Yu's lashes fluttered as his gaze slid downward—right onto the gleaming black steel clutched in Adrian's hand. He'd only ever seen them in movies and shows, only known the concept of them but this… actually having it so close was something entirely different. His heart lurched, his throat squeezed tight, and the first tears spilled instantly down his cheeks.
"No… no… no—"
His voice cracked.
"A gun? Adrian—no!"
He writhed against the man's chest, small hands trembling as they pushed at Adrian's collarbone, desperate to be free. His whole body quaked, every fiber screaming fear.
"I-I hate violence!"
Adrian's arms faltered, torn between keeping hold of the weapon and keeping hold of Yu.
"Yu—listen—it's not for you—"
But Yu's cries cut sharper, desperate and piercing.
"I'm scared! I-I don't want this—Callen! I want Callen! Help!"
His trembling fingers reached outward, straining for the blond still frozen a step away.
Adrian's composure broke. He tried to juggle both—the trembling man in his arms and the gun weighing heavy in his hand—but the sight of Yu's tears unraveled him. His grip slipped. The gun clattered to the floor with a hollow—
Clang!
That sound snapped Callen into motion. He lunged forward, seizing Yu from Adrian's arms, cradling him tight against his chest.
"I've got you, I've got you—"
But the relief shattered in an instant. Yu's body jolted, his face went white, and his cry turned raw with pain. He clutched his belly, the small swell of it rigid beneath his palms.
"—Ah! N-no…!"
His sobs ripped out, his skin clammy as sweat broke across his brow.
"The babies—something's wrong—!"
His voice faltered, words dissolving into broken gasps. His strength crumpled like wet paper. The plea tumbled out ragged and desperate.
"T-take me… hospital… please…"
Then his hazel eyes rolled back, his trembling frame going limp in Callen's arms before he could finish.
The silence that followed was deafening—only the echo of the fallen gun and the ragged breaths of two men realizing they'd just lost control of everything, with Yu collapsing and the babies at risk.
The silence cracked like glass.
Adrian's breath caught in his throat, his chest tightening as though a fist had gripped his heart.
'I was holding him. I was holding the gun. I let him get scared—I let this hurt the baby.'
His own arms trembled violently, phantom weight clinging to him where Yu had been a moment before. The gun at his feet felt like a curse, a brand screaming his failure.
In front of him, Callen clutched Yu's limp body tighter, green eyes wide and rimmed with terror.
'No, no, no, not him, not now—'
He buried his face briefly against Yu's hair, inhaling the faint sweetness of him like it could anchor him. Then his fear twisted sharp, defensive. He snapped his gaze at Adrian, venom flashing.
"You idiot—you scared him half to death! You nearly—"
His voice cracked.
"—You nearly ruined everything!"
Adrian's jaw tightened, guilt dragging his eyes down, but a cold vow coiled beneath it.
'If Yu doesn't make it through this, I'll never forgive myself. And I'll never let anyone—Not even Callen—near him again.'
Love, guilt, and blame tangled thick between them, threatening to ignite into another explosion. But then Yu whimpered faintly in his unconscious state, clutching instinctively at Callen's shirt, and all that fury drowned beneath one truth:
He needed them both. Now.
Adrian's voice broke the silence first, low and unsteady.
"Hospital. Now."
The room erupted into motion.
Callen adjusted Yu's fragile frame in his arms, carrying him bridal-style, whispering hoarse promises against Yu's sweat damp hair.
"Stay with me, little star. Please stay. I'll fix this—I'll keep you safe. I swear it."
Adrian scooped the discarded gun from the floor, shoving it out of sight beneath his jacket with shaking hands. His other hand fumbled for his phone as they barreled toward the door.
"I'll call ahead—get them ready. No delays."
His voice was brittle, but iron ran beneath it.
'I'll burn the whole hospital down if they don't save him and the baby.'
Down the steps, out into the cold air—feet pounding pavement as one man carried Yu, the other barking orders and information on the phone, both hearts hammering against their ribs.
Adrian slams open the car door and jumps into the driver's seat like a man trying to outrun his own panic. Callen cradles Yu across his lap in the back, one arm under Yu's shoulders, the other braced beneath his knees, eyes wild and wet. For a beat there is nothing but the sound of the engine and the ragged chorus of their breathing.
"Faster!"
