All in all, Rogue thought he could have done worse. It took him a few weeks to find work, but he had enough money to last him through that time easy, and the job was a pleasant one. Working at the book store wasn't his dream job. In fact, he'd been pretty happy working at Sabertooth. His options, however, were a shipping warehouse or the bookstore, and the bookstore owner was willing to spare Rogue any work that involved too much heavy lifting when he disclosed his condition. Granted, he needed a note from his new doctor to verify that he was indeed pregnant, and it had been embarrassing to explain, but once she believed him the storeowner was eager to help. Rogue had been lucky to interview with someone who had recently had a child herself.
He'd faked knowing more about books that he did, parroting complaints or praise he'd heard Sting give to whatever he was reading when asked about his interest in literature. That he could hardly focus when a book was placed in his hands was a detail he omitted, although he did confess that the child's father—who was tragically unable to be there with him—was a much more avid reader.
Working in the warehouse would have been nothing but manual labor, which was exactly what his doctor didn't want him to do. Especially not when they were already worried about his nutrition already having a negative impact on the baby's development. Rogue couldn't afford to take any more risks with Sting's baby. He didn't want his doctor to scold him again either.
As a reward for securing a decent job, since his nausea wasn't too awful at the time, Rogue treated himself to an ice cream cone. It was hot out. Rogue was sweating even though he'd replaced his sweaters with lighter, looser shirts meant for men who were rounding out without a pregnancy to excuse their size. Besides, he wanted sugar.
He and Frosch sat on a bench overlooking the port as they licked their cones. With the sea breeze blowing towards them and Rogue's mind focused on what explanation he'd give Sting for running off and returning with a baby, as well as how long to wait after having the baby before going home now that he could afford to stay away longer, he never noticed anyone sneaking up behind him.
"Hey." A thick arm fell over Rogue's shoulders. "Fancy seein' you all the way out here. I take it the blond bastard is nearby?"
From that Rogue took it that Sting hadn't reported his disappearance to anyone outside the guild yet. Still, word would get out sooner or later, so Rogue couldn't play it off as though everything was normal and risk having anyone telling Sting where they'd seen him once they found out he was missing. Instead, he smiled up at Gajeel and said, "I'm here on my own. If you would consider not mentioning seeing me to Sting, I would appreciate that. I don't really want him to be 'nearby' right now."
"Why not?" Gajeel asked, dropping down onto the bench beside Rogue.
Rogue wracked his brain for a reason. "I suppose you could say we're fighting. We split our team up a while ago."
There. If that got back to Sting, he could think Gajeel misunderstood in connecting their 'fight' to the team splitting, and he could wonder what he did to make Rogue upset rather than outright deny that anything came between them. It was perfect. Manipulative, and every bit as cruel to Sting as running away without a word had been, but it served its purpose perfectly. Rogue was satisfied with the answer, at least on a practical level.
Until Gajeel spoke, at least.
"Why're you two fighing? Cuzz you got pregnant and had to stop takin' work?"
Rogue squeaked, one hand covering his stomach as he turned to face Gajeel fully. "H-how—"
"Scent." Gajeel tapped his nose. "Lived in a rough neighborhood during my Phantom days. Lotsa young girls with babies on the way and no father in the picture. Those chemical shifts in the body leave some signs, and you learn to pick up on them."
Rogue was grateful for Gajeel, indicating that it was a smell you had to be familiar with. He and Sting rarely crossed paths with pregnant women, much less lived near a great many. There was also the protection in that most people wouldn't guess a man was pregnant, even if that hadn't stopped Gajeel.
"So who'd you bone that Sting didn't want you to? Or did you get mad because you have no idea who the dad is and he got judgmental about it?"
"I know who the father is! Do you even… you know I'm a guy, right?"
"Yeah, but you smelled pregnant, and you didn't deny it when I asked. 'Fact, you pretty much confirmed it right there. So, who is it? Orga? He looked like he'd be a good one to have on top of you, if you don't mind that face. Can't see Sting gettin' protective over him, though. Did he not like that you were sleeping around? He seems like the type to have a different lady in his bed every night, so that'd be pretty hypocritical of him. Does he have lot of lady friends?"
Unable to contain his irritation, Rogue smacked Gajeel before snapping, "Sting doesn't know about any of this, okay? And don't you dare tell him."
Gajeel grabbed Rogue by the collar and pulled him closer, raising a fist. "You think that warranted hittin' me?"
