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Chan felt his shoulder being shaken as he was dreaming blissfully about the first time he met Minho. He propped himself up on one elbow while blinking groggily and frowning as he checked the time.
2 am…that was too early for–
His chest instantly flooded with the kind of panic that was hard to understand until you had mated with someone. He rolled over in bed, his thoughts racing to the possible concerns with Minho, his lovely, perfect, pregnant mate.
He saw his omega staring at him with a glare in place of his normally bright doe eyes.
“Good.” Minho brushed a few of Chan’s curls from his face. “You’re awake.”
The alpha reflexively reached out to grab hold of Minho since his consciousness had not yet fully awakened.
“Bunny? Are you okay?” Chan asked and although his voice was scratchy from sleep, it was clear that he was alarmed.
Minho gave the alpha a moment to scent him before he started fidgeting. he then pulled back to look his mate in the eyes.
“I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong.”
Chan was starting to realize how early in the morning it was as the sleep-induced fog began to lift. He then fully sat up and looked at Minho.
Although Chan was happy that his husband appeared to be having no trouble, his face expressed that he still had no idea what was wrong.
“I need strawberries,” Minho said.
“…What?”
His mate had woken him up in the middle of the night and was now asking for strawberries, so he assumed he must have looked quite slack-jawed based on Minho's raised eyebrow.
Chan couldn't help it. This had never happened before.
“Strawberries, Channie,” Minho said, more firmly this time. “Baby Bunny wants strawberries.”
Chan nodded slowly, still not entirely understanding the urgency.
“Do we have any downstairs?” Chan asked.
Minho shook his head, frowning. The omega pouted, and when he put one hand over his stomach, Chan's heart leaped.
“Your pup wants strawberries, Channie. Please.” Minho’s other arm also curled around his stomach and said, “Go and get some?”
‘Him using his cuteness and our baby against me is so not fair,’ Chan thought.
~*~*~
As Chan found out over the following weeks, every day brought a new desire, and Minho was unable to relax until he met his body's needs.
Chan might have been worried about it, but the doctor reassured him that it was very common for some pregnancies to cause some cravings to be stronger than others. As a result, they switched from weekly to biweekly grocery shopping, and Chan became a regular at most of their neighborhood stores to the point that everyone there knew him by name.
After some time, familiarity led to suggestions of food combinations and even free food from some of the store owners (omega ajummas) whenever he arrived at an unreasonable hour appearing unkempt and desperate.
Chan and Minho were nowhere near financially struggling, but the alpha had to admit that it helped to be able to satisfy some of Minho's cravings for free and with almost no effort, even if he always felt guilty for accepting.
Most of the time, Chan would force Minho to stay at home when he went out to shop. This was partly because his mate was always exhausted and he wanted to make sure that Minho took proper care of himself, and partly because he didn’t want to risk his omega visiting nearby baby stores again and deciding to wipe out half their stock. Case in point, their pup’s closet overflowing with wolf and rabbit onesies.
But eventually, Chan's scheme to keep his omega from buying more baby stuff fell apart.
~*~*~
One day, Minho had been especially agitated and struggling to relax. Chan knew because the omega kept texting him while he was in the studio to ask about how long it would be until he got home.
When he finally entered the house, he saw his mate splayed out on the sofa, one hand rubbing circles into the swell of his tummy while the other frantically tapped on his phone, probably playing the game that he was currently obsessed with. But as soon as he saw Chan, Minho hastily sat up. Chan arched an eyebrow while trying not to smile at the sight in front of him.
“Everything okay, Bunny?”
Minho chewed on his lip for a moment before finally saying, “I need to come to the store with you.”
“Okay,” Chan said after freezing for a second. Normally, Minho would be content to give Chan a list of the things he needed and stay at home.
“Any particular reason why?”
Minho fidgeted. “I need…something.”
“…Something?”
Despite his little frown, Minho nodded. “Yeah. But I can’t figure out what.”
Chan moved to kneel in front of Minho, draping his jacket over the back of the sofa and keeping his eyes level with Minho's tummy. He placed his chin on top of Minho's knees and put his arms across them so he could playfully glare at the growing bump that held their unborn pup.
