"Battler~"
He flinched when he heard his name— That tone of voice could only mean trouble for him.
He missed fondly the times when that sweet sound would announce a long, busy night, but right now, it only meant...
"Don't ignore me, will you?"
Fights.
He saw himself scowl in the mirror before turning around, letting his weight rest on top of the sink. He had a clear view of their room through the door, especially of their bed, where Beato was sitting while she tapped the floor with her feet. She was wearing her pajamas already, a long, elegant pink nightgown and her curly long hair rested on her shoulders.
And her hand softly stroked her stomach, round and prominent, a life sleeping inside it.
The rest of her figure was almost intact, as Beato had been very careful with her weight during pregnancy, an attitude that had confused quite a bit. He thought she would use the baby as an excuse to demand the craziest dishes and stuff her face, as selfish and immature as Beato was.
She was so cute with her little figure and round belly that Battler felt the urge to run and hold her, but he knew that wasn't a safe thing to do right now. It would only lead her on and make the bullet harder to dodge.
"Don't start, Beato."
"But—" She raised to her feet, pouting a little. "I really, really want to do it! And I know you want to, too!"
Battler brought a hand to his head, rubbing his temple impatiently. The doctor had warned him that some women experimented high sexual arousal during pregnancy because of their hormones, and unfortunately for him, that was exactly what Beato was going through. She had tried all methods to get him laid, yet every night he somehow managed to talk her down. But it was getting harder each time, and he knew she would explode with anger sooner than later.
"I'm just fine, because I know how to satisfy myself." That wasn't a lie— The lack of sex had him regularly 'assisting' himself every few days, and even if it wasn't nearly as satisfying as the real thing, it was enough to keep him sane. "You're just going to have to keep using that little toy of yours, Beato." And he pointed to a box under their bed with a libidinous grin on his lips, but Beato didn't share his good mood.
"It's not the same!" She kicked a plushy out of her way, throwing a small tantrum where she was standing. "I want you!"
Her confession only revealed how desperate she was. Normally, Battler had to try every trick in the book to break her hard-to-get act and make her beg for him so eagerly. He almost felt bad for her— but he felt worse for himself right now, getting ready to list the reasons why he wanted to avoid sex so much once again.
"Calm down, will you? You're only getting the baby stressed"
"YOU are getting the baby stressed. I keep asking you every night...!"
"Because!" Battler walked towards her, but stopped when she glared at him. "It's dangerous! What if something happens? Do you really want to risk your health and the baby's because you're horny! ?"
"It's not dangerous, liar!" She threw a pillow to his face, but it wasn't nearly enough to express how frustrated she was, so she threw the plushy that was on the floor as well. "I asked the doctor. He said that I was under the low risk category, so there was no problem having sex! Hell, the nurse even gave me some safe positions to do it!"
"Even so, we can't know for sure! What if something happens anyway—! ?"
"Coward." Beato crossed her arms on her chest, looking away from him.
Battler felt bad again, but he wasn't lying. He usually trusted science and professionals about those things, but the idea of some extreme scenario where he would lose both his wife and his daughter for a shallow whim worried him too much to even try to touch Beato.
"We can be careful, you know." She softened her tone, moving towards him until her cute belly touched him. "I won't lay on my back, I can ride you if you want" She showed him her white teeth in a playful grin "You used to like it a lot, rememberrr? You said you loved how everything bounced and bounced~! Kyahaha!"
Battler gulped. The images of Beato moving on top of him, sweaty and completely naked, her bun disheveled and a blissful expression on her face were still fresh in his mind even if their last time had been long ago. Even now he kept using them to... support himself during those little happy times in the bathroom.
"N... no. No, no, no!" Beato let out a frustrated moan— She almost had him. But Battler shook his head as if to scare away those very tempting fantasies. "It's still wrong! Even if there's no risk, can you imagine how horrible it would be if she found out that we had sex while she was still inside you?"
Beato raised her eyebrows.
"... Who cares? Who is going to tell her! ?"
"I... I don't know! We could tell her by accident, just like my old man did with me!" Battler shivered. "I still have nightmares about it you know. Just... disgusting... of my old man and... my mom... and I'm there..."
"You weren't even conscious back then! And we... We can be careful about that too...!"
"No, Beato. I'm not doing it, and that's my final word."
He walked past her to sit on the bed, sighing heavily.
"Liar."