"Rogue isn't supposed to fight," Frosch told Gajeel. "The doctor says he could hurt the baby."
"He started it!"
"What are you, four?" Rogue asked.
Growling, Gajeel released his shirt. "Fine. Whatever. If you don't want Sting to know, then he's the dad, right?"
Unwilling to confirm that, Rogue looked away and resumed eating his ice cream.
"Okay. So lemme see if I've got this right. Sting knocked you up, doesn't know your pregnant, and you ran away."
Whoever invented chocolate was a genius. Chocolate ice cream was so delicious. Rogue resolved to go back for another cone one he'd finished off the one in his hand.
"Hey! Don't ignore me you shady bastard!"
Focusing his gaze as intently as he could on a boat that was in the opposite direction of Gajeel, Rogue said, "You have my number, alright? I ran so Sting wouldn't learn he's going to be a father?"
"Uh-huh. How exactly did that even happen?"
"Something to do with magic. The doctor didn't get all that elaborate with explaining it to me."
"Seems like you'd hear about stuff like this more often, if it's a magic mishap."
"Apparently there's a precedent, but they're not allowed to report on it unless the patient comes out with the story."
"Huh. Go figure. You gonna finish that?" Gajeel pointed to Rogue's ice cream, prompting Rogue to make a show of continuing to eat it. "Aw, c'mon. That stuff is probably bad for the baby."
"Anything that stays down is good."
"Rogue is sick all the time," Frosch added. Rogue wished she hadn't added it, but what was done was done.
"Sick sick? Or just morning sickness?"
Rogue laughed. "Just morning sickness. You say that like it isn't hell on earth."
"So you got it bad, huh? Anyway, wouldn't Sting… I don't know… guess? He has to know he slept with you. If you start smellin' funny, throw up everywhere, run away, and then come back with a baby, he's gonna figure out what happened. Unless you see as much action as he does, there can't be too many candidates for daddy."
"S-Sting doesn't sleep around!" Rogue snapped. Maybe Sting had slept with other people, when sufficiently intoxicated, but Rogue was usually there to look out for him. Surely Sting couldn't have had too many drunken flings. No more than one or two a season. At least as of the past year, when a mugging made Rogue realize that Sting's drinking problem was worse than he and Lector made it out to be, and an escort would be a good idea. And it wasn't like you gained that much experience from black-out drunk sex anyway… even if Gajeel had never hinted at anything like that. "Besides, he doesn't even remember that we… um… I mean… He's too busy flirting with Minerva to take an interest in anyone else anyway!"
"Sucks to be you, then. I take it you scored him drunk?"
Rogue flinched and looked down at his feet, waiting for Gajeel to tear him a new one for being such a terrible person.
"Answer, Shady. Why wouldn't he remember?"
"It… It's not any of your business."
"It's gonna be my business if you don't want me telling Sting where you're hiding."
Rogue's grip on his ice cream tightened so hard that the cone cracked, and he decided to eat what was left of it before it melted all over his hand rather than deal with Gajeel.
Gajeel, to his annoyance, waited for him to finish scarfing the ice cream down. So what did he do? Admit that he was human garbage? Let Gajeel run back to Sting? He'd just gotten a job, and he hadn't thought to setup a backup hideaway. Gajeel already suspected him anyway.
The second the cone ran out, Gajeel asked, "Well?"
"I… Y-yeah. We were out drinking, and—"
"Thought so."
Rogue folded his hands in his lap and waited for Gajeel to scold him.
"So? How far have you gotten so far? You're already wearing that baggy crap, so I'm betting you've got a belly to ya."
"Th-that's it?" Rogue asked. "I took advantage of Sting. You don't care about that?"
Gajeel shrugged. "Well, it's not like Sting's my problem. 'Sides, you said you were both drinking, right? Hard to be the one taking advantage of a drunk when you're too drunk to use your wits too."
"Oh." Rogue hadn't even thought of it that way. He'd had significantly less than Sting, and he hadn't been too drunk to remember the morning after, but he had been tipsy. Sting had built up a higher alcohol tolerance too, so having had less to drink didn't make him not drunk. If he'd been sober, Rogue would never have slept with Sting in that state.
On the other hand, Rogue had been close enough to sober to realize that Sting was so much more drunk than him.
"So you gonna let me see your stomach or not?"
"Of course not!"
