DECEMBER 4—THREE MONTHS PREGNANT

On Friday, when Kurama was at work, Hiei made a sneaky excursion to the bookstore. He still wasn't secure enough to wear one of his new maternity graphic tees, but he did wear a T-shirt that fit him well. It was just a tiny bit of pudge, anyway, not a true pregnant belly; even if he had been a woman, he didn't think anyone would look at him and think he was pregnant. He used his Jagan eye to find his destination, and then he got there very quickly. The second trimester was the perfect time for using superspeed again; he wasn't sick and dizzy anymore, but the baby wasn't big enough yet to restrict his movement.

Once he had picked out his reading material, he brought it to the counter so he could buy it. Kurama was the breadwinner in the family, so it was his responsibility to earn the money. But as the stay-at-home parent, it was Hiei's responsibility to spend it wisely. He didn't think this counted as wise spending, but it wasn't that expensive, and anyway, he was going to use cash, so what Kurama didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"I'd like to buy this, please," said Hiei, placing the book on the counter.

"Sure thing," said the cashier, but then she frowned. "Hmm…"

"What is it?"

"The bar code is kind of smeared," she explained. "I can't scan it."

"Does that mean I can't buy it?" Hiei asked anxiously.

"Of course you can buy it," she told him. "I just need to call an associate to give me the numbers so I can type it in manually."

"Oh," said Hiei. "Okay."

"Hey, who's working in erotic manga?" said the cashier into her walkie-talkie. Hiei felt his cheeks grow warm. "Yeah, I need numbers for one…Title? It's called 'Two Cocks, One Dream…' No, the one with the two half-naked men on the cover…"

"It's not for me," Hiei lied, embarrassed. "It's for a friend."

"I didn't really ask who it was for, but thanks for sharing," said the cashier. Once her coworker gave her the numbers and she rung it up, Hiei had her put it in a bag, and then he sped home.

Hiei had been relieved of some classic first-trimester symptoms, but a new one had cropped up. These days, his main pregnancy craving was sex. Lots of it. Everything he saw reminded him of sex; he was constantly in the mood, even when he was asleep. He'd even awoken once or twice to stains on the sheets, as if he was in puberty again. It was like this weird itch he just couldn't seem to properly scratch, and not even sex with Kurama seemed to satisfy him anymore, hardly—not that he hungered for someone else. He just hungered for something else.

Before the pregnancy, Hiei would engage in self-pleasure maybe once a day or every other day, but now he just did it whenever the mood struck him, which was quite often. Not only that, but the way he used to do it solo didn't satisfy him anymore. Despite all of his erogenous zones being about a million times more erogenous than before, they called out for more than Hiei felt he could currently provide. So that was why he bought this book. Women didn't do it for Hiei at all, so he got a male/male manga instead. This way, he would have double the parts he liked, and none of the parts he didn't. Hopefully, it would get him heated up enough that he could wait until Kurama got home.

Before he went upstairs, Hiei got himself a bag of pretzels (no use pouring them into a bowl; he'd just want a refill), some saltwater, and a huge carton of coffee ice cream, topped with salt. Sex was the only thing he craved more than salt. (It was the coffee thing that was weird; he had always hated the taste of that human beverage before, but now he loved it. The reason he tended to eat coffee-flavored ice cream instead of drinking actual coffee was because caffeine was bad for the baby.)

Chapter One wasn't dirty like Hiei expected it to be. It was just about how the two main characters met, sort of romantic, really. So he skimmed through it until he got to Chapter Two, where the real hentai would start, he hoped. Sure enough, he wasn't two pages into the second chapter when one of the guys started to give the other a hand job.

Hiei groaned and rolled onto his back, one hand holding the book, the other already making its way down into his pants. This insatiability was unbearable! Why hadn't anyone told him he was going to feel this way? The manga was definitely turning him on, that was all he knew, probably more than it should have. Maybe over the course of reading, he could bring himself to orgasm, although the satisfaction he got from that never really seemed to last long.

Things escalated quickly for the two main characters. Clothes were shed. But then—what was going on there? That guy had his fingers…where?!

Hiei was actually blushing, but at the same time, he was wondering why, in an almost two-year-long sex life, he had never had Kurama's fingers up his ass. Well, he knew partly why; it was mostly because he still wasn't completely comfortable with his sexuality, and they had never really tried anything too "unorthodox." It wasn't being gay that bothered him (although it took him some time to figure that out). It was just the intimacy of sex in general.

