"You can't disband the team!"
Rogue winced. He'd hoped Sting wouldn't yell so loud when he made his declaration. Now they had the whole guild's attention as he said, "Yes I can, and I'm doing just that."
"But… but…" Sting grasped with his hands for something to say. "Why? Are we fighting? What are we fighting over?"
"It's not about a fight," Rogue said, glancing towards the rest of the guild. "I just… can't work with you right now."
"But you've never had any trouble working with me before! We work great together!"
"Can you stop yelling?" Rogue pleaded.
Sting followed his gaze to the rest of the guild, staring unabashedly at them, and clicked his tongue. "Fine. Office. Now."
The guild's office had not been used for anything other than storage since Sting took over the guild, and when Sting dragged Rogue into it and threw him down into Genma's old chair, it kicked up a cloud of dust that left both of them coughing. Sting recovered first, and so had time to ask Rogue in at a lower volume, "Why can't we work together?"
"It's not—" Rogue coughed. "It's not that I can't work with you. I can't take the kind of work you like."
"But why not? It's never been a problem before."
"Health issues."
Sting froze, remembering Rogue's week long illness. When Rogue said no more, refusing to meet Sting's eye, the blond sat down on the desk and placed a hand on his partner's shoulder. "All that vomiting?"
"Yeah. It's… nothing life threatening, I don't think. I mean, the doctor didn't mention anything about it being life threatening, but I do have to go a little easier for a while."
"Sorry. I didn't realize it got so bad that you went to see a doctor. You showed up today, so I thought you were, y'know, back in working order."
Rogue shook his head. "I still feel lousy. I just thought I should come and let you know, whether I threw up trying or not."
"Geeze. If you need to take it easy, you shouldn't go somewhere that makes you feel worse." That hand on Rogue's shoulder turned into an arm around his entire backside, and Rogue made no attempt to break away from Sting's embrace. "It's fine. I wouldn't want to make you any worse off. We can team up again once you're back to normal?"
"Yeah. I think so."
It felt nice in Sting's arms. Rogue took a deep breath, and Sting's scent surrounded him and blocked out the still settling dust. If the two of them could stay right there, together, then he wouldn't mind the pregnancy.
Sting let go of him three seconds later.
"You want to take it easy at home?"
"I still need to work," Rogue said, trying not to let his disappointment show. That didn't last nearly long enough. "It's mostly the smell from the bar that makes coming to the guild worse than sitting at home, but I can go into a back room to help you with papers. And I'll pick out a job while I'm doing that."
"We can close the bar," Sting offered.
"And there goes half the guild's income," said the one who balanced the budget for his lazy guild master.
"We can more thoroughly clean the bar, then. Would that help?"
Rogue nodded.
"Consider it done." Sting gave Rogue another pat on the shoulder, which wasn't nearly as good as a hug, but beat nothing. "You take the rest of today off, though. I'll make sure the bar is odor free by the time you come in tomorrow."
"Thanks."
"No problem. Oh, and Rogue?"
"Yeah?"
"Once you're feeling up to it… would you be alright with asking Yukino out? It doesn't have to be for real, and you can tell her that. I thought maybe if it's a double date, I'd have an easier time with Minerva…"
Rogue couldn't honestly say he'd be happy to help, but he was still obligated to be supportive. He also wanted another hug, so he gave Sting one. Sting laughed at the gesture and wrapped his arms around Rogue in return.
"Thanks. I can always count on you."
Rogue had to help anyway, so Sting would never consider that he technically hadn't said 'yes'.
-o-
He had to work, and he had to go to the guild for work, but that didn't mean Rogue liked it.
It proved impossible to completely get the smell of beer out of the floorboards around the bar, and Rogue wouldn't let Sting replace the floor over what he swore up and down was only a temporary illness. Even if he'd be pregnant for the better part of a year, morning sickness couldn't possibly last that entire time. This meant the best they could do was weaken the beer smell, and once that wasn't so overpowering, Rogue discovered that quite a few items on the guild's menu also upset his stomach. He dared not be so self-centered as to ask that Sting have that changed, so he was left hiding in the old, now dust free office during meal time.
Sting took to bringing him crackers and ginger ale and some sort of weird raspberry tea whenever he hid, which Rogue thought to be a nice but useless gesture until it turned out that they really did help his stomach. Granted, it wasn't a cure all. None of the morning sickness remedies the doctor had provided for him properly suppressed his nausea. At best, they made it mild enough that forcing himself to eat a full meal wasn't quite as difficult. Any drugs that might have done the job better were, apparently, not baby safe.
But the crackers were nice regardless of how well they worked. The only downside was that Sting coming to see him at a point where he already felt bad was that Sting wound up in the habit of coming in at the right time to catch Rogue when his morning sickness got the better of him.
And so, five weeks into his pregnancy, Rogue found himself on the floor, bent over the toilet of what had once been Genma's private bathroom, coughing up stomach acid and leftover bits of breakfast as Sting stood awkwardly in the doorway behind him.
If Rogue thought throwing up at the door while everyone watched was bad, it was only because he hadn't gone through this. His morning sickness had gotten progressively worse, which meant instead of a quick up-chuck, he was stuck on the floor, clinging to the toilet for support, feeling too shaky to stand. Queasiness alone left him sweating, and there were bits of vomit in his hair. He didn't want anyone to see him like this. Especially not Sting.
Not to mention Sting was completely unhelpful. Sting stood in the doorway and rubbed his arm as he watched Rogue, unsure what to do. When it seemed like Rogue was done, he took a step forward and reached out to place a hand on the poor boy's shoulder, but then pulled back and took a step away. Awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, he then asked, "Are you okay?"
"Just peachy," Rogue croaked before gagging again.
