Time is Moving
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story they belong respectfully to Square Enix.
Music: " 24EFFECTS " by 日記帳を閉じる日
Warning: Themes of shounen-ai/yaoi/homosexual relationships and whatever, you know all that good stuff, mpreg, AU and also some mild OOC-ness. There will be various time skips as well. If any of this bothers you then you have the option of not reading.
A/N: I've been literally dying to write fanfiction all month! I just couldn't believe how very little time that I had for myself, what with my midterms and everyone trying to get at my throat about hanging out during spring break and taking up my weekends.
I've been really getting into writing short stories and drabbles, so here's a sweet Akuroko that I've been writing on and off all month (: Expect this to have various parts because I have a prequel drabble in mind.
o0o0o0o
The moment Roxas sits Axel down on the couch the very second he comes home from work, Axel expects the worst possible news to be brought to his attention. He doesn't know what it is or how important it could possibly be, but it doesn't stop the palm of his hands from generating a thin film of sweat due to the nervousness erupting throughout his body.
He stares with great apprehension at the seriousness on his husband's face and gulps when he sees Roxas' lips begin to part.
"Axel." Roxas takes a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."
And that's all it takes for Axel to smile from ear to ear before his body sways to the side and he passes out on the carpet in front of them.
o0o0o0o
Roxas has yet to start showing but the knowledge of his pregnancy is clear enough, especially during the morning when he has to sprint to the bathroom and throughout the day after meals more often than usual. His actions help to back up his claim for Axel and about a week after being made aware of the baby growing inside of his husband's body, Axel finally warms up to the idea of becoming a dad at twenty-four years old.
When Axel comes home after an exhausting day at the studio with his band to find Roxas standing absentmindedly by the window and stroking his still flat stomach—he approaches him carefully from behind to wrap his arms delicately around his midsection. Pulling him back until the blonde's back meets with his front; Axel nuzzles his face into the mess of soft golden locks of hair.
"Welcome back." Roxas says.
"It's good to be back." Axel replies and kisses the back of his husband's neck.
It sends shivers up and down Roxas' spine and incidentally he grinds up against Axel's tall frame in response. It makes the younger man groan softly and before they know what they're doing, the couple is already making a beeline for the bedroom and going at each other like animals.
o0o0o0o
The news of Roxas' pregnancy reaches the ears of their circle of friends the moment his younger brother Sora finds out after a phone call and opens his big mouth to his best friend Kairi. It spreads like wild fire and in less than a week the media is hanging all over the place—outside the studio and their penthouse. Luckily Cloud is there to rescue his little brother but it means having to move back to the mansion to avoid all cameras, interviews and appearances in the public for Roxas. The upside, Axel thinks, is that Roxas won't be left alone during the day like he normally is since he'll have the maids around to help him so he isn't too miffed about the move. Roxas, on the other hand is ape mad about being supervised and treated like a child despite being twenty-six but he takes the opportunity to beat Sora senseless the day they officially move back in with his newfound strength as a result of his pregnancy.
o0o0o0o
During Roxas' fifth month, everyone can see his stomach beginning to bulge and according to Axel, he just keeps getting fatter and fatter by the day at the rate he's shoveling down food into his mouth. But Axel doesn't care that Roxas keeps stuffing his face. If anything, he finds it adorable and puts up with his insane food cravings which range from boxes of sea salt ice cream to a sudden demand of McDuck's burgers everyday for two weeks straight.
Cloud and Leon try to put the pregnant man on a strict diet of healthier food choices in place of his fast food craze after seeing bags upon bags of McDuck's lying around—all of which were a courtesy of Axel going through the trouble of picking them up after work for his hungry, hungry husband. Their plan worked for about a week and though they did their best to try and stop Roxas from ordering a box of pizza—they learned the hard way that a pregnant Roxas was ten times scarier than a normal one.
After that incident, the couple quickly stopped trying to enforce the healthy food rule on Roxas and he was once more, free to eat whatever the hell he wanted again.
o0o0o0o
As Roxas' stomach becomes rounder and rounder, Axel spends more and more time hugging him close and lying his head down on the blonde's lap whenever he can so that he can feel closer to their growing baby girl.
"Shelke." Roxas says one day, his eyes skimming absent mindedly through a guide on parenting.
"What?" Axel opens his eyes and tries to look at his husband's face from his position on Roxas' lap but the book is in the way and hides the blonde's expression from him.
"Shelke." He says it again, slowly this time and finally places the paperback down on the coffee table. "I want to name our daughter Shelke."
Axel stares at him in silence before chuckling softly and it makes Roxas frown.
"You don't like it, do you?"
"No, no, I like it." He sits up. Giving him a reassuring smile, Axel takes the blonde's face into his hands and strokes his cheeks softly, using the pads of his thumbs. "I think it's a beautiful name for her."
