuk’s arms. “Hyukkie, what’s your job anyway? You never told me.”

“Oh, it’s nothing important, baby.” He turns off the light and shushes Donghae. “Come on, let’s sleep.”

Donghae mumbles something as he falls asleep. Eunhyuk waits for him to start snoring (he recently picked up that habit, another effect of the damn sympathy pregnancy) before slipping away. He grabs a dirty magazine and a box of tissues and locks himself inside the bathroom for the next twenty minutes.

--

“Gunhee.” Heechul murmurs as he nudges the other with his foot.

“What?” he says without moving.

“Get up and make dinner.”

“It’s your turn.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Yes, it is.” Gunhee rises only to pin both of Heechul’s arms down on the bed. “I made kimchi fried rice last night, remember?”

“Yes, and it .” He wraps his legs around Gunhee’s hips and pulls him down so their half- bodies are touching. “There are other ingredients for kimchi fried rice than just kimchi and rice, you .”

“And yet you ate two servings.” Gunhee bites on the love mark he had left on Heechul’s neck this morning. Heechul winces a little at the slight pain. “Let’s just order take-out.”

“Fine. You do the ordering.”

“I ordered last time.”

“So what? You’re a hairdresser, I’m an art teacher. I make more money and I’m more exhausted at the end of the day, thus you should be—”

“Oh, shut up.” Gunhee groans and picks himself up from Heechul. “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll make dinner. But just so you know, I’m only going to open a can of something and slather it over some rice.”

“That’s gotta be better than the frozen hotdogs you didn’t bother thawing last week.” He says. “You’re lucky I love you.”

Gunhee stops and turns around. He looks surprised. “What did you just say?”

“Nothing.” Heechul, realizing what he just said, blushes and hides under the covers.

He, as well as Gunhee, knows that there was something different about Heechul’s ‘I love you’ this time. They only say ‘I love you’ to each other when they bring each other alcohol and/or cigarettes, when they’ve had too much to drink or after a hot session of —they never say it to each other over something so trivial like making dinner. It was obviously a slip-up. A very nice one.

Gunhee rips the sheets off Heechul. “You just said you love me. And it sounded like you meant it.”

“No, it was platonic. Like always.” He insists defensively. “If you don’t believe me, I’ll take it back.”

“No, don’t take it back. I want to give it back to you.” He climbs back on top of him and kisses his nose. “I love you.”

Heechul smiles, albeit devilishly. “You’re still making dinner though.”

“Dammit.” He gets up, gives Heechul’s knee a light slap as a lame sort of revenge, and leaves to make dinner.

Approximately five minutes later, Gunhee’s turned the whole kitchen upside down looking for the damn can opener when the doorbell rings. He calls out to Heechul as he goes through all the drawers again.

“Heechul, someone’s at the door.” He says.

“You get it; I’m busy.” Heechul replies from the bedroom.

“Busy doing what?”

“Doing nothing.”

Gunhee sighs. “Just get off your , you lazy .”

There’s an annoyed grunt, followed by the shuffling of footsteps coming from Heechul as he puts one of his boyfriend’s shirts on and goes to answer the door. Once he opens it, he sees a very pregnant Suzy with a note pinned on her shirt, and Heechul immediately regrets opening the door.

“Sungmin and Kyuhyun just dropped me off.” She explains as Heechul unpins the note and unfolds it.

Dear number one and number two,

Suzy is driving us crazy. Unfortunately, we can’t leave her alone because Eunhyuk and Donghae will freak out if anything happens to their baby, so we’re passing her on to you. She’s your problem now. Expect lots and lots of crying and you better have lots of food in your fridge. Have fun!

Oh, and word of advice, don’t call her fat. Even though she is. She will never shut up about it. We found out the hard way.

Love, the very irritated and -deprived Sungmin and Kyuhyun

Heechul’s eyes widen when he finally notices the bags around Suzy’s feet; if he were heartless, he would have slammed the door in her face. Sometimes Heechul wishes he was as heartless as he used to be before Sungmin and those idiots turned him into a big softie.

“Gunhee,” he says as he lets Suzy in, “you’re going to have to make actual food tonight.”

“What?” Gunhee comes out, holding the can opener which was in the sink the whole time, and sees the pregnant woman standing in the middle of his apartment. “What are we supposed to do with that?”

Suzy has a dazed look in her eyes, similar to the way Donghae looks like every day. “I’m sleepy,” she decides with a yawn, “I’m gonna go to sleep. See you guys in the morning.”

She makes her way into the couple’s bedroom before either of them can stop her, leaving the two wondering where they’re going to sleep as that was their only available bed in the house.

--

“I hate your job.” Kyuhyun says whilst reading his book and listening to Sungmin doing his job next to him in bed. “I know I say that a lot, but it will never stop being true—I truly ing hate your job.”

Sungmin shushes him and returns to his phone call. “That’s right, baby, I’m just lying in bed and rubbing myself all over.”

Kyuhyun, having heard enough, stands up and leaves the bedroom. Sungmin, alarmed by his behavior, makes an excuse and ends the call and follows him out.

“Are you angry?” he asks as he joins Kyuhyun who’s sulking on the couch.

“Yes, Sungmin, I am.” He replies bluntly. “Don’t I have a good reason to be?”

Sungmin blinks innocently, “What did I do?”

“Are you being serious right now? I have to sit and listen as my partner has phone with different creeps every night.” He retorts. “It’s bad enough having to hear it, but knowing that other people are getting off while you to them…” he’s too upset to even finish his sentence.

