Work Text:
Jiwoong stared at the half-empty box of donuts in front of him, lips twitching nervously as he shoved another lemon cream one into his mouth. He chewed slow, avoiding Hao’s eyes. Hao was sitting right across from him, just watching.
“You’ve been eating a lot of donuts lately,” Hao said, tilting his head. “Didn’t you used to hate sweets?”
Yeah. Jiwoong did. Sweet stuff was never his thing. And yet here he was, downing one sugar bomb after another like his life depended on it.
He let out a shaky laugh, chewing around the lump in his throat. “I know, I know. But I found this new bakery and… I don’t know. Their donuts are amazing. I’ve kind of been obsessed.”
Hao frowned a little, clearly not buying it, but he didn’t press. He leaned back against the pantry counter. Jiwoong quickly grabbed another donut—strawberry-filled this time—and took a big bite, sighing under his breath.
Thank God Hao let it go. There was no way—absolutely no way—he could say the real reason. No way he could tell his best friend that somehow, Jiwoong, who’d been a beta his whole life, was now...pregnant.
Yeah. Pregnant.
Even Jiwoong hadn’t believed it when the doctor said it. He’d gone in for a regular checkup, just routine, and come out with his entire world flipped upside down. Not only had his body shifted—some rare genetic thing, the doctor said—but the word “Pregnant” at the top of his chart had nearly sent him into a panic attack.
He could still see himself sitting there, staring at that piece of paper like it had punched him in the face.
The doctor had smiled at him.
“Congratulations,” she said, like she was giving him the happiest news in the world.
Jiwoong had done the opposite of what was expected—he laughed. Loudly. So hard that tears came out of his eyes.
“Who put you up to this?” he asked between laughs, holding up the paper. “Is this a joke? Did someone ask you to do this?”
The doctor blinked, her smile faltering a little.
“I promise you, Mr. Kim, this isn’t a joke.”
Jiwoong stopped laughing for a second, staring at her, confused. He leaned in, squinting like she was trying to pull something on him. “Seriously? Me—a beta since forever? Pregnant?”
She had stared at him again, this time in complete silence, her smile fading entirely.
It had taken Jiwoong three tries—three increasingly desperate pleas disguised as jokes—for her to admit that it was a prank set up by someone, but each time, she’d responded with the same patient, “This is not a joke, Mr. Kim.”
Apparently, it was a joke from God it seems.
Eventually, Jiwoong had stopped asking. He had shut his brain off completely, ignoring every word she said as she started explaining things. Instead, he stared at the paper in his hand for a full ten minutes, his mind utterly blank except for one recurring thought.
I'm an Omega and pregnant?
It wasn’t until the doctor gently placed a pamphlet in front of him—something about late-onset omega biology and hormonal shifts—that her words started to sink in. Jiwoong had looked up at her, his expression blank, before glancing back down at the paper.
She had said it's a gift from above. Something about when the lord gives blessings, he unfolds a lot at once. All Jiwoong could think about was some huge Ahjussi in his 100s sitting on his high chain as he told his Pregnancy maker? Cupid? The Crane? Or whatever angel responsible, 'Double this stupid ass situation and give it to Kim Jiwoong'
The baby? Oh, that was easy to explain.
Currently, He was midway through inhaling into now, a chocolate-glazed donut when Hao made a face, half disgusted and somewhat fascinated.
“Do you have a bottomless pit for a stomach now or what?” Hao muttered, watching as Jiwoong finished that in under 30 seconds and reached for the next one.
Before Jiwoong could reply, the pantry door opened, and in strolled Seok Matthew- their team leader - looking so disgustingly beautiful as always. He didn’t even glance at them, heading straight for the coffee machine.
Jiwoong tensed, chewing slowly as he side-eyed the alpha, who was humming quietly to himself. When Matthew finally turned, coffee in hand, his gaze landed on Jiwoong.
A small smile spread across the alpha's face, the kind that usually makes the taller's heart race. His eyes, warm and adoring, lingered for just a moment before he turned to leave.
Jiwoong? He glared.
Matthew paused mid-step, confusion flashing across his face as he caught Jiwoong’s icy stare. Usually, Jiwoong would have returned his smile, maybe even puckered his lips in a teasing acknowledgment of their secret relationship. But today? Today, Jiwoong felt nothing but frustration and a simmering urge to throttle the man.
When Matthew finally left, Hao leaned in, eyebrows raised. “Okay, what was that? Why did you just glare at Matthew? Normally, you look at him like he’s hung the moon or something.”
Jiwoong didn’t answer.
Because today? Today, he did want to kill Seok Matthew—the fucking alpha responsible for changing the very anatomy of Jiwoong's body. The father of the child inside his -stomach? Womb? God, he doesn't fucking know and he wants to cry a bit and giggle uncontrollably as well and if he keeps thinking about it too much, there is going to a rainbow mess of gluten on Hao's shows soon.