"If there's anything I can get you…?"
"I'm fine."
When Sting made no effort to point out that he quite clearly wasn't fine, Rogue tried to stand. This turned out to be a mistake, as the motion set his stomach off again. He fell back to his knees and dry wretched. His only consolation was that this time, Sting found the nerve to actually place a hand on his should.
"You don't look like you're fine," he said. "It's getting worse, isn't it? You don't have to help me out here. I can take you home and—"
"I'll be fine, really. This won't last forever." The idea of Sting helping him home and lazing with him on the couch sounded appealing, but he had books on coping with a pregnancy and child rearing lying out at home that he couldn't let Sting see, so Rogue said, "You have a guild to run. Don't worry about me so much."
Sting hesitated, then asked slowly, "This condition of yours… did the doctor say how long it will last? How many months? When are you expecting…"
"I should be fine before this time next year," Rogue said. "I'll be fine. Really. I just got a little overwhelmed. I can get back to work now."
"Well… Okay. Want me to bring you anything? I can heat up some soup."
"No you can't."
"I can handle soup, Rogue. It comes pre-cooked anyway."
Through teasing, Rogue managed a smile. "That's questionable, and in my current condition, not worth the risk to find out. Maybe in an hour or two, Yukino could heat up soup."
"You open a can, put it in a pot, and take it off the stove when you see steam. I can manage that much, stupid." Sting gave Rogue a playful swat. "Oh, shit. That didn't hurt, did it?"
Laughing, Rogue said, "No, get back to work," and gave Sting a light shove towards the door.
Sting laughed too, and waved to Rogue on his way out of the office.
Only once Sting was gone did Rogue place a hand over his stomach, silently cursing the parasite that had taken up residence in him. He'd noticed a small bump that morning. With eight months to go, that didn't bode well on the 'hiding the pregnancy' front, but Rogue was still determined to keep Sting in the dark. Sting had a guild to run and a girl to win. Even if he'd likely pitch in to help Rogue raise a child no matter where it came from, he didn't need to be weighed down with the knowledge that he was a father.
If it came to it, if his pregnancy got impossible to hide, he would need to leave the guild. At least until after the child was born. He hadn't worked out how to do that yet. Disappearing without a word felt wrong, but he knew that any warning he gave would prompt Sting to stop him. Rogue knew that if Sting begged him not to leave, he wouldn't have it in him to go. He had to go. It wouldn't be fair to Sting otherwise. The whole pregnancy happened because he took advantage of the situation when Sting was drunk, and that he did that made him enough of a shitty and undeserving friend without expecting Sting to put up with the consequences too.
-o-
Rogue returned home from a day of vomiting at the guild hall and took stock of everything. After having cut out all luxury expenses, focused primarily on work, and been as frugal with food as he could (something helped by his diminished appetite), he had enough saved up to last him a few months. His own home was paid off, so it would have been ideal to stay there, but Sting knew his address. A cheap apartment would have to do until the baby was born. Maybe a cheap hotel. From long term missions, Rogue knew a few that would rent out their rooms as if they were studio apartments. Sabertooth, under previous rule, had been discouraged from settling for cheap accommodations, but that never stopped Rogue. Even if they billed their clients for any work expenses, he liked to think it brought continued patronage if he didn't go overboard with spending.
He had a whole thirty-five weeks to go, and enough money to last him twelve weeks. That was before accounting for any medical expenses that might come up, or any other unexpected incidents. Given that he was pregnant, Rogue wasn't about to bet on nothing of the sort happening.
Dinner was a can of soup, a few steamed vegetables, and crackers. Rogue's stomach couldn't handle much more than that. Luckily, that was all easy to prepare, and he left Frosch to the task while he got to work planning out the next nine months. She might not have been let in on Rogue's condition yet, but she knew he was sick and worried about things to come, and even when Rogue wasn't in need of help, she was happy to offer it.
While Frosch cooked, Rogue went over what all supplies he would need to take with him when he went into hiding. What would he need to buy? Where would he go? Which hospital would he need his doctor to transfer information to? How would he make sure Sting couldn't follow? How much work did he need to do to save up for all of that, assuming he left no later than week ten?
Only five weeks in and it already felt like a miracle every day that went be where someone didn't figure out his secret. If Rogue were a girl, for as bad as his morning sickness was, he was certain that someone would have guessed the truth by this point. It not, then it would certainly be obvious as his stomach grew. He could tell this wasn't one he'd be able to cover up with baggy clothes. Waiting ten weeks in with the situation as it was already felt risky.
He had five more weeks tops to save up as much as he could, get everything ready, and figure out a way to say goodbye without tipping Sting off to his plans.
-x-
STA: You know what this fic originally was? A random, context-free snippet I posted on tumblr. It had been a while since I wrote anything to do with mpreg (and, if I remember correctly, came in the middle of a year of not working on anything to do with Fairy Tail at all), and I missed both Stingue stuff and mpreg stuff, so I wrote a random-ass scene. Rogue was suffering from morning sickness and Sting was being an awkwardly supportive boyfriend, but Rogue hadn't told Sting that he was pregnant. As Sting tried to make Rogue feel better, Rogue thought about how Sting had enough on his plate and shouldn't be saddled with a kid, so the pregnancy was to remain a secret.
It was totally just this random scene I wrote to kill time and scratch an itch, and when someone asked me if I ever planned to write more of it, I outright told them no. So, dude, if you're reading this, I lied. I didn't realize I was lying, but I totally lied. My mind went back to that scene enough times, and finally I decided to build a whole story around it.
I wanted to copy and paste that scene into this chapter, but it didn't fit perfectly with everything else I'd written, so I ended up using a revised version instead.
