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His cell phone rings on the desk beside him in his office. Shen WenLang looks at it, rolls his eyes and picks up, answering as he puts it to his ears.
"No."
Hua Yong sighs on the other end of the line.
"You don't even know what I want."
"You're going somewhere to do God knows what and you need somebody to babysit your precious, exclusive omega."
"My pregnant, precious, exclusive omega."
"Yes, the guy with the bitchy attitude that you fuck every night, leave me out of it."
"Why would I do that?" Hua Yong asks innocently. "If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have him under me in the first place, so now you have to help me manage the current situation."
WenLang leans back in his chair, feeling the beginnings of a headache.
"You know, I always knew there was something wrong with your upstairs brain, but now your overdoing it with your downstairs brain. How does Sheng ShaoYou put up with you?"
Hua Yong chuckles over the line. "Just know that he does, and it's not our fault you used your downstairs brain once and can't use it again. You just sound jealous."
Irritated, WenLang growls, "Get off my phone, you childish prick."
WenLang is about to hang up but Hua Yong's voice comes loud through the speaker.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't hang up. I need you to spend a few hours at the house, I need to take care of a serious issue at X Holdings."
"Sheng ShaoYou is a grown ass man, I'm sure a few hours by himself won't do anything to him. You're acting like he's 5!"
"It's not that..." Hua Yong actually sounds pitiful, a hint of worry in his voice. "You know his pregnancy isn't normal, even though the medical staff is on standby, I want someone I trust keeping an eye on him, just to be safe."
WenLang deflates like a popped balloon, Hua Yong always knows what to say to get him to do what he wants. "Fine, but I'm sending you my therapy bill, that guy still doesn't like me."
He can feel Hua Yong's perkiness through the phone. "He doesn't hate you, it's just pregnancy hormones. You'll be fine."
"Asshole," WenLang grits out before hanging up.
**********************************************
The house is huge ass but nothing too huge ass. The pair moved to this house two months ago because ShaoYou stubbed his toe in his bedroom doorway of their last home and Hua Yong decided the house itself was his greatest enemy in the world, not his clumsy omega. Of course WenLang doesn't say that to his face but if he had a dollar for every time these two acted like the Saint Lunatics that they are he would be richer, and he finds himself repeating that sentence a lot. He's got a copy of the master key to the house and he knows all security codes, so he just lets himself in before looking around for ShaoYou, keeping his eyes out as he moves forward.
He's walking around the living area when the door leading out to the patio suddenly slides opens and ShaoYou walks in, wearing only a very small shorts. It's obvious he went swimming in the outdoor pool and the first thing WenLang notices is how smooth, long and honestly, rather sexy his legs are. He finds that last part of his thoughts rather ick so he moves his eyes up to his stomach, which is protruding but not too big. For somebody almost 5 months pregnant he just looks like he's puffy from overeating. He then notices the finger shaped bruises on his hips and quickly moves his eyes up to his chest, which is a minefield of hickeys and bite marks. ShaoYou's nipples are red and puffy, looking like they got treated like a pacifier all night and WenLang really have to wonder if these 2 are alright. There's no way anybody should look like they got chewed up for breakfast, lunch and dinner by their significant other like that. ShaoYou shuts the door and then turns around, looking up to see him and startling like he's looking at a ghost.
"Shen WenLang!" he spits before crossing his hands over his chest, trying to hide Hua Yong's collage.
"What the hell are you doing in my house unannounced?"
If Sheng ShaoYou was a dragon he would be breathing fire. WenLang feels a little embarrassed, but only a little.
"Your future husband asked me to keep an eye on you, so here I am."
ShaoYou scowls. "He talked like you were coming over later, I didn't know it would be now."
He looks embarrassed, the red creeping into his cheeks and up to the tip of his ears. WenLang just shrugs.
He avoids WenLang's gaze, one hand subconsciously creeping down to cover his stomach while looking anywhere but at him. After a moment he mutters, "I'm going to get dressed, ok?"