Battler stopped in his tracks. Her voice finally broke, and he saw her figure shrink and shake with a few sobs. Unbelievable— He was used to Beato being manipulative as hell, but was she really resorting to crying to get what she wanted?
He still felt his heart clench though. Stupid Y chromosome. As a man, he was extremely weak to women's tears, specially when they belonged to someone he loved, so he couldn't stop himself and got closer to her, hugging her from behind.
"Hey, c'mon..."
"Stop making up excuses, idiot!" She turned around to look at him, her face reddened and wet by her tears. She really... wasn't faking it. A terrible, pained frown twisted her face and she hiccupped uncontrollably.
"I'm not 'making up' anything, Beato."
"You are. You are, you are, you are, you are!" She kicked the floor again, furious.
"Fine! Why don't you enlighten me and tell me why I don't want to have sex with you, then! ?"
"Be... because" She swallowed and cleaned her running nose with her sleeve. "Because... I'm disgusting."
"..."
Beato stood there, petite and red faced, looking at the ground, completely different from her usual proud self, and Battler was unable to even form a sentence. What...?
"... What are you talking about! ?" He answered after a while, still wondering if he had heard her clearly. "If you mean you're dirty and perverted, sure, you are, but so am I, so..."
"No! I mean... my body is... disgusting now... My... I'm like some sort of balloon now... and my legs are fatter and my boobs are just... And I'll only get worse after the baby is born—!"
"What are you, stupid?"
Battler interrupted her so brusquely that she looked up, shocked. Now he was the one frowning, a hand on his face as he shook his head. So that was why Beato was being so careful with her weight until now...?
"I thought you knew me better, Beato." He used his thumb to clean the tears on her cheeks before kissing her eyelids gently. "That's why you were acting so weird, huh..."
"Be... because... You don't think I am...?" She looked up as he took off her nightgown, that fell on Beato's feet in a mess, leaving her only with her underwear on.
"Hey. You're still hot, just cuter now that you have this 'balloon' here." He poked her stomach, drawing circles on it and making her chuckle. "And it's going to go away soon enough. And this..." He held her closer to him, reaching out for her thighs. "... is just getting meatier. And your tits— They're getting even bigger than they already are! Sure I won't be able to play with them for a while after the baby is born, but still."
"... meatier..."
"That's right, you dumbass."
"..." Beato looked down, as if realizing how dumb she had been, and smiled before throwing herself into his arms. "Battler, Battler, Battler!"
He let out a cheery laugh as they danced around the room, but it only lasted a few seconds before tripping on the bed, falling and bouncing on the mattress and laughing as they held each other tightly, her belly between them as if sharing that hug with them.
"Ihihi... I'm so flattered, Beato... You rejected eating a lot of delicious things just for my sake..." Beato just snickered, pushing him to the mattress and sitting on his lap.
"Who said that? I did it for me, because I didn't want to lose my sexy body to a baby like most women do~" Her fingers played with one of her blonde locks almost seductively, and she rose her chin proudly, finally recovering that confident attitude of hers.
"Say whatever you want. I know you did it for me."
They shared a warm smile, Beato leaning in for another kiss. He had forgotten how soft her skin was, and how good it smelled. Her cheeks had lost that ugly red color already, replaced with a soft, pink blush, the only traces left of her outburst being her wet eyelashes. He didn't even notice when had he began tickling her thighs with his fingers, or when she had taken his shirt off, or when—
"Ah..."
"Nnh... don't... don't sit on it like that..."
Beato bit her lower lip and brought a hand to her chin, moving from his lap and massaging the bulge she had been sitting on for a while now.
"Battler~" The red head just sighed, muttering a few curses.
"... Fine. But as soon as you feel weird we'll stop, ok?" Beato jumped like a little girl, that familiar, mocking grin brightening up her face.
"O... ok! I'll take out the blindfold and the handcuffs and the condoms... a... and the dil..."
"He- Hey, wait, wait, wait... Le... Let's not over do it— Let's have normal sex for now, ok, Beato...?"
"Boooring." She sang, pulling out from under the bed the big box Battler had pointed earlier. "But we can begin with that I guess..."
"Be... begin...?"
"It'll be like old times! But we'll be more careful, ok? What should we try first, I wonder~"
"I... dammit, whatever."
He gave up, lazily rubbing his eyes. It was going to be long, busy night after all.