“But, Kyuhyun, honey, it’s the only thing I’m good at.” Sungmin knows he’s in the wrong, but he made sure to get Kyuhyun’s permission first before taking a job as a phone operator—Kyuhyun knew what he was going into.

“That’s not true.” He tells him. “You’re a smart person, Sungmin. I don’t just love you for your body, you know. I love you for your mind too. There are so many other great things you can do.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he thinks about it, “maybe you can work with me at school. Or maybe you could get a job in fashion or something.”

“Maybe I can be a model for Heechul’s art class.”

“No, you’re not doing that.” Kyuhyun immediately dismisses.

“Kyuhyun, I love being your wife, but I want to be other things too. I want to work; I want to be able to buy you a present with my own money.” He says, tugging on Kyuhyun’s heartstrings. “I can’t just sit around in the house while you work your off all day.”

“We’ll find something for you, Sungmin. I promise.” Kyuhyun kisses the back of his hand. “Something much better than a phone operator.”

Sungmin takes in a deep breath. “I hate you.”

Kyuhyun looks at him strangely as he goes back to the bedroom. He gets up and goes in as well, “Are you going to quit?”

Sungmin is already dialing the number of his boss, “I hope you realize we’re gonna lose a lot of money because of this.”

“You’re really making the call?”

“Shut up.”

A few moments later, Sungmin puts the phone down and announces, “There. I quit. I’m getting my last paycheck on Friday. I hope you’re happy.”

“I’m ecstatic.” He kisses Sungmin as a thank you. “Don’t look so sad. You can still to me.”

Sungmin smirks, “That’s true.”

At the end of the night, Sungmin hears something he’s never heard from any of his clients. Or from anyone else, for that matter.

“I love you, bunny.”                                                                                  

--

Eunhyuk and Donghae have had Suzy’s due date marked on their calendar from the very start, and when the day finally comes, they can’t be any more thrilled. They pack everything they need for the hospital and the baby and spend the entire day waiting for Suzy to go into labor, even skipping out on work just to sit around the house and wait for her water to break.

But it never happens.

So they continue to wait for the next two weeks, and still, nothing happens. Suzy’s grown even more irritable since this is the most uncomfortable she’s ever felt her whole life—she knows the baby is ready but it just won’t go—and Eunhyuk and Donghae are losing sleep (and hair) stressing out over the whole situation. They’ve checked with the doctor and he says that it’s perfectly normal for the baby to be a few weeks late, and that there are many ways for them to induce labor. They try everything on the list, except one which is to have with Suzy, which she eagerly insists on doing if it’d ‘get this damn baby out of her’, and Eunhyuk almost agrees if it weren’t for Donghae grabbing a heavy book from the shelf and whacking his husband in the back of the head with it.

“We need to relax, Hae.” Eunhyuk says one morning as he frowns at his reflection in the mirror. He can’t remember the last time his dark circles looked this terrible. “So the baby’s a little late, so what? Maybe she’s just so comfortable inside Suzy’s womb that she doesn’t want to come out. You know, like the way we get too comfy in the bathtub and we never want to get out.”

“She’s just like her two daddies then.” Donghae chuckles as he fixes Eunhyuk’s shirt collar. “Can you believe that somebody is going to call us ‘daddy’ soon? We’re going to be parents, Hyukkie.”

“I know, baby, it’s crazy.” Eunhyuk agrees. “It’s gonna be worth the wait.”

“Since I’ve been feeling everything that Suzy’s been feeling, do you think I’m going to feel her labor pains too?”

Eunhyuk winces at the thought of Suzy with a human coming out of her screaming at him and Donghae feeling the exact same thing sobbing and screaming at him as well. “Oh dear God, you two are gonna kill me in the delivery room, aren’t you?”

Donghae smiles and kisses his cheek. “Tell you what, why don’t you and I go to dinner tonight? After work? And then we can pamper ourselves at the spa.”

“That sounds perfect.” He says. “I get off at seven, so I’ll pick you up and we can go to the restaurant by your office.”

“Great,” he nods. “What do you do anyway? It’s a little strange that I’m married to you and I don’t even know what your job is.”

“I’m late,” Eunhyuk once again dodges the question. “See you tonight, Hae. Love you.”

“You’re going to have to tell me sooner or later.” Donghae’s call is useless as Eunhyuk has already gone out the door.

He looks back into the mirror and realizes that his pants are on backwards. Sighing, he takes them off again and puts them on right. Eunhyuk’s not the only one who’s fed up with this whole pregnancy brain—frankly he just wants the baby to come already so Suzy can stop being pregnant and he can stop feeling everything she does.

--

 “Finally, a nice, peaceful and relaxing night for just the two of us.” Eunhyuk expresses his relief as he and Donghae sit back and enjoy their foot rubs. “Doesn’t this feel great?”

“I have to admit, it does.” Donghae shuts his eyes in pure bliss. “I can’t remember the last time I felt this relaxed.”

Eunhyuk’s phone rings and the screen shows Suzy’s number. He ignores it, not wanting anything to interrupt this wonderful evening—she’s probably just calling to cry about how her jawline has disappeared again—but she continues to call again and again. Eunhyuk answers her ninth call just so his damn cellphone would stop buzzing.

“My water broke,” is the first thing she says after Eunhyuk picks up.

He’s quiet for a moment. He looks at Donghae, who’s clearly enjoying being pampered, and he almost doesn’t want to tell him since he looks so peaceful. It takes him a while to sort out his priorities. Finally, he replies, “Of all the ing times, Bae Suzy.”

--