Callen barks, voice raw.
"Drive faster, dammit!"
Adrian's hands clench the wheel until his knuckles blanch. He floors it, the tires whining as the city blur streaks past.
"I'm driving as fast as I can!"
He snaps, more to placate himself than Callen.
"I'm not an idiot—if we hit something, we'll all be in trouble. Then what happens to him and the baby?"
"I don't care, just—don't slow down! Please!"
Callen pleads, panic shredding the edges of his words. He presses his forehead to Yu's shoulder and murmurs.
"Stay with me, babe. Keep your eyes open. Come on. Come on."
Yu's cheek is damp beneath Callen's palm; his breaths are shallow, then stutter. Once, very faintly, he reaches up—fingers fumbling at Callen's sleeve—and squeezes. It's a small, human thing, and it pierces Callen like a knife.
Adrian bites out another silent grid of directions at the traffic lights, judges distances with a surgeon's exactness. He skirts the red at a light with a prayer and a slam of the horn. Someone shouts, a taxi brakes, but they are already moving. He tells himself he's being careful; his eyes flicker to the rearview to check Yu's face—pale, lips tremulous—and the car hurtles on.
The minutes become a taut wire. Callen tries to keep Yu speaking—anything—soft, absurd little things.
"Didn't you say you won? Remember, you're going to France? You can't leave yet. Don't you dare leave me. Ne pars pas, mon amour. Je suis là. Je suis là."
Yu's eyes flutter, small lashes against the pale skin of his cheeks. Callen's voice breaks and becomes a whisper.
"You promised to cook and clean up after us, little star. You promised."
Adrian's jaw grinds. Fear and fury war in his chest until the fury wins a small victory—at least it gives him something to do. He slams his foot on the accelerator as if he can drive the danger away.
They roar up to the hospital entrance with a sickening lurch. A security guard dives out of the way; a nurse at the triage desk is already on the phone with the ER. Adrian skids the car to a halt, throws the keys, and all three are out like bullets.
While Adrian shoves through the sliding doors, shouting—Callen carries Yu up the front of the hospital's emergency entrance—every movement reverent and brutal at once.
"Help! I called earlier! Please help Yu—"
He can't finish his sentence because the hospital swallows him in a white, efficient storm.
Starched faces converge. A stretcher, a gurney, hands that do not hesitate.
"We've got him!"
A nurse says, voice clipped to professional calm. Someone lifts Yu gently; Callen's fingers, greasy with sweat, cannot let go.
"Please—please—"
He begs, nearly keening.
"You're going to have to step back, sir."
A woman in scrubs says gently but firmly.
"We need room."
She is a soft kind of authority; Callen's hands fall away as if something else has been pried from them. He stumbles aside, eyes never leaving Yu's face.
Adrian finds himself in the fluorescent corridor and immediately morphs into a barking, useful force: forms signed, a name, an address.
"Does he have any allergies?"
"No known allergies."
Adrian says, the words clipped.
"He—he's Yuvin Beckham, age eighteen, male, p-pregnant—"
The admission lands like live coals on the nurse's eyes.
"He passed out. There was—there was a—he-he just said he felt pain and—"
He adds, fumbling for facts, for a story that will make sense to the people who can fix this.
"Pregnant?"
The OB doctor said—mid-40s, hair in a tight knot, eyes that hold the practice of a dozen frantic nights—moves with clean, efficient hands.
"Prepare room three. Vitals now. Get me a FAST ultrasound and the trauma kit—IVs, fluids, O Negative if available. Someone on phone with the NICU. Notify anesthesia and OR on standby."
The word "pregnant" types itself across everyone's faces like an alarm.
Callen is pulled aside by a nurse who wraps a blanket around him like a half-shelter; he doesn't register it. He simply keeps losing his composure in tidal waves—first terror, then guilt, then a desperately whispered,
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."
He presses his face into his hands and breathes as if the sound alone might will Yu to return.
A technician hustles them into an exam room that smells of antiseptic and hot plastic. Monitors snap into place with practiced calm. Someone pushes an oxygen mask toward Yu—too big for his small face—and another nurse threads a line into a small vein in his hand.
"BP is dropping."
A nurse reports.
"Pulse irregular."
The ECG beeps, bright and impossible in the tense air.
"Tell me what exactly happened."