WenLang nods, watching as ShaoYou keeps looking anywhere but at him before walking down the hall to the master bedroom, trying to look smaller while muttering under his breath.
That was awkward.
With nothing going through his brain except what he just saw, WenLang goes to the couch and grabs the remote, deciding to see if anything would interest him on the 70" flat screen TV on the wall. He skips through a few channels but nothing catches his attention, nothing takes away from Sheng ShaoYou's pregnancy glow, the way his body seemed omega soft instead of alpha strong. His thoughts automatically loops to Gao Tu, wondering if with pregnancy he would look just as soft and inviting, wondering if he wouldn't be able to keep his hands off him the way Hua Yong is obsessed with ShaoYou's body. Pregnancy doesn't just affect the expectant mother, it affects the father too and he dreams about Gao Tu getting pregnant with their second child before the first is even born. He thinks of all the things they might have been doing as a mated pair, being there for each other, in sickness and in health just like he always have even though he didn't fully realize his feelings.
It takes a moment for WenLang to break out of his thoughts about Gao Tu, which is when ShaoYou, wearing long cotton pants and a big t-shirt, just plops a glass of water down on the table before him, causing some of the liquid to splash over the side of the glass from the force.
"For you."
"You're not a very good host, are you, Mr. Sheng?"
"I'm a very good host, just not to you, WenLang."
ShaoYou says the words with a smile before walking off and WenLang watches him head towards the kitchen. He comes back a moment later with paper towels that he uses to clean up the mess, then, he just picks up the glass and drinks the water without warning.
"Hey, what the hell, that was mine!"
"Not anymore," ShaoYou says before walking away towards the kitchen.
This rude mother......
WenLang gets up and follows behind him to the kitchen, hellbent on saying his mind and getting more water but a really delicious smell hits his nose after he crosses the threshold. The smell is so good it derails his thoughts from imaginarily slapping ShaoYou into next week to realizing he's hungrier than he thought.
"What is that smell?" he asks softly, looking at the stove where two pots just sits.
ShaoYou puts the glass down, then looks at him before following his line of sight to the stove.
"Oh, Hua Yong cooked for me, it's spaghetti and meatballs."
ShaoYou and his western food kink. He turns back around to the sink to rinse the glass out and WenLang just takes a fork from the open utensil tray on the counter, lifts the lid of the pot and stabs a meatball with it before putting it in his mouth. He groans at the warmth, how good the thing tastes, with all the right spices and the excellent texture and the oh so good smell.
"Shen WenLang, why the hell are you eating my food?!"
He looks at ShaoYou, who's standing there with a disbelieving look on his face, glancing between his face and the pot.
"I'm hungry, I see food and I eat," WenLang manages between chewing, rolling his eyes and groaning again at how fricking good that meatball and sauce is.
"Don't..," ShaoYou grumps as he walks over, getting all up in his face and trying to take the fork from him. He pulls his hand back so the fork is out of ShaoYou's reach and instead of fighting him on it, the man just grabs the pot off the stove and put it on the counter, out of his reach.
"Hey, I was eating that!" he complains after swallowing, wanting more.
ShaoYou gives him that head to toe look like he's lower than the shit beneath his shoes.
"Don't come into my house and eat my food, pig brain."
Ouch, that one actually stings.
"Hey, I need payment for babysitting your grumpy behind. A little food as currency is the least you can do, right?"
WenLang stretches the fork out to the pot, his mouth salivating but ShaoYou pulls it back angrily.
"Can't we at least share?" WenLang asks hopefully. He had no idea Hua Yong's culinary skills were so marvelous. Maybe his good cooking, and probably good sex (ick), is why ShaoYou is willing to put up with his maniac personality. It can't be anything else.
"You want my food? I'm preg..."
ShaoYou can't even say the word properly. He closes his eyes, swallows and then grits it out. "I'm pregnant."
It's like the S-Class alpha in him wants to overthrow the exclusive omega sometimes and he sympathizes, eternally glad he wasn't the object of Hua Yong's obsession since he would have gotten him pregnant too.
WenLang deflates. "Fine, but I'm really hungry..."