But now he was imagining what that must feel like. Sure, the doctor had done it once, but that was a completely different situation. Now, the thought of Kurama's fingers stimulating his prostate was so enticing that he had half a mind to call Kurama and tell him to come home, even though it was around one and his work didn't end for another four hours. That seemed like an impossible time to wait.

Hiei greatly preferred being penetrated to penetrating during sex, so he tried to imagine that he was the guy on the bottom…imagine that it was Kurama's fingers inserted in there…The guy on top actually was doing all kinds of things with his free hand, and Hiei was trying his best to emulate every single one—

Woah! Since when had his nipples become so sensitive? Since he started having to wear a bra? The book fell onto the floor, forgotten. Hiei took his bra off and threw that onto the floor, too, and his "pregnancy jeans" and underwear soon followed. One of Hiei's hands was massaging his penis, the other playing around with his newfound breasts. He never knew they felt so good! Everything felt so good! Hiei was moaning with pleasure, almost wishing he had more than two hands so he could touch everything at the same time.

The overstimulation caused Hiei to ejaculate almost immediately. With a cry, he felt it shoot out into his hand, onto his stomach, and all over the comforter underneath him. For a minute he just lay there, panting with exhaustion.

I need a drink, Hiei thought, reaching for his saltwater and downing it as soon as he could get up. Cum was still everywhere, but that wasn't even on his mind. Back to the book! The two guys finished their sex scene, and Hiei skimmed through the pages of the book. It kind of had a cutesy, romantic plot that irritated him, but the graphic sex scenes made up for it. They were doing things Hiei had always been kind of reluctant to try with Kurama.

Hiei reached down almost automatically to touch the penis that was already hardening again; he figured since it was his, he could do whatever he wanted with it. And all he wanted now was the sweet, sweet release, even if it only lasted for a few minutes.

…

Kurama came home from work that day tired and hungry. Not that he was in a bad mood, but he did need to eat some dinner and recharge his batteries a bit. Before he had even set his briefcase down, though, Hiei bolted into the foyer, wearing nothing but pajamas. His face was pink and his hair was wet, signaling that he had just had a shower. But he was panting heavily, and there was something wild about his eyes.

"Um…good afternoon, Hiei," said Kurama warily. "Is that a can of lube in your hand?"

In response, Hiei grabbed Kurama's wrist with a surprising amount of force and dragged him over to the couch.

"You're going to be a nice plaything," he hissed, tugging on Kurama's hair.

Kurama was in shock. This was unlike Hiei, who had always been rather vanilla in the bedroom. Not unwilling, certainly, but he had never shown much interest in experimenting sexually. This show of dominance, while not unwelcome, was quite out of the ordinary for him. And yes, he was holding their favorite lube, making it very clear what he wanted to do.

"Hiei," said Kurama, "wait a minute—"

"I did wait!" Hiei shot back impatiently. "I waited for HOURS! I'm sick of waiting!"

"At least let me eat dinner first. I'm hungry."

"Well, I'm hungry too," Hiei growled, still keeping a strong grip on Kurama's forearm. "I'm hungry for your dick. And the pregnant one gets fed first, so get on your back."

"My back?" They had never done it this way before.

"NOW!" Hiei shouted, and before he knew it, Kurama was lying on the couch on his back, with the other demon easily climbing on top of him. Hiei's erection was very, very noticeable, even through his pajamas, and Kurama could feel a big one coming on, too. This new behavior from Hiei was definitely turning him on.

"If you want to do it with me, Hiei, you'll have to take your pants off," Kurama said with a grin as he unzipped his own pants, setting his fully-erect organ free.

Hiei got off of Kurama and removed everything, not just his pants. Then he straddled his husband once more, that look of desire still vibrant in his crimson-red eyes. Kurama figured this horniness had something to do with the boatloads of hormones that were careening through Hiei's system on the daily, but it was still hot as hell, and the chubby face, rounder ass, boobs, and slight baby bump only amplified things.

"Before I put this in me," Hiei breathed, holding Kurama's penis in one hand, "I want to be fingered."

"Y-You do?" Kurama was still shocked. "Hiei, what's gotten into you?"

"Your fingers!" said Hiei. "Come on, now. I want to feel them."

Hiei was not the first person, or even the first male, that Kurama had fingered (confident in his bisexuality/biromanticism for centuries, Kurama had enjoyed sexual relations with both males and females in the past). Plus, he was familiar with Hiei's body and what Hiei liked the most. So he knew he would be able to do this right. He dipped his fingers in the lube that Hiei had left on the end table, Hiei's eyes following his every move.