The OB asks Adrian, voice soft now because they have the clinical machinery to do the rest. Adrian relives it in a breath:
From the moment Yu entered through the door, to the gun that led to scaring Yu to the point where he passed out. He tells them everything—every jagged, incomplete piece. There is no time to be private.
The ultrasound rolls across Yu's belly with a soft, high whir. The probe glides; static light spills across the monitor. For five interminable heartbeats the room is reduced to the dark, grainy images of shapes and shadows. Then a sound—a rhythmic whoosh—filters up:
A heartbeat. Twice. Three times. Three separate, steady beats. Someone in the room exhales a noise that is almost a laugh and almost a sob.
"Three heartbeats."
The doctor announces.
"They're all present. But we've got hypotension and signs of distress. We're mobilizing for possible emergency intervention."
Her voice is clinical but not cold; someone else reaches for the crash cart.
Callen's knees weaken. The world tilts and then rights, anchored only by the sharp, synchronous pounding from the screen:
Thump—thump—thump.
He presses both palms against his mouth, blocking the noise of his own ragged sob.
Adrian's fingers curl into a fist on the gurney's rail. He smells disinfectant and copper, and under it, something metallic and terrible—fear.
"Do whatever you have to…"
He tells the doctor.
"I'll sign anything. I swear—just save them."
The team moves as one then:
Anesthesia confers, an OB nurse calls for blood, the NICU coordinator speaks into a handset. A flurry of decisions—stabilize first, then assess for surgical need. The doctor's eyes meet Adrian's for a moment, and there is an unspoken exchange.
"This is urgent, but they have a chance."
Yu's lashes flutter. He makes a small, almost inaudible sound and his hand curls in Callen's hand like a gull grasping a line. Callen leans down, and with a voice that breaks and recomposes itself into iron, whispers.
"Hold on. Don't leave. You promised. Reste avec moi, mon amour. Ma petite étoile"
Adrian stands nearby, throat tight, the hard edges of his composure melting into something raw and honest. He lays a hand flat on the monitor's edge as if to steady the picture itself—steady the lives inside it.
In the fluorescent, urgent hush of the ER, the team prepares to do everything they can. Machines whirl, gloves snap, and the world narrows to the bright, relentless beeping and the three thumps on the screen that keep them tethered to hope.
A young registered nurse's voice is calm, clinical, but it cuts like a blade.
"Which one of you is the father? We'll need to know so we can follow up with the appropriate OBGYN and family history. It'll help us care for both him and the babies."
The question hangs in the sterile air. Callen and Adrian both freeze where they stand—guilt, dread, and something rawer twisting their insides.
Callen opens his mouth first, voice stammering.
"I—uh—"
His emerald eyes flick toward Yu's pale form on the gurney, then to Adrian, then back again.
Adrian doesn't move at all at first. His fists are clenched so hard around the railings his nails bite his palms. He knows if he opens his mouth now, the wrong truth might spill out, and there are some truths you can't take back.
The nurse frowns slightly at their silence, then gently rephrases.
"Look, if we don't have the answer now, that's fine. But how far along is he? If he's beyond nine weeks, we can perform a non-invasive prenatal paternity test—with his consent, of course. That would give us a clear answer without putting him or the babies at risk."
The words paternity test lance through the both of them.
Callen stiffens, jaw working. He feels the floor tilt, the image of Yu's swollen belly suddenly so much heavier in his mind. He wants to demand answers, to claim Yu right there and end the question forever, but his throat locks tight.
Adrian, slower, colder, asks.
"And if… if he's not far enough along yet?"
"Then we'll wait."
The nurse replies briskly.
"But it will need to be addressed. For his sake and the children's."
Both men fall silent again. The monitors beep on, steady and merciless, filling the gap where their voices should be.
In that beat, the weight of fatherhood—of maybe fatherhood—crushes down on them both. Neither knowing who gets to claim, neither ready to surrender, both waiting for the unconscious young man on the gurney to wake and answer for himself.
…
The hours bleed together into a suffocating haze.
Callen paces the small room like a caged animal, running his hand through his blond hair until it sticks up in disheveled tufts. Every lap back and forth sharpens the storm in his head.
'Three kids? Me? Callen Wright, the guy who's never even held down a serious relationship?'
He imagines himself fumbling diapers with shaking hands, learning to burp babies while the tabloids call him a disgrace to the Wright family name. Images of toddler voices shouting—
"Daddy!"
