Jaemin had enough of crying. He kept doing it for two days straight. He tried distracting himself. He'd watch a movie fine, then start crying as soon as it was over. At first he cried because of his parents disowning him, then because he missed his real mom, then his unplanned pregnancy, then cause he was feeling fat, then it was all hopelessness.
There was only one remedy for all his pains.
"Hello?"
"You busy today?"
"No, why? You want to do something?"
"Yeah, let's go out."
"...really?"
"Yeah, let's go."
"Alright!"
Talk about awkward phone conversation.
It didn't take too long until his door was knocked on, and Jaemin opened it to see his best friend's pretty face. He threw his arms around the other and gave an awkward hug; it was difficult with the baby bumps.
"It's like a baby fist bump!" Renjun said and laughed. Jaemin joined in and pet Renjun's belly. The other omega reached forward to gently place a hand on his own.
"Wow, you can see it a little more," Renjun smiled, "so cute!" Jaemin sighed. His stomach looked a little more bloated recently. If you didn't know he was pregnant though, you'd maybe just think he was bloated.
"So, where should we go?" Jaemin asked.
"Well, you called me. I thought you had planned something." Renjun laughed, "We haven't gone out in forever. Are you doing okay?"
Renjun squinted at Jaemin as if examining him closely. Jaemin rolled his eyes.
"Honestly, no," Jaemin cracked a fake smile to prove his point, "but I don't want to talk about it yet. It's a whole mess. Let's do something fun."
"Okay, I'll get it out of you somehow." Renjun shrugged, walking inside to his kitchen and stealing a bottle of water.
"How about we go to the mall?" Renjun suggested, "You need to buy clothes anyway."
"I do?"
"Yeah, you won't fit in those clothes for long." Renjun glanced at his stomach, then passed Jaemin a bottle of water.
"Okay, I guess you're right, but most of my clothes are pretty baggy though."
"That's the problem. You need cute baggy clothes." Renjun laughed tugging on his own little blue button up.
"But I don't do shit. All I do is stay in all day, and you and Jeno are my only actual visitors it seems."
"Exactly my point;" Renjun wiggled his eyebrows, "Jeno will see you."
"Hm, let's not bring up Jeno." Jaemin crossed his arms.
"Is he the reason you're upset?"
"Upset? I'm not upset." Jaemin's eyebrows shot up.
"You're pretty easy to read Jaemin. I'm not the psychiatrist, but imagine how much the psychiatrist is able to read," He wiped a fake sweat from his forehead saying, "too much."
"Let's just go." Jaemin whined, "I'm tired of this place."
The two walked out the door to Renjun's car. Jaemin offered to drive, but Renjun declined, saying Jaemin deserved to relax since he was upset. Jaemin rolled his eyes at that statement. Renjun knew him too well.
They arrived at the mall and Jaemin was in high spirits. They had sang their hearts out in the car and talked about their inside jokes. He was starting to forget his worries. The two walked into the mall and Renjun led them to the GAP.
"Of course there's maternity clothes here. It's a family friendly store."
"You better believe it." Renjun said, grabbing some jeans and measuring them up to Jaemin. The whole situation made Jaemin cringe in shame.
Renjun ended up helping Jaemin find a bunch of clothes. Every time Jaemin would ask him to look for clothes for himself, Renjun would say it was much more fun to style Jaemin, since Jaemin had no sense of style. Jaemin started to believe it was just Renjun's plan to cheer him up, but he let the shorter male do as he pleased. He ended up trying on all the clothes, though they didn't really fit yet as his belly was not even close to big. Renjun paid for everything with his card.
"Lucas won't mind if he doesn't know." Renjun grinned cheekily.
Before leaving the checkout aisle, Renjun ran up to a section and picked something up.
"Look!" He smiled, showing Jaemin a small baby onesi. It was fluffy and pink and had bunny ears.
Jaemin didn't mean to coo. He didn't. But he did it anyway. Renjun smirked. Jaemin ignored it and reached behind Renjun to pick up some shoes.
"They're so teeny tiny." He cooed again.
"Look at this!" Renjun showed Jaemin a little fluffy bucket hat.
They spent minutes cooing at all the baby clothes. People were starting to give them weird looks. That's when Jaemin decided it was time to leave the store. The two then went to the food court deciding to eat some fast food. Renjun said he was craving a cheeseburger with lot of pickles.
"So have you thought of any names for your baby?" Jaemin asked.
"I'm not sure, but Mom said she had a name for my baby, so we'll see how it goes and if I like it."
"You're letting her decide?"
"Of course, she named me. I trust her judgement. Renjun smiled, then took a bite of his burger.
Jaemin was jealous. He thought that he should visit his mother soon. He hated going though; it was so hard to be there. She wasn't right in the head. It was like she wasn't the sane anymore. She wasn't really even there anymore. He would prefer not to go alone but didn't want to take Renjun. He had enough to worry about.
"So...what gender is it?" Jaemin asked.