"Okay, here it comes," Kurama said silkily, sliding two fingers into Hiei with one fluid motion. With gentle pressure and practiced movements, he was easily able to stimulate Hiei's prostate. Hiei had obviously never experienced this before, because his reaction was very strong. And anyway, when Kurama was penetrating him, did he ever know for sure that he got the exact right place? With his fingers like this, he could find the right spot and do whatever he could think of: tap it, rub it, stroke it, trace it in a circular motion. Hiei seemed to particularly enjoy the first and last ones, so those were the ones Kurama repeated the most. That was why it was important to get to know your partner's body.

Of course, the pregnancy was a factor, too. This was one of the most sensitive parts of Hiei's body to begin with, but the hormones and increased blood flow made it much more so, and the enlargement of the ninshinsu meant that it was in a slightly different place—closer to the opening than usual, and therefore easier to reach.

Hiei definitely was enjoying this. Actually, he kind of looked and sounded like Kurama thought he would in labor: moaning loudly, gripping onto anything he could, his face red and sweaty, tears on his cheeks. Extreme pleasure overwhelmed the body, just as extreme pain did.

"I've got two hands, Hiei," Kurama reminded him, moving his two fingers in tandem to give Hiei's sweet spot a good, long, deep stroke. The resulting cry made him grin. "What else do you want me to do?"

"Ohhhh!" Hiei moaned again, pulling Kurama's hair even harder, but it didn't really hurt.

"Tell me what you want, hon," Kurama whispered, alternately tapping his index and middle fingers on Hiei's prostate, then stroking it again.

"W-Whatever," Hiei managed to gasp out, but that was the best he could do.

Kurama grasped Hiei's penis between his thumb and index finger, rubbing those two fingers just below the tip—something he knew Hiei went crazy for. The large, erect organ was already dripping with precum.

"I have an idea," said Kurama, taking one hand off of Hiei's penis and playing with one of his nipples instead. "Why don't you get your hands out of my hair and put them somewhere else?"

Hiei's eyes widened for a minute and he stared at Kurama. "Hmm?"

…

At this suggestion, Hiei temporarily came out of his swirling torrent of pleasure. Kurama wanted him to touch himself? Now?

"Come on, Hiei," Kurama whispered. "I know you had plenty of practice with this while I was at work."

Hiei felt a little embarrassed. Sometimes that was all he did while Kurama was at work, punctuated every so often by sleeping and eating.

"You know you want to," Kurama insisted, and he started stimulating the other parts of Hiei's body again, so good that Hiei wished it would never stop. Kurama was hitting those erogenous zones spot-on, with the utmost precision, and being creative about it, too. How could anything possibly feel so wonderful?

"Oh, fuck it," Hiei said, seeing as he was starting to get the urge to jack off again anyway. As this interaction went on, he got less shy and started getting into it instead. The fact that he was masturbating with Kurama watching was…well, it was kind of hot, actually. Apparently, Kurama thought so, too.

"That's right, baby, let me hear those moans," he was saying. "Louder…"

"Ah!" Hiei could feel that sensation, the knot in his lower belly that meant he was approaching orgasm. But he couldn't do that…they hadn't even gotten to penetration! Suddenly, taking his hand off his dick, Hiei commanded, "Stop!"

"What?" Kurama's green eyes looked confused as they stared up at Hiei, although he did remove his fingers.

"At this rate," Hiei panted, "I'm gonna cum before you can penetrate me. I told you, Kurama, I'm gonna ride you like a bull, and I want you touching me while I do it."

"Hiei!" Kurama still looked shocked, and Hiei couldn't blame him, because he was feeling a little bit shocked himself. But he was also feeling horny, and powerful, and daring, and sexy as fuck, riding on the adrenaline high of doing things he'd never done before. So he felt just fine ordering Kurama around and being on top of him. "Touch you where?"

"Figure it out yourself, bitch," Hiei hissed in his ear. The look on Kurama's face was priceless.

Hiei tried to remember what he'd seen the guys doing in the hentai manga. All he had to do was grab Kurama's dick and insert it, the same way Kurama would normally do it himself…oh, and the lube. They'd definitely need that.

Luckily, since his ass was already sort of lubricated from the fingering, as well as open and relaxed, Kurama's lubed-up penis slid in fairly easily. It almost slipped out, which would have been embarrassing for Hiei...but no. None of that. Hiei wouldn't allow himself to feel embarrassed anymore.