-
Jiwoong knew exactly what he was doing, and it was entirely deliberate. He was ignoring Matthew.
When he had files to deliver to Matthew, instead of walking the few steps to his office, Jiwoong would go out of his way to message Yujin, their intern, to come pick them up instead. The younger beta was eager to help—though increasingly baffled by the repeated requests. It was the fourth time already now.
“Why don’t you just hand them to him yourself?” Yujin had asked once, tilting his head as he collected the latest stack of documents from Jiwoong’s desk.
Jiwoong simply smiled, ignoring the way Yujin’s curiosity gleamed in his eyes. When Yujin returned after dropping off the files, Jiwoong could see the faint confusion lingering on his face. He didn’t comment on it, though. Instead, Jiwoong swatted the boy’s head lightly when Yujin smirked and whispered, “You guys broke up?” with entirely too much delight.
“Just drop the files,” Jiwoong had muttered, narrowing his eyes as Yujin laughed and bounded off.
The thing about Yujin—aside from his penchant for being a little shit that is—was that he had caught Jiwoong and Matthew in the stairwell once. It had been months ago, back when their secret relationship was still new and thrilling and had them shoving each other in closets, pantry and stuff, and Jiwoong had let his guard slip. Matthew had pulled him in for a kiss, and of course, Yujin had rounded the corner at precisely the wrong moment.
The intern had never let them live it down.
“Don’t worry,” Yujin had said back then, grinning like a cat that had caught the canary. “Your secret’s safe with me, for now.”
Since then, he’d been delighting in teasing them, throwing knowing looks their way whenever the opportunity arose. Jiwoong was sure Yujin found their relationship endlessly entertaining and a potential bargaining chip for endless amount of snacks and Pokemon cards from Matthew.
The irony wasn’t lost on Jiwoong that Yujin was now the one running interference between him and Matthew currently.
Because the truth was, he wasn’t trying to hide his relationship with Matthew. It was just that his friends and colleagues were just menaces. Case in point- Yujin, with his smirks and poorly concealed gossiping. Hanbin, who had probably already pieced everything together but was too polite to say anything outright. And then there was Matthew himself, always with the innuendo and smug little comments that made Jiwoong want to either kiss him or strangle him—sometimes both. Most of the times ended with him bent over any surface so it was fine usually.
Jiwoong sighed, leaning back in his chair. God, this whole beta-to-omega thing was going to take some time to process. He’d need to figure out how to tell Matthew soon, but for now, he was content to keep the alpha in the dark just a little longer.
After all, Matthew was partially to blame for this. Why not make him sweat a little?
-
The moment Jiwoong stepped into their shared apartment, he was already on edge. He had almost forgotten that living with Matthew meant there was no real way to avoid the man, and the fragile bubble of denial he'd been clutching all day was about to burst.
So much for his avoidance strategy.
The apartment was quiet, and Jiwoong let out a relieved sigh. Matthew was still stuck in some late meeting, which gave him just enough time to pretend everything was normal. Jiwoong threw himself onto the couch, turned on a random movie, and grabbed the bowl of Starbursts from the coffee table. Sugar cravings were apparently his new normal now, courtesy of his pregnancy hormones. The absurd comedy movie was a decent distraction, and Jiwoong even let out a forced laugh at one of the jokes, pretending everything was fine.
The sound of the door opening behind him froze him in place, but he didn’t turn around. He kept his eyes glued to the TV, forcing another hollow laugh when the scene changed. He was determined to keep up the act, even as his heart raced in anticipation of Matthew’s inevitable confrontation.
But then Matthew stepped in front of the TV, blocking the screen entirely. Hands on his hips, a pout firmly etched on his face, he stared down at Jiwoong with that infuriating mix of confusion and concern. Normally, Jiwoong would have found it amusing, endearing even. But today, everything felt too raw, too overwhelming. Today was different. Today, everything was different. The weight of his emotions, his fears, and the life-altering news he’d been grappling with hit him all at once. So, he did the only thing he could find right in this situation.
He started crying.
Not a tear or sniffle—no, he cried. Hard. His sticky, candy-covered hands flew up to cover his face as his shoulders shook with sobs that just wouldn’t stop. The bowl of candy slipped off his lap and hit the floor with a clatter. Thank god it wasn’t glass. Everything he’d been holding in all day came pouring out in messy, uncontrollable waves.
The alpha froze, caught off guard by the sudden outburst. It took him a second, but then he was kneeling down in front of Jiwoong, gently resting his hands over Jiwoong’s trembling ones. “Hey, sweetheart. What’s wrong?” His voice was soft, confused, worried.
Jiwoong couldn’t answer. His mind was a blur—everything spinning. The weight of it all. He just kept crying, burying his face in his hands.