"Rogue always turns super red when Fro touches it," Frosch said, which was again something Rogue wished she hadn't piped up to say.
"Eh? That big already?"
"I'm not big!" Rogue insisted. "I just… Of course it would be embarrassing! I'm a pregnant guy!"
"Super embarrassing," Gajeel said. "So embarrassing you shout it for the whole street to hear."
"H-huh?" Rogue looked around, eyes widening in horror as he saw all the pedestrians staring at him. A couple stood not too far off, wrapped around one another and clearly having been making out before they broke off to gawk.
Seeing Rogue turn red, eyes watering from humiliation, Gajeel laughed and said a little louder than he really needed to, "No more booze for you before sundown, if you really bought into a stupid prank like that."
The crowd snickered and resumed what it had been doing before. Drunken babble was silly, but not worth more than a passing glance.
Hanging his head in shame, Rogue mumbled, "Thanks for the cover-up."
"Might want to keep wearing baggy shit," Gajeel suggested. "Spare yourself some rumors over your stomach. Maybe put on some weight if you're really determined to hide it."
Rogue nodded, head still hung. He didn't exactly want to get fat, and after everything else he wasn't about to admit to Gajeel that he was struggling just keep his weight from going down, but Gajeel did have something of a point. He had to tell his boss, but the fewer looks he got for being pregnant, the less likely someone was to pay attention to him, and thus recognize him. Fewer people recognizing him meant fewer chances for news of his whereabouts getting back to Sting. Really, anything he could do to cut down on recognition would be a good idea.
"Do you think I should cut my hair?" Rogue asked.
"No idea where that question came from," Gajeel said. "If you're tired of your look, no one's stoppin' you from changing it."
He wasn't tired of his hair, but if it stopped people from recognizing him… Would it stop people from recognizing him…?
"Well, whatever." Gajeel pushed himself up off the bench. "You answered my questions, so I guess I'll keep your secret for now. See you 'round."
He walked off then, waving without turning back to see Rogue wave as well.
Once Gajeel turned down a street and was out of sight, Rogue let his hand fall, and stared blankly towards the water. In a way, it felt nice to confess his situation to someone he knew. He couldn't explain the relationship drama to his boss, and he couldn't talk about the drama or his pregnancy with Sting—obviously. Gajeel, however, was someone who could understand the details of Rogue's situation, and wasn't likely to blab his secret to certain blonds. Aside from the part where he'd scarfed down his cone without savoring it, Rogue felt he came out of that encounter better off than he'd been before.
He glanced down at his empty hand, feeling remorse for the one major loss from the past few minutes. Maybe he would buy a second cone. He could afford a little frivolous spending now, after all.
-x-
STA: I spent a lot of time before posting this fic wondering how people would handle the subject of drunken consent. Rogue spends a lot of time in the "It's rape" camp despite his conversation with Gajeel, while Gajeel is staunchly in the "you're still responsible for yourself if you chose to drink" camp. And I've seen too many people who look at an opinion of a character's and assume that it must be something the author thinks. (I have another mpreg idea I've been sitting on that actually has some to-do with the subject of abortion. Because I apparently now like to tackle hot-button issues via mpreg. And I'm even less thrilled about the possibility of people lashing out at me for what they assume my stance is with that one.)
On the other hand, I've also seen far too many people who are very blatantly using their characters as mouthpieces to espouse their views, sometimes to such detriment where actual storytelling and character development are involved that I've had to stop following their work. So maybe there's a reason that people start to assume that writers only ever make their characters agree with them.
Animelover9696: Glad to hear it! Sorta. Sorry I made you cry, but I'm glad that I was able to evoke an emotional response like that.
amandinesaot: Haha. Dude, if I did this story in pen, you'd never see it. I wouldn't have the heart to write the whole thing twice. But never fear! Me and my trusty keyboard got the next chapter to you in under a week.
Kyouya Sata: Glad I was able to enlighten you.
futmop: I very much hate leaving stories unfinished. Part of the reason I ended up almost 20 chapters ahead of where I'm posting is because I make myself write a significant amount of any given story before posting it, just to know I can commit to the whole thing.
Nymus: I think I saw my first mpreg when I was 12, and tbh it was crap. (Plagiarized crap at that, I later found out.) But I like guys and I like pregnancy, and was deeply intrigued by the idea of combining the two. Some of my older stuff is probably the kind of mpreg that would turn people off from it, but I'm glad to hear that this one managed to get you invested :)