Once Kurama was fully in, Hiei knew it was time for him to be the "active" one, and he tried to remember the right way. Grind, don't bounce. Use your instincts. Just do what feels good.

And it worked…boy, did it work! The first time, too; how often did that happen? In some ways, being on top was even better than the other positions they'd tried, since Hiei basically got to control where Kurama's penis went inside him, and the way he'd thrust or move his hips determined whether or not all the right places were reached. He was the one in charge. He was the boss.

In addition to that, Kurama was doing what Hiei said for him to do; his hands focused wonderfully on the rest of Hiei's body, so that his wish of having every pleasure spot touched was starting to come true. The pleasure got more and more intense with each of Hiei's thrusts, and even as he felt his muscles start to ache slightly from the exertion, he didn't stop or even slow down. Nothing could supersede the wonderful feeling of being filled, the adrenaline rocketing through his blood as his thrusting sped up.

"Ahh…ahh…Kurama, I'm gonna cum!"

"Do it, Hiei! Cum for me!"

Hiei cried out in ecstasy as he ejaculated into Kurama's hand, the sticky white liquid splattering everywhere, then collapsed on top of his husband, exhausted. They needed to do it in this position way more often!

"Okay, Kurama," Hiei panted, trying to catch his breath. "Now it's time to satisfy you."

"What do you mean by that?" Kurama asked.

"You didn't finish yet," Hiei explained, staring down into Kurama's eyes. "What position do you want?"

"Oh," said Kurama. "Hmm…is missionary okay with you?"

Hiei yawned. "I don't think I have the energy for anything else."

…

Kurama enjoyed that time as well; Hiei seemed a little lackluster, though Kurama was so close to orgasm by the time Hiei had his that it didn't take long at all. Kurama let the remainder of his own seed spill into Hiei, and then got off of him.

"I love you so much, Hiei," Kurama whispered. "And you know what? I've never seen you so sexy."

"Really?" Hiei gave him a tired smile.

"You seemed so confident in yourself, and in your sexuality," Kurama told him, smiling back. "I loved that. I want you to be happy with your body, especially now."

"Thanks, Kurama." Hiei snuggled into the couch. "I could use a nap."

"All naked and covered in cum?"

"Well…" Hiei shrugged. "I guess I could get a shower, and I could nap while you cook dinner."

"Yes, and I need to change out of my work clothes," Kurama agreed.

So they went upstairs. Hiei went into the bathroom to take a shower, while Kurama went to change out of his suit and tie, not to mention those ridiculously long black socks he had to wear. He put on old jeans, a white T-shirt, and pink fuzzy socks instead. Then he thought it would be nice if maybe Hiei already had his pajamas and socks laid out for him on the bed. The bedsheets were kind of…dirty, for want of a better word, but Kurama wasn't surprised until he opened Hiei's sock drawer and found the book hidden in there.

Woah! No wonder Hiei had gotten so adventurous all of a sudden. This book had certainly put some ideas in his head. Kurama wanted to read the manga himself, because it looked like there was actually a beautiful romantic plot and not just indulgent porn. But he seriously doubted Hiei had gotten it for the plot.

Kurama was reading the manga and he was on Chapter Three when Hiei got out of the shower, wearing his black bathrobe. As soon as he saw Kurama's reading material, his eyes got wide and his cheeks flushed.

"I didn't know you were into this kind of manga, Hiei," Kurama teased, waving the book at him. "Is this what you do all day when I'm working? Masturbate to hentai?"

"That's, uh, not mine." Hiei's face was so red, it looked like he had a fever.

"Relax, Hiei, I don't care," Kurama told him, laughing. "It's actually a nice story. What I'm really not pleased with is the stain you left on the sheets."

"Oh…sorry," said Hiei, flustered. "I-I guess I forgot to—"

"I'm still joking, Hiei," said Kurama with a smile. "It's not a big deal. Look, the more you do this, the better you'll know what you want me to do when I come home at night. As long as you haven't taken up with another man or something, what you do while I'm at work doesn't matter to me."

"Of course I would never want another guy, Kurama," said Hiei, walking over and hugging Kurama around his neck. He was warm, and still a little wet from his shower.

"I love you, Hiei," said Kurama, snuggling him.

"I love you too," Hiei said back as he returned the hug.

"Hmm…" Kurama looked down at Hiei's lap and grinned. "You really can't tame the dragon, can you, Hiei?"

"I-I guess not." Hiei's face was a little pink again, but he was smiling. "Want to try?"

"You're lucky I haven't got dinner in the oven yet," Kurama replied, and pulled Hiei in