Note: Seokjin, Happy Birthday! I hope your birthday in the military is just as special as it would be if you were here. Let's make your 2025 birthday even more special. To readers, I hope you enjoy it.
Grace had it all planned, near enough.
She had gone out and bought a little box, added some shredded green tissue paper and then filled it with what she needed. It was hard to do everything in secret when you belonged to BTS and Dispatch wanted to follow your every move, nevermind there needed to be a bodyguard with you or one of the boys wanted to follow.
This was something she had to do on her own, without anyone else knowing.
There was a feeling of being completely unsure of whether this was a good thing. The news she had kept secret for the past week had made her stomach churn every moment of the day and she was slowly starting to run out of excuses, with so many eyes on her from the team, stylists and her boyfriend.
Yoongi had commented that she had been looking paler than usual and for Yoongi to notice, that meant everyone else was noticing.
How do you keep a baby secret?
You simply can't. Not in the industry that demanded 110% from you now with all military service completed and dusted, the boys rested and now they were rearing to go. Let's not even mention the massive comeback that Big Hit had planned now that BTS was finally back to eight members.
A baby would throw a complete spanner in the works.
But they had wanted this even if it was a complete and utter surprise.
There were so many conversations before the military and afterwards about children. They weren't getting any younger, their careers weren't slowing down and the demand for BTS was even stronger so when could Kim Seokjin & Chu Grace actually be a couple and have the family they always wanted?
It seemed life had said 'screw it. You're going to be pregnant now.'
Grace let out a long breath and pressed a hand to her stomach, feeling the nausea swell with nerves that had nothing to do with morning sickness. Jin would be due home at any point now after his schedules for the day had been finished with and she knew he had left HYBE because of the message he had sent her.
The two had finally moved into an apartment of their own, a week after Grace had finished her tour. Jin had been on the hunt since his military discharge to find somewhere just for the two of them to own, that hadn't been their own separate spaces, with enough bedrooms for future family members and for visitors. An apartment, split over two floors, with enough bathrooms and five bedrooms had appeared on the market at their old dorm location in Hannam on the Hill.
The apartment was a complete mishmash of the two with Seokjin's MapleStory characters displayed on a shelf in the hallway, with Grace's love of British things displayed in the kitchen and living room. The bedrooms had been decorated neutrally but each with its own little theme though Jungkook had taken one room as his own.
And now one of those spare rooms could be the nursery.
Min-Ji, the cat the two had adopted, had taken to lounging in his brand-new cat tree where he lorded it up over everyone. But even he had sensed what was coming and what changes were due to come along, hiding himself away in one of the spare bedrooms.
Grace left the box on the dining room table and went to the kitchen to get started on dinner, cooking a traditional British dinner of fish and chips.
She tried not to freeze when she heard the chime of the lock on the door, the door gently shut, shoes kicked off and then placed on the shoe rack and a coat being hung up. There was the usual sigh of 'Finally, I'm home' and the usual greeting of:
"Jagiya, I'm home!"
She hid her grin and carried on making dinner, "Just in the kitchen. Something arrived for you today, I've left it on the dining room table."
"I didn't order anything," Seokjin mused as he changed direction by spinning on his left foot and making his way over.
There was a plain white box on the table with a green ribbon wrapped around it with his name on a little tag. It wasn't his birthday since it was the middle of summer, it wasn't Grace's birthday since that had been and gone and it wasn't their anniversary either. He hadn't ordered anything though he had seen a nice painting of Jeju Island online that he knew he had to get for their bedroom.
"Hmm," he hummed as he pulled open the ribbon and then lifted the lid of the box.
There was a mini fishing rod, way too small for an adult but just small enough for a child. Underneath it, he pulled out a baby onesie which read 'NEW FISHING BUDDY - ARRIVES APRIL' and while he was still trying to process that, he spotted the sonogram picture below with Grace's name on it, her date of birth and where it had been taken.
Seokjin was smart.
He graduated from a very hard to get into university and he had earned his degree while being a member of BTS. Not only that, he had completed his military career with top marks and learned traditional Korean alcohol, as well as design levels and games for MapleStory, was the King of Run!BTS and other things.
Yet his brain had completely shut down over what he was seeing in the box.
It could only mean one thing.
"Grace," Seokjin started as he carried the onesie and sonogram towards the kitchen.
He never called her that, often referring to her as Chu or her other nickname of Gigi or now Jagiya. Never did he call her Grace and that's when she turned, trying to hide the built up emotions of nerves, worry, excitement and the big need to shout the news.
"Yes, Seokjin?"
"Does this mean what I think it means?"
"Depends. What do you think it means?"
"You're pregnant."
It wasn't a question, more of a statement. There was no hesitation around it and it was just a matter of fact that every single thing he had seen up to know that made him question a couple of things had confirmed what he already knew.
His girlfriend of over six years was pregnant with his future child.
"I'm pregnant," she confirmed.
There was a pause and for a brief moment of time, Grace thought that this was going to go downhill suddenly. But all of a sudden, Seokjin let out the biggest yelp she had ever heard and the next thing she knew, her face was pressed against his chest while he screamed, "I'm going to be a father!"
Finally, after months of wanting and waiting and wondering, the dream of extending the Kim/Chu household was about to become a reality.
His fingers smoothed away the tears of relief from her cheeks and he pressed a kiss to her forehead, holding her there until he moved away to hold up his fist. An old tradition of theirs when they both confirmed what they were both feeling.
"Bangtan baby?" he asked, giving his famous wink.
Grace laughed and nodded, holding up her own fist and giving his a bump. "Bangtan baby."