[Notes: Aichiiro is pregnant, so mpreg. Don't ask me how, don't ask me why. It happened and it's beautiful.]
Baby Steps
by EllyZeller
It had been more than a little surprising when after four checkups, his results had showed the same diagnosis.
"You're what!?"
"Pregnant." He'd muttered, still in shock, eyes glazing over the letters. Rin had started pacing all over the apartment. "About 3 weeks actually. I-"
"But that's- I mean, you're a- how the fuck!?"
It was actually easy for Nitori to notice Rin wasn't angry, but in panic. So he had hugged him and told him everything would be okay, that maybe the results were wrong.
But the nausea didn't completely go away for a while, and then he started to get weird cravings, and then he couldn't help but notice that he was maybe gaining a little weight.
Rin had found him then sitting in front of the bedroom mirror, drying his cheeks with his sweater's sleeve and pulling him aginst his chest, lips against his hair letting out a stream of soothing words, a hushed "it'll be okay, I love you. I'll love him, or her and we'll be okay Ai."
Nitori cried himself to sleep that night.
It's almost the end of his second trimester that he felt something moving inside him, and then the reality of the situation hits him hard and his legs fold under him, and there's that flutter inside again and oh.
"You're here" he says, trembling hands over the spot in his side where he felt the movement and suddenly he's half sobbing and laughing because he's pregnant- this baby is both Rin's and his and it is happening, and Rin is hugging him worried, hands patting his sides, his middle and then he makes sense of Nitori's hushed words and his eyes widen and he starts laughing too, kissing Nitori's brow and Nitori loves him so much.
By his 22nd week, Rin starts following him around some more, taking whatever he deems too heavy from Nitori's hands and just tries to do everything in the apartment so that Nitori has to remind him that being pregnant does not make him useless. And Rin only grins and kisses him, telling him in one way or another that he knows, that his Aichiiro is the strongest boy he's ever met, but he wants to do this.
And sometimes, it frustrates Rin that whenever the baby moves and he tries to feel it, the baby won't kick for him.
"It's okay baby..." Nitori breathes quietly and smiles at Rin, hands dancing in soft touches over his round belly. "Papa just wants to make sure you're okay."
Rin's breath catches and he stares at him, heart beating wild in his ribcage and face splitting in the biggest smile.
Today was one of those days in which Rin's overprotectiveness made him irritable, and by dinner he was in a really bad mood so when Rin had tried to take the salad bowl from his hands and told him to go sit, Nitori had snapped back at him before leaving a stunned Rin in the kitchen and taking refuge in their bedroom.
He'd been dumb, and when hours later Rin has deemed safe to enter the bedroom, Nitori knows he needs to apologize.
He doesn't turn around to face Rin even when he feels the bed dip next to his hip. The words are stuck in his throat too, so when he hears Rin's tired sigh he decides to wait.
"I'm sorry."
Rin's voice is barely audible, and Nitori keeps breathing normally, keeps quiet because he doesn't want to disturb the silence around them, when it's dark outside and it's past their usual bedtime. He feels Rin's hand gently caress his belly, almost scared to hurt him, always careful of treating Nitori as if he were made of glass and, even though sometimes it gets on his nerves, more often than not it actually feels like a knot in his chest won't let him breathe, and there's this dull ache in his heart that makes it beat faster because Rin is trying, he's trying so hard, to take care of him.
Of them.
"Aichiiro, I-" Rin gulps, measures his words and Nitori sighs too, because this is somehow silly.
"It's fine." He tells him, and makes a slight effort to turn around, facing Rin and smiling a bit tiredly at his husband, closing his eyes when Rin smiles dubiously too, hand coming back to Nitori's belly and suddenly there's a movement under Rin's hand and Nitori can hear the air escaping Rin's lungs in a surprised gasp, face lit up in wonder and inching closer until it's millimeters apart from his middle, breath somehow sneaking through his wool sweater and making Nitori shiver at the warm feeling.
The baby moves again and Rin chuckles.
"Hey, we haven't been formally introduced I guess" Rin mutters, voice incredibly soft and warm and loving, and Nitori can't keep his eyes away from the sight "...listen, my name is Rin, baby. I'm your papa..."
His voice wavers, but he keeps talking, hands never stopping.
"Soon, you, me and your other daddy are going to finally meet... and I hope my teeth won't frighten you." Nitori chuckles, hands covering his mouth quickly. "Both Ai and I are so happy to have you coming to this world."
Rin lifts his eyes and Nitori meets his gaze, a contented expression softening Rin's face, so he smiles back, settling his head more comfortably into the pillows, the murmur of Rin's voice against his belly soothing him into a state of semi-sleep.
There's a soft hiccup and a hasty sniff, and as Nitori tries to focus on the other's voice, he realizes that Rin is crying.
"I don't really remember your grandpa but..." Rin murmurs and his voice breaks, but he continues, his forehead pressed lightly against the soft bump, voice regaining urgency; "...but I promise you that won't happen to us. W-we'll make a lot of memories together and I promise, I promise to you that I'll be with you always, I won't ever leave. I will stay here, with you and your daddy. I promise. I promise."
Rin continues to mutter the same thing over and over, sealing the promise with butterfly kisses all over Nitori's belly and Nitori is crying, muffling his sobs against his sweater's sleeves until Rin notices the trembling in his body and lays down in front of him, taking him into his arms and maneuvering them so that they're as close as they can be without hurting the baby, kissing Nitori's forehead, his cheeks, his eyelids until he presses a soft, salty kiss against his lips, and breathes an 'I love you' with so much honesty that Nitori kisses back, repeating the same thing over and over, until the kisses start to become little chaste pecks, until Rin's hand is resting against his hip, thumb lazily stroking the warm skin under his sweater, until all Nitori can think of is how loved he is. How loved they are.
And he knows everything will be okay.
FIN
Notes:
Wrote this because Eva is my muse and she keeps giving me all these feels on fb and I just can't not write them (ノ#-A-)ノ I love her.
Review if you liked it! :D