"You think so?" Roxas arches his brow and looks at him skeptically.
"Yes."
He sighs and seeing this, Axel moves in to peck his lips softly.
"How about Shelke Amelia Riley Strife? Sounds good right?" Axel beams excitedly.
Blinking, Roxas tries his best not to laugh at Axel's grinning face but it's so hard not to when the redhead becomes incredibly goofy and sappy when the topic of their daughter is brought up.
"That is a really long name, will there even be enough room on the line to write it on her birth certificate?"
Axel clicks his tongue and smirks. "Oh please, I'll make the nurse fit that name on the dotted line or so help me I'll write it myself."
"Then I better ask whoever it is that'll be writing the name down in advance because I certainly don't want to read your chicken scratch handwriting on our daughter's documents, babe."
The redhead's reaction to Roxas' comment is comical and he pouts childishly in retaliation for having his script insulted so blatantly. His husband finally laughs at him because of it and though Axel wants to remain resilient against the other's dry humor, he becomes completely defenseless when Roxas pulls him in for a deep kiss with tongue and teeth.
o0o0o0o
When Roxas starts waddling around, everyone who sees him can't help but snort and laugh at him. It annoys the blond greatly, and he's not doing it because he wants to—more like he has no choice but to waddle if he wants to get from point A to point B. Even though Axel tends to laugh alongside Demyx and Riku about his husband's new method of walking, he still defends him when the teasing becomes unbearable and shows on the blonde's face.
Of course Roxas is grateful for the redhead's efforts to calm him down but Axel is still punished severely for initially joining in on all the bantering made towards him. It's a great excuse for Roxas to whack Axel on the head though and when hours pass and there's no one around, he takes the time to forgive, forget and kiss the redhead's bruises.
o0o0o0o
The night Roxas goes into labor, Axel nearly has a panic attack. Cloud and Leon scramble to get the car seat ready for the expected newborn and Sora rushes around to pack a suitcase full of clothes for everyone since it's obvious they will be spending the night at the hospital. The pained sounds that escape from Roxas as he squeeze's his husband's hand makes Axel want to cry because there is nothing he can do about it to make the pain go away. Instead, he holds Roxas tightly in his arms as he leads the blond to the car.
Once the group arrives at the hospital, Roxas is rushed inside and taken away for his C-section. It's clear on Axel's face that he wants to go into the room with his husband to watch the birth of his expected baby girl, but everyone knows that when the surgery actually happens, it's more than likely that he will faint on sight. Cloud decides to go in to support Roxas in his stead, and though Axel protests, he quickly submits defeat when Cloud, Leon and Sora all exclaim that he won't be of any use when it's obvious he'll pass out the first second they slice Roxas open.
Its three against one and with that decision established, Cloud quickly follows after his younger brother and the crowd of nurses. Not an hour later passes before Demyx, Riku and Zexion arrive at the hospital in there pajama's—all three of them panting after having scrambled out of bed to be there for their friends big day of becoming a parent.
Axel nervously chews on his fingernails, his right foot tapping just as badly as he waits for his husband and the birth of their daughter.
Demyx, much like Sora tries to lighten the mood and his attempt is somewhat successful in getting his best friend's attention at the very least. "What do you think Shelke will look like when she comes out?"
"Huh? Well…" Axel hesitates.
"Demyx, please, we won't know until she is born." Zexion sighed.
"Aw, but Zexy just look at it this way—she may have blond hair and green eyes, red hair and blue eyes, blond hair and blue eyes like Roxas or red hair and—"
"Alright Dem we get the picture." Riku grumbles from his seat next to Sora.
Hearing the flamboyant blonde's many assumptions, Axel smiled softly at the thought of having his little girl come out looking like a combination of Roxas and himself. "You know, I honestly don't care if her hair is red, blond or even brown but what I really hope for is that she'll have Roxas' blue eyes."
"Oh? Blue eyes huh?" Demyx chuckled. "All big, blue and full of mystery—you're such a sucker for blue eyes, Axel."
Everyone seemed to smile at Demyx's frank remark about his best friend's preferences, including redhead himself as he blushed guiltily and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Do you ever wonder what her personality will be like?" Riku added suddenly.
"Hey, hold up!" Axel glared lightly. "Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves right now."
"Did I just step on a nerve?" Riku smirked.
"He probably thinks about how one day his little princess will grow up to be a rebel and not listen to him." Demyx grins.
"You guys, please—it's way too early to be thinking about her becoming a teenager…" Axel moaned dishearteningly. "Besides, I'm not ready to face that stage of her life just yet. Please, let me enjoy becoming a real dad before I have to watch her grow up!"
"Wow Axel, I didn't think you'd be so into parenting." Sora commented with a smile.