The smaller of the two tried to calm him, his warm, cinnamon-like scent wrapped around Jiwoong like a blanket. But it only made him cry harder. He could smell it now. Really smell it. And it hit him all over again like a truck. He wasn’t a beta anymore. He was an omega. Everything had changed.
Before he knew it, his face was pressed into Matthew’s shoulder, soaking the fabric with tears. The alpha's arms slowly came around him, holding him close, trying to help him breathe, to steady him. Jiwoong hiccupped, his cries muffled against the alpha’s shirt. He felt that comfort, the safety of being held like this—but it didn’t stop the flood inside his head. How was he supposed to deal with all this? How was he supposed to be okay?
Then Matthew’s hands suddenly went still on his back.
The pause was brief, almost imperceptible, but Jiwoong felt it. The way the other's hands lingered, hesitated, before continuing their gentle motions In the back of his mind, Jiwoong registered the new scent of Cherry blossom - his scent?- and he was sure Matthew could smell the same, thus the freezing. But, he was just a bit too caught up to process it fully. Matthew didn’t say anything, but Jiwoong could feel the shift in the air between them.
Jiwoong couldn’t stop crying. Everything felt like it was spinning. His body, his identity, his future—everything was different now. And it was too much to handle all at once.
As his sobs slowed, Matthew moved closer, sitting beside him and wrapping his arm around Jiwoong. Their hands stayed tangled together, sticky from the candy, but Matthew didn’t mind. He just kept his gaze on Jiwoong, his face serious.
After a moment, Matthew hesitated, then asked, “Why do you smell like flowers?”
Jiwoong froze. He sniffed, then looked down at their hands. It was time to say it. “I-I’m pregnant.”
The words hung in the air. Matthew’s face went still, then his grip on Jiwoong’s hand tightened. “You’re what?”
Jiwoong wiped his face, his voice breaking. “The doctor said my biology changed. I’m a late omega or something. I didn’t even know that could happen, and now...now I’m pregnant.”
Matthew was quiet for a second. Jiwoong’s chest tightened as he waited for a response.
“I know this is a lot," Jiwoong inhaled trying to put his thoughts in word,"If you want out, I get it. You didn’t ask for this. I don’t even know what I want. Everything feels upside down.”
“Woong-ah,” Matthew said. The taller stopped, but the tears didn’t stop. He leaned forward, resting his forehead on their joined hands. “I’m just so overwhelmed. I don’t know if you still want this. Or if you still want me.”
“Jiwoong.”
He looked up. Matthew, smaller than him even now, stood firm. He reached out and held Jiwoong’s face with both hands.
“I love you. Not because of your label. Not because of what your body does. Just you.”
Jiwoong’s lip trembled. “You mean it?”
Matthew brushed tears from his cheeks. “Yeah. You’re stuck with me.”
Jiwoong laughed, weakly, and leaned down into his shoulder, clinging to the warmth of his scent. Matthew didn’t let go.
“You cry too much,” Matthew said, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.
Jiwoong hit his chest. “Don’t.”
“Crybaby,” Matthew said again.
It went quiet after that. Jiwoong’s breath hitched. Matthew held his hand, their fingers sticky from sugar and tears.
“Do you want this?” Matthew asked.
Jiwoong didn’t answer right away. He stared at their hands, then shook his head a little. “I don’t know.”
Matthew didn’t pull away. His thumb moved slowly over Jiwoong’s knuckles.
“I’m still trying to understand being an omega,” Jiwoong said. “I’ve always been a beta. That’s who I was. Now suddenly I’m not.”
Matthew nodded. “That’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”
Jiwoong’s eyes dropped again. “But what if you don’t want this? A kid. With me.”
Matthew’s voice stayed calm. “Right now? I just want you. That hasn’t changed.”
Jiwoong’s breath caught.
“If you decide to keep it, I’ll be there. If you don’t, I’ll be there. It’s your choice. I’m with you either way.”
Jiwoong kissed the alpha's hand. “You mean it?”
Matthew cupped his face. “I do. You’re the most important person to me. I’m not going anywhere.”
The taller let out a hoarse laugh. “What if I don’t want kids? It’s ours. But what if I can’t do it?”
Matthew paused, then nodded. “We didn’t plan this. We don’t know what it’s doing to you. If ending it’s what you need, then okay. If you want to keep it, we’ll figure it out. Your health comes first.”
Jiwoong looked down, his shoulders slumped as he leaned into Matthew. He could feel Matthew’s steady presence, even without words.
“I love you.”
Matthew kissed his forehead. “I love you too.”
Jiwoong sighed, his body feeling heavy, the tears slower now.
“I still don’t know what I want.”
“That’s okay,” Matthew said, pressing a kiss against his head. “We’ve got time. We’ll figure it out. Together.”
Jiwoong closed his eyes, resting his head on Matthew’s shoulder.
He knew they would be okay.