“Hey, you,” Chan said, “You’re giving your Appa a hard time. Why don’t you hurry up and decide what you want, huh?”
Minho’s body shook, and Chan glanced up to find him stifling laughter with his hand.
“That’s cute.”
Chan grinned at his mate and shrugged before offering to help him up
“Of course, I’m adorable,” Chan said before he put his arm around Minho's shoulders. The omega leaned comfortably into it as he rolled his eyes.
“Come on, let’s see if we can find something for you two to eat.”
~*~*~
Chan took them to the biggest hypermarket in town which was a little farther away from their home.
He successfully avoided the angry swats he received for helping Minho out of the car and led his mate toward the door, placing one hand on the small of his back while simultaneously grabbing a trolley.
When the two entered, one of the regular employees, a beta named Chaeyoung, beamed up at them.
“Ah, Chan-hyung!” she said. “I see you’ve brought your mate this time.”
Chan could feel his omega's annoyance when Minho tensed. He pulled his omega close and smiled lightly at Chaeyoung as he quickly shifted his arm from Minho's back to his shoulders to calm the rising jealousy in Minho.
“Yeah, the little one can’t decide what they want today,” he said, laughing a little. “It’s driving Minho crazy,” Chan said, scenting Minho as he talked to the beta.
Minho relaxed immediately, feeling grateful to his mate for doing that. Chaeyoung smiled at the couple, blissfully oblivious to the pregnant omega’s emotions.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Minho-hyung! I hope you can find what you need!”
“Thank you,” Minho said as he nodded. Chan used it as an invitation to guide Minho down the first aisle while idly pushing the trolley with the other hand.
“Are you okay, Bunny?” he asked as soon as Chaeyoung was out of earshot.
Minho leaned his head against Chan’s shoulder for a moment before saying, “I’m fine now. I was just surprised when she spoke to you so casually.”
Chan chuckled lightly.
“She was my junior back in high school. Plus I come here almost every week, nothing to worry about. Besides, considering that you’re the one carrying my pup, I think it’s quite clear you don’t have any competition.”
Chan's lips stretched into a smile as Minho let out a small, breathy laugh.
“True.”
Grinning, Chan started gathering their usual items from the shelves.
“So, got any ideas on what you want yet?” Chan asked and Minho shook his head.
“No. I wanna look around some more.”
And so he did, trailing Chan on his usual route through the store. It didn’t take long before Minho started grabbing everything he liked off the shelves as Chan continued to load their cart with the stuff they needed for their home.
Every time Minho reached for something on the top shelf, his shirt would be pulled and stretched exposing the bottom of his baby bump and causing blood to rush to Chan’s cheeks (and groin).
“Channie, I’m gonna check out the baby section,” Minho said, making the alpha rapidly snap out of his trance.
“Did you get everything baby wants?” Chan asked and Minho hummed in acquiescence. “You sure?”
Before the alpha could even get a response, his mate was already off to the baby section.
~*~*~
Chan made sure to fill their trolley with everything they needed before heading to the baby section of the hypermarket. He found Minho in the stuffed toy aisle with a basket half-filled with onesies next to him on the floor.
Chan saw his mate holding a big carrot plushie, which the baby undoubtedly didn’t need judging by the towering collection of stuffed toys in the pup’s room at home.
The alpha frowned. “Bunny, we do–”
Minho was looking down at his bump, and in a low voice so quiet that Chan was sure it wasn’t meant for anyone to hear, the omega asked, “This one, baby?”
Hearing that made Chan's insides melt, and he realized at that moment that he was truly whipped.
“Channie, look! It’s a rabbit!” Minho said after unzipping the carrot plushie, revealing a rabbit stuffed toy inside.
From that point on, Chan would quickly give in to everything his mate requested, no matter how absurd it was, if Minho simply rested a hand on his ever-growing belly and looked up at the alpha with pleading eyes.
He always blamed Minho's “omega powers” over him, but he knew that it didn't matter if the two of them were unmated, two alphas, or literal cats—it wouldn't have made any difference.
Chan knew that he would still be crazily in love with Minho.