𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 || 𝐉𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐧

II

It’s crazy how much your life can change in two weeks. Or at least, your expectations of it.

In the following morning to their conversation, Joshua wakes up half expecting to never have the topic brought up again, if not as a reminiscent joke of that one time we thought about having a baby together . Still, he’s not surprised in the least to see Jeonghan's number calling him soon after lunch, to make sure he’s taking a proper lunch break and then casually reinstate that he meant everything he said the previous night.

Jeonghan wants to have a baby with Joshua. The thought sounds even more insane during daylight.

In a last attempt to give themselves a chance to back out, they both decide it’ll be good to step back and take a few weeks to think about it thoroughly. There’s an unsaid agreement that it shouldn’t be mentioned to any of their friends just yet, if only because they’re not quite ready to deal with what’s sure to be plenty of other opinions in the subject — right now, Joshua can barely process his own.

The first few days Joshua attempts to look into it, saying he feels massively overwhelmed is an understatement. Going from ‘no plans for a child in the near future because I’m very much single’ to ‘I might have someone pregnant in a month’ practically overnight is a bit of a sudden change, and Joshua ends up spending most of his free time going from pouring over his finances, to wondering where he’s supposed to fit a baby in his apartment, to looking when his lease is up so he can find another apartment, to finally staying up to 3am reading about pregnancies and becoming terrified he will disappoint Jeonghan and be unable to care for him right.

Thankfully, Jeonghan is the one who reaches out first, and it feels like a firm hand pulling him from underwater. Having his best friend share so many of the same questions and doubts he does makes Joshua feel oddily relieved, and it’s a welcome reminder that he’s not alone in this, even if sometimes societal expectations for alphas tell him he should shoulder these concerns himself. It’s easier when they look at everything together, over the phone or in Jeonghan's living room’s carpet, and one by one those questions start being ticked off that list: creating a joint account just for the baby, moving in to Jeonghan's apartament (which is a lot bigger) at least during the first year, discussions of how custody would work long term and how close they’d have to live in order to give their pup the smoothest transition. 

In the grand scheme of things, two weeks is a short period of time. At one point, however, what was once decided to be time to think about it, became time to plan it; conversations start to shifting from ‘would this work’ to ‘how can we make this work’, and Joshua takes it to start writing down little notes when he’s at work with new stuff they need to talk about, like whether their pup should go to public or private school, or how would planning around holidays work. 

Deep down, they both know even before the two weeks are up what they’re going to do it. Joshua won’t admit, but he has three tabs on his computer with little bear baby outfits ready for checkout. No one but his credit card company needs to know.

Even so, all the expectation and logic means nothing to the way his stomach flutters in nerves, throat nearly choking up, and it’s certainly minuscule compared to the absolute bliss Joshua feels the moment Jeonghan beams at him across the couch, looking just as nervous but bursting with so much excitement it’s threatening to spill through his eyes as well.

“So, we’re doing this. We’re having a pup.” He concludes, and lets out a wet laugh.

Joshua breathes out, and he wishes he could stay in this moment forever — except he doesn’t, because there’s still a world of moments in the future he can now look forward to. “I guess we are."