His stomach growls loudly, craving that damn meatball.
ShaoYou's tense shoulders slump slightly, like he's thinking about it. If it's one thing a pregnant anybody will understand is how debilitating going hungry can be.
"Damn it.... get a plate, I'll give you just a little so you won't pass out from hunger on me."
WenLang smirks before getting a big plate from the cupboard. He sets it in front of the other man who looks at him like he lost his mind.
"I'm eating for 2, are you eating for 10?" ShaoYou asks grumpily but he gets the spaghetti and start putting some on the plate.
"More," WenLang instructs when ShaoYou only put out one scoop with the pasta spoon.
ShaoYou scowls at him but does it again.
"Another one," WenLang instructs and ShaoYou's eyes goes wide.
"No!"
"Please?" WenLang puts on the soft eyes that worked on Gao Tu in the past and it works now. ShaoYou grudgingly plates another scoop of pasta. He then lays on the meatballs and sauce thick, clearly irritated but doing it without being asked. He stomps over to the stove and puts the pot back then turns around, clearly stunned when WenLang holds out a second fork to him.
"What's this for?" He asks, completely perplexed.
"You're not going to make me eat by myself, are you?"
ShaoYou looks to the side, clearly embarrassed when his own stomach growls loudly. He deflates before taking the fork from him, no use pretending he doesn't want it.
It feels almost peaceful, ShaoYou with pasta sauce on the corner of his mouth while he chews and WenLang making sure he eats more than he does. He might not be a big fan of Sheng ShaoYou but he wants to put some effort into making sure his baby is ok, even if it means getting ShaoYou to eat because he's too busy being angry at him to notice that he is. They stand there for a moment when the plate is empty, WenLang unwilling to admit out loud that it feels good to not be eating alone for once. Gao Tu was such an integral part of his life he didn't realize just how much space he occupied until he wasn't there anymore. There's a Gao Tu shaped hole in every aspect of his life.
But, Hua Yong is right that this is not a normal pregnancy, because as soon as ShaoYou takes a deep breath his eyebrows crease and he immediately drops to his knees with a cry of pain, scaring the shit out of WenLang. It takes a fraction of a millisecond for WenLang to move, his brain screaming at him to do something.
"ShaoYou! ShaoYou, what's wrong?" He shouts as he circles the counter, kneeling before putting a hand on ShaoYou's back while the man uses both hands to clutch at his stomach.
"Where are you hurt?" WenLang asks frantically while ShaoYou takes deep, gulping breaths through his mouth and nose.
"It's ok, it's ok..." the man says through jagged breathing. "The baby kicked."
WenLang knows the drift by now, but it doesn't make it any easier to stomach. Regular babies are brutal on the body but enigma babies are worse. He takes both of ShaoYou's hands, helping him to stand while he regulates his breathing. He then steers them over to the couch, watching as ShaoYou gingerly sits, his mouth still puffing out air. The pregnant man keeps a stiff grip on his hand, not letting him go and WenLang doesn't mind, he wants to help.
"How bad is it? Should I call Hua Yong?"
ShaoYou shakes his head in the negative. "No, he's busy. He sticks so close to me I'm sure whatever he's doing is important enough for him to be gone..."
"But you're hurt..." WenLang tries to protest but ShaoYou only glares at him through the pain.
"I'm use to it by now."
WenLang doesn't know if that makes him feel better. He realizes ShaoYou hasn't let go of his hand, squeezing it periodically to sync with his breathing while the other rubs his stomach. This must be some exercise in pain management.
"Do you want to lie down?" he asks after a while, noticing ShaoYou's body relaxing slightly.
"No, there's hardly any position in the bed that feels comfortable. The couch is fine..."
ShaoYou settles into the couch, still holding on to his hand and again, WenLang's thoughts drift to Gao Tu and his own pregnancy. If only he can find him, tell him how he feels and be there for him, then Sheng ShaoYou and his pregnancy wouldn't have to be a weak surrogate, a glimpse into what might have been his present if in his past he wasn't such an idiot.