—both terrify and weirdly thrill him.
'Fuck… I'd have to grow up. Fast.'
Across the room, Adrian sits steady in a stiff-backed chair, elbows on his knees, fingers steepled. His dark eyes stay locked on Yu's pale, sleeping face. While Callen wrestles chaos, Adrian is already drawing invisible plans on the inside of his mind.
'First, we move. Somewhere quiet, somewhere safe. He'll need space, the babies will need a nursery. I can cut back hours at the firm, maybe take night shifts elsewhere. If worse comes to worst…'
His jaw tightens, the shadow of his family's crest flashing behind his eyes.
'I'll call in favors. Even if it means owing the old men. Yu will never want for anything.'
The silence stretches until the steady rise and fall of Yu's chest suddenly shifts—he stirs, eyelashes fluttering, a soft groan slipping past his lips.
"Yu!"
Callen blurts, voice cracking as he rushes to his side.
"You're awake—I'll get a nurse!"
He nearly trips over himself heading for the call button.
But Adrian doesn't move from his chair. He leans closer, calm despite the crackle of something heavier beneath his tone.
"Easy. Don't push yourself."
His hand hovers, then carefully brushes Yu's knuckles.
"You scared us."
Yu blinks up at them groggily, lips dry, voice thin.
"W-what happened…?"
Adrian swallows, the words sticking to his throat like shards. But he forces them out.
"The doctors… they mentioned something."
He glances at Callen, then lowers his voice, almost shy, almost testing.
"A… paternity test."
Yu freezes.
The words slice through the fog of his waking mind, snapping every nerve taut. His body goes rigid under the blanket. His hazel eyes widen, blood rushing to his ears as DK01 dings sharply in the background of his mind.
{Stress levels spiking detected. System DK01, please calm your host.}
[Yu, calm down. You're becoming too stressed again.]
"A… paternity test?"
Yu echoes, his voice cracking between disbelief and dread. His hand instinctively slides to his small but swelling belly, cradling it. His pulse races.
Callen turns from the wall where he was fumbling for the nurse's button, guilt and panic slamming into his gut.
"Y-Yu, it's not—it's not like we're accusing you or anything, it's just—"
Adrian cuts in quietly, his gaze steady and searching as Callen opens the door and leaves.
"We just… want to know the truth."
Yu's breath catches. His throat tightens. The sterile air feels too thin to breathe in. The silence in the room grows suffocating.
Inside his head, DK01's voice threads through like a cold wire, measured, clinical—but softer than usual.
[Yu, breathe. Your heart rate is too high—it isn't safe for you, or for the babies. You don't have to say everything right now. Silence can protect you just as much as honesty. Step back. Buy time. That's the safest choice—for everyone.]
Yu squeezes his eyes shut, hand trembling against his belly.
'They'll find out… they'll tear me apart… if they know Theo—'
[Then do not speak his name.]
DK01 cuts in firmly, almost as if it heard the thought forming.
[Focus only on control. Fear will consume you otherwise. Remember—your job is not to tell them. Your job is to endure until the mission is complete. Everything else is noise.]
Yu's lips tremble. His throat feels raw.
'Noise…?'
DK01 does not mention what it already knows—the truth, the three separate strands of DNA woven inside Yu. It locks that data away, silent, calculating.
The door creaks as Callen bursts back in, a nurse trailing behind. He rushes to Yu's side, voice breaking.
"Yu—don't freak out, okay? Just listen—"
Yu's eyes snap open. His face, pale and damp with sweat, twists with panic and fury.
"No—shut up. Just shut up!"
"Yu—"
Adrian starts, leaning forward.
"Get out!"
Yu's voice cracks sharp, the monitor at his bedside spiking into rapid beeps that make both men flinch.
"I don't want to hear it, I don't want to see either of you right now!"
"Yu, please—"
Callen's voice falters, the cocky bravado gone, replaced by a desperate tremor.
"I just want to help—"
"You're making it worse!"
Yu shouts, clutching at his chest as his pulse hammers. His eyes burn with fresh tears.
"If you really care, then leave me the hell alone!"
The nurse Callen dragged in immediately moves closer to Yu, her voice sharp with authority.
"Both of you—back away, now. His heart rate's climbing too high."
