sugar daddy * baekhyun x chanyeol

Thirty nine

He felt it before he even woke up.

It was Saturday morning, still dark; Baekhyun was stretched out in the bed alone. Chanyeol had hired two teenagers to work casual hours on the weekend and Junmyeon was going to be the weekend manager but he was still training them. And so, Saturday mornings were still Baekhyun's alone.

Usually he didn't mind. He'd been well for a long time now, having just passed the thirty week mark, a growth scan scheduled for thirty two weeks and his appointments with Byul now closer together as well. His mind was strong, his babies kicked him constantly, and he'd never felt happier than when Chanyeol swept him close at the end of a long day. He often joked that their hugs were at arm's length now, his belly growing so large so quickly, the size and roundness surprising him every day. But Chanyeol loved it, he worshipped it, he liked to lay beside him in the dark and let his huge hands wander, guessing if it was his son or daughter kicking at him, whether he was feeling an arm or a leg or a foot.

However, before he even opened his eyes he felt it. A sharp pain ran from deep inside him, up the sides of his stomach, before stopping. Baekhyun opened his eyes and sat up in panic. Maybe it was just gas or maybe he was lying in a weird position pulling the skin or a taut muscle wrong. He rubbed his eyes and took a few deep breaths and then settled back down. He shifted onto his side, put a pillow under his stomach, and just felt himself dozing back off to sleep when he felt it again. Pain, pulling, sharp and serious. He sat up again and scrambled for his phone and dialled Chanyeol with shaking hands.

"Something's wrong," he stammered into the phone when Chanyeol picked up. "What do you mean Baek?" he heard the slight tremble in Chanyeol's voice before repeating himself. "Somethings wrong. I've got pain, pulling, it's exactly what I think contractions feel like. But it's too early Chanyeol. It can't be...." "I'm coming to get you," Chanyeol said and Baekhyun could hear him clanking things around in the bakery. "It's probably nothing, so don't panic, but we'll go to the hospital to make sure. Okay? I'll be home in ten minutes." "Ok," Baekhyun's voice was small.

He hung up from Chanyeol and, not knowing what was happening, decided to get dressed. He pulled on some comfy sweats, struggled with some socks, and brushed his teeth and washed up. By the time Chanyeol burst in through the door Baekhyun had felt the pull twice more. He wanted to fall into Chanyeol's arms but there wasn't time. Chanyeol took him by the hand and carefully led him out to the elevator and down to the carpark to head to the emergency room.

Luckily, it wasn't very busy. Baekhyun sat down and held his stomach as he tried to ignore how dirty the seats in the waiting room looked. He imagined the thousands of worried, sick, terrified people who had sat here before them, their own problems no lesser or greater than the one facing Baekhyun now. "We shouldn't have to wait long," Chanyeol said when he came back over, "There's a doctor on duty already here."

Neither of them knew what to say. Baekhyun's past reluctance to ask for help was gone with the summer winds. He needed Chanyeol, now more than ever, and he closed his eyes and thanked whatever deity had thrown the man into his path and into his life. The silent squeeze of Chanyeol's big hand on his gave him all the comfort he could find. He tilted his head to the side and let it rest on Chanyeol's shoulder and tried to steady his breathing as the pain came again. "It's all going to be fine," Chanyeol whispered and Baekhyun desperately wanted to believe him. He needed it to be true.

He knew that, at thirty weeks and with healthy growth, technically his babies would be okay. But it wouldn't be easy for them or him. He knew it was too early, they would be too small, things would be too hard. He'd seen images on tv of babies too small for the world, coddled in glass cabinets under warming lights, their eyes covered with little bandages to protect them from the glare. He'd seen them with tubes and monitors, oxygen pumping and screens beeping, making sure they were breathing and eating and living.

When he pictured his babies coming into the world he pictured screaming and blood, Chanyeol's tears and warm blankets, eyes blinking themselves into wakeness and wonder. He never pictured cribs of plastic and tubes of oxygen. He always thought they would come into the world and straight into his arms.

"Baek," Chanyeol roused him from his semi-comatose musings. The doctor was calling for them. They followed him into an examination room and Chanyeol helped him up onto the bed. The doctor asked questions and Baekhyun tried to answer through his worried distraction and his confusing emotions. After taking his blood pressure and listening to his chest and back, taking his temperature and feeling his stomach, the doctor said the words he'd been hoping for. "It's nothing serious Mr Byun; it's more than likely to be what we call Braxton Hicks contractions. It's just the body preparing itself for labour. Kind of like a test run."

The doctor smiled at Baekhyun's visible relief. "Braxton Hicks are quite common," the doctor continued as Baekhyun was helped off the bed by Chanyeol. "Most people don't even feel them. They're usually painless." Baekhyun rolled his eyes. Nothing about this pregnancy was easy or simple or usual. He felt like anything that could happen did happen and worse than anyone had ever had it before.

"I'll refer you for an early scan just to check everything is fine. You can call first thing Monday morning and they'll let you come. My referral will be waiting there." The doctor smiled warmly at Chanyeol. "You did the right thing bringing him though. You're going to be a great father." Chanyeol's tired expression turned barely proud as he heard the words from the doctor. "If the pain gets unbearable, if you feel heavy pressure or like you need to push, if you get a stomach ache or diarrhoea, or if your water breaks come back in straight away. Don't be scared to come and get checked out. "Thank you," Baekhyun smiled weakly at the doctor as they left.

Baekhyun sat back down on the dirty looking chairs as Chanyeol did the paperwork at the desk. He wondered how much relief had been seen in the seats, people sinking into them with a lightness in their heart, their chests now free from the constriction and torment of the unknown.

"Come on," Chanyeol said as he wrapped an arm around Baekhyun's shoulder and walked him out. "I've got fresh made pastries waiting at the bakery. You can meet the kids I've hired to work casual on Saturdays, they're really cute, Jaemin and Jeno." Baekhyun smiled up at Chanyeol from under the man's strong arm and broad shoulder. He felt safe here, like Chanyeol could shelter him from any storm, and like there was nowhere else he would rather be during a storm. "Okay," he said, not even protesting about his slobby looking clothes or his unbrushed hair. He just wanted to drink tea and eat the pastries and watch the sun rise from early to mid-morning from the window of Sugar Baby.

That night he lay in bed unable to sleep. The pain and pulling hadn't really stopped but it wasn't unbearable so he did as the doctor said, took some paracetamol and tried to relax, finally drifting off into an uncomfortable and light sleep with Chanyeol's steady snores soothing him. And for the first time in a long time, his eyes flew open at around 4 am causing him to jump up and tear into the bathroom as fast as his waddling gait could manage. His belly bulged and his thighs burned as he leaned over the toilet and retched his empty stomach.

But a soothing hand rubbed his back and strong arms lifted him back to his feet when he was done. A cool damp cloth somehow found its way across his face and neck and he felt a little better. "It's back," he mumbled sadly to Chanyeol who helped him back to bed. "Maybe it's just a once off," Chanyeol said as he settled as close behind Baekhyun as he could. He wrapped an arm over his love's protruding stomach and rubbed at it gently. "Not long now guys," he said softly as Baekhyun drifted off to sleep. "Don't give your daddy such a hard time please."