"Every time you talk about our baby's you use 'it.' I wish I could tell you the gender so you can stop referring to my baby as an object," Renjun pouted, "but, you'll have to wait."
"I mean, are you even going to have a gender reveal if your mom's not here? Aren't you leaving to Jilin in like two months?"
"I am." Renjun covered his mouth so Jaemin wouldn't see his eating, "We'll see, maybe you'll just have to wait 'til the baby is born for you to know."
"I can't believe you're not going to tell your best friend." Jaemin huffed.
"Those are the rules. This just means I care about you more! I'm trying to surprise you after all. You'll be the dear uncle."
"Wish I could tell you you'll be an uncle too, but this baby is going away once it's born."
"C'mon Jaemin," Renjun rolled his eyes, "I know you care for fathering, if even just a little bit. You've always loved children. I don't understand why you want to act like you hate that you're having one of your own."
Jaemin's lips parted opened in surprise. He had basically been thinking about this and Renjun just had to bring it up. Jaemin thought about how he had defended his fetus the other day.
"Stop doing that."
"What? Reading you like the children's book you are?"
Jaemin frowned and stuck his tongue out at his friend. Jaemin thought he should tell Renjun now.
"I guess it's time I tell you what's been on my mind." Jaemin sighed. Renjun reached out his hand and placed it on top of Jaemin's, after wiping his hands of grease of course. Jaemin stared at the birthmark etched on the light skin, beginning his recounting of what happened the other day with his parents.
"Wow, what are you going to do?" Renjun frowned.
"I don't know. I quit my job, so I'm not sure how I'll be able to pay my house. I was getting paid minimum wage anyway, so it's not like the job would have helped."
"Jaemin," Renjun said sternly, "you can come live with me. My house is always open for you."
"Thanks, Renjun." Jaemin smiled, but he didn't want to take the offer, not with Renjun starting his own family. Jaemin would feel like a freeloader. Yukhei would have to provide for both of them, as Renjun wasn't really working either. All Renjun would do for money was sell his art and make some cash off of that. Jaemin didn't have anything to give though. He was talentless.
Jaemin felt relief with sharing all of his thoughts and feelings with Renjun. It didn't fix the problem, but it reminded him that he had someone who would care.
"Anyway, let's go look for some shoes!" Jaemin said. Renjun rolled his eyes at the sudden change in mood, knowing well that Jaemin wasn't good at handling serious things for too long. They cleaned up their mess and threw everything away, moving on.
Jaemin had a lot of fun really. He hadn't had this much fun in a while. He didn't even once feel too sick. He was tired though. Renjun drove Jaemin home, parking outside.
"Let's hang out again! Yukhei said he had fun last time and wants to invite some coworkers to our place. He thinks you're really funny and that Jeno's really nice."
"Funny? Jeno gets 'really nice' and I just get 'funny'? I don't think I'm funny though..."
"You are! Remember that time we played charades in high school and you had everyone dying of laugher."
Jaemin shyly laughed. He was just being himself. After all, he thought they were laughing at him, not with him. "I guess I agree that Jeno is sort of nice though...maybe too nice? Like something is up his sleeve, no?"
"I don't think so." Renjun shook his head with a smile. "I think some people can simply just be kind."
"But Jeno's got to have flaws. I wonder what they are. I'll have to find one." Jaemin gave a determined look.
"So you haven't seen any?" Renjun raised his eyebrows. "Are you trying to say Jeno is too perfect?"
Jaemin groaned, "Of course you'd turn it into something like that. No, I mean it's really just so annoying how nice he is all the time. I'd say he's a pushover but not really. I can't figure out why he'd be so nice. People do things to reach some kind of end, don't they, like what they think is good?"
"Okay, Aristotle." Renjun rolled his eyes. "You're thinking too much."
"Maybe you're not thinking at all."
"I think, it's time you start trusting more. Jeno's a nice guy. He doesn't need motives to care for someone, especially not you, who's pregnant with his kid, or maybe that's his motive, and it's a good enough motive."
"Well, I think it's time for me to go." Jaemin looked at his wrist as if he had a watch on it.
"Stop deflecting your issues. It's not healthy."
"Okay, Shakespeare, I don't know the meaning of the word."
"Ask Siri." Renjun shook his head. Jaemin laughed and opened his car door, stepping down.
"Bye, Junnie!"
"Bye, Nana."
Jaemin smiled at that and walked off to his house. He hadn't heard that nickname in a while.
Jaemin got inside and sighed happily. He looked down to see he had steeped on the mail. He picked each letter up, seeing it was mostly useless things. That was, until the last one: the house bill.
He opened it to see the large sun of money he owed. It seems Renjun was right; he needs to stop deflecting his issues. However, one more day of deflecting shouldn't hurt too much. Jaemin walked to his kitchen to get his fruit snacks. Jeno had recently bought them for him, after hearing him talk about how much he liked gummies.
Jaemin threw the bill on his table, wishing for it to magically disintegrate.