Adrian doesn't move. He stays in his chair, jaw tight, eyes dark with a hurt he doesn't want to admit.
"Yu, if you'd just—"
Another nurse enters after hearing the monitor alarms. She cuts in, harsher, her voice carrying the weight of final authority.
"If you two don't step out, I'll have security escort you. You are hindering the patient's recovery."
The words land like a slap.
Callen, caught between wanting to argue and the sight of Yu trembling, tears streaking down his face, recoils. He looks at Yu with wide, wounded eyes.
"...Fine. Fine. But I'll be back. I'm not leaving you like this forever."
Adrian lingers, his knuckles whitening on the armrest of the chair. His voice drops, quiet but sharp with restrained emotion.
"We'll talk again, Yu. You can't run from this."
Yu squeezes his eyes shut, shoving his face against the pillow as if to block them out.
"Get out!"
The monitors shrill louder.
The nurses exchange a quick glance. One steps forward, her tone iron-strong.
"Last warning. Out. Now."
That makes both men finally falter. Callen swears under his breath, shoulders tight as he heads for the door first, muttering.
"Hang in there, Yu…"
Adrian stays a beat longer, his eyes locked on Yu's trembling form, before he too rises, straightening his shirt with a sharp tug, and walks out without another word.
The door shuts.
Only then does Yu's body sag against the bed, ragged sobs breaking through, the nurses murmuring gentle reassurances as they check his vitals.
---
Outside the hospital room, the tension burns like a live wire.
Callen paces in sharp, erratic strides, running his hands through his blond hair until it's messier than before. His emerald eyes flash with fury and guilt.
"This is bullshit! He's in there crying his eyes out, terrified, and we're just standing out here like idiots!"
His voice cracks.
"I should've stayed—I should've—"
Adrian leans against the wall, arms crossed tight over his chest, jaw clenched so hard it looks painful. His gun is no longer in sight, but the aura of violence still lingers around him, heavy and oppressive. He speaks low, like every word is carved out of stone.
"You've done enough already. You pushed him. You joked when it mattered most. No wonder he doesn't want to see us."
Callen snaps, whirling on him.
"Oh, and you were any better? Pulling out a gun in front of him? He hates violence—you terrified him! Don't pin this all on me when you're the one who nearly shot the whole room to hell!"
Adrian's eyes narrow into dangerous slits.
"You don't get it, Callen. I protect what's mine. Always. If that means scaring off threats—"
"He's not a possession!"
Callen roars, shoving Adrian's chest with both hands. The shove doesn't move him much, but it's the intent that makes Adrian stiffen.
"He's fragile and hurting and you're treating him like he's some piece of turf to stake your claim on!"
The two men stand nose to nose, breathing hard, barely restrained from coming to blows. But the image of Yu—crying, trembling, begging for them to leave—hangs between them like a ghost. Slowly, grudgingly, Adrian lowers his gaze, though the fury in his eyes doesn't fade.
---
Inside the hospital room, Yu curls on his side, clutching his belly, tears streaming silently into the pillow. His chest still heaves from the aftershocks of panic. The nurses have dimmed the lights and left him in quiet to recover, but the silence only makes the ache louder.
'I'm losing them…'
His thoughts spiral, bitter and broken.
'Callen, Adrian… because I got pregnant too soon. Because I couldn't control myself…'
A soft electronic hum stirs in the void of his mind. DK01's voice, cold and steady, intrudes.
[Correction: you're not 'losing' them. You're just experiencing instability due to the news of your pregnancy having been exposed too soon. The mission is still intact. An emotional breakdown is a setback, not the end.]
Yu shudders, squeezing his eyes shut tighter.
"You don't get it… they'll hate me. They'll leave me. I don't—"
[You're not out of options yet. The bonds you have aren't broken—just unstable, shaken. The feelings are messy, but they can still be held together. For now, focus on surviving this moment:
On your health, and on keeping the babies safe. All else is secondary.]
Yu lets out a trembling laugh, wet and bitter.
"Secondary, huh? Guess love doesn't matter to you…"
[...Does it matter to you?]
"...I don't know… I thought it didn't but now…"
The screen in his mind flickers, static crawling like ice. DK01 doesn't respond immediately, and that silence hurts more than words.
Yu presses a shaky hand against his stomach, whispering through his tears.
"Then at least let me not lose them too… please…"