"Well, I—"
"It's a good thing, I think." Leon finally says. "You're no longer that arrogant prick I met five years ago, and now seeing you start a family of your own—and before me I might add, I'm really proud of you."
The older male's words played across Axel's heartstrings. Feeling a warm glow begin to spread throughout his body, Axel gradually looked down into his lap with embarrassment clearly blossoming on his face.
After Leon's heartfelt statement, the conversation between the six men died out. They opted instead to wait in silence for the news of the expected newborn and even though Sora and Demyx in particular were itching to talk about anything to lighten up the mood some more, they couldn't think of a single topic to bring up. Once a good two hours had went by without a nurse around to inform them of Roxas' progress, Demyx and Zexion volunteered themselves to make a caffeine run to the vending machine down the hall.
"I'm worried you guys…" Axel says. "It's been two hours and no one has come out to tell us if something has happened."
"Axel, it's not easy giving birth." Leon rolled his eyes. In comparison to the younger redhead, he had a better grasp on the meaning of patience, however he couldn't deny that he was just as worried about his brother in-law as well. "Give the workers a break already, surgery is a delicate procedure—you can't rush it or else you may cause severe damage to a patient—would you like to tell the doctor to hurry his ass up and risk killing Roxas in the process?"
"No…" Axel murmured, his green eyes burning into the tile floor as he brought his knees up against his chest. He looked similar to a kicked puppy in Leon's opinion, and that just irritated him even more.
Just as the brunet was about to make another smart remark, Cloud burst from behind the swinging doors. Panting heavily, the glow in his blue eyes told Leon that something good had happened and the party quickly rose to their feet. Demyx and Zexion arrived just in time with their purchases of canned ice coffee for everyone but upon seeing Cloud, the beverages were quickly forgotten and they dumped the drinks with the woman behind the reception desk. The crowd of males followed the speed walking blond steadily, all of them anxious to see the exhausted 'mother' in his hospital bed.
Once they reached Roxas' assigned room, Cloud ushered a trembling Axel forward so that he could be the first to see what his husband spent nine months nurturing inside of him. Upon entering the white room, Axel trekked on wobbly feet over to the bed where he found his exhausted partner cradling a tiny bundle in his arms. His heart raced with each step that he took and the closer he got, the more he could see the white bundle squirming as Roxas cooed quietly at her.
"H-hey…" Axel finally says.
"Hey yourself." Roxas looks up and replies in a half whisper, his voice slightly hoarse from not having any water for so long. Smiling up at his husband through tired blue eyes, he returned to looking down at their baby girl. "Shelke, look your daddy's here."
Swallowing nervously, Axel stood right beside the bed and kneeled down slightly to get a better look at his daughter. She was tiny, that was the first thought that Axel had and as he continued to stare, he noticed the turfs of auburn curls peeking out from under her pink cap. Reaching his hand out to her, he cupped the side of her tiny head and choked at the sight of her moving into his open palm.
"Hi, baby—I'm your daddy, we're both your daddies." He said shakily as tears began to form in his eyes.
"Axel?" Roxas turned worriedly to his husband but upon seeing his smile despite the tears that streamed down his face, the blond knew that it was alright after all.
"Can I hold her?" Axel asked.
"Of course you can, you're her father—so there's no reason for you to ask."
Nodding in agreement, Axel beamed lightly and with some help from Roxas he carefully lifted Shelke up into his arms and held her close. "We made a beautiful baby, Roxy—we really did."
"Yeah, she reminds me of you though." Roxas says as he finally laid back down into the numerous pillows and released a sigh of relief.
Gradually, Cloud, Leon, Sora, Riku, Demyx and Zexion trickle into the room quietly, their eyes locked on the newly formed family of three. Sora and Cloud take their place at Roxas' side while the others sit back from a distance and watch on at the scene fondly. As Axel rocks little Shelke to and fro, she wrinkles her button nose at him and to his shock, opens her eyes weakly until he can see the same shade of ocean blue eyes his beloved husband has.
A/N: If you've played Final Fantasy VII Dirge of Cerberus, you'll know that I chose the character Shelke the Transparent to be Roxas and Axel's baby girl :3 She's pretty cute, and when I read her bio and saw her design, it remained me of Roxas and how in some designs he has this baby face but looks serious, like on the cover of 358/2. Not to mention, the brick red hair and the blue eyes—I was like, "she is perfect! She will become Axel and Roxas' kid!"
And before I forget, if you're going to ask—yes! Roxas is older than Axel by two years (: I should have written a starting story before this, but I skipped ahead because I love the idea of Axel and Roxas having kids ;w; I'm a complete dork for my yaoi ships having kids okay!
Anyways, please leave me some goodies to read later and thank you so much for taking the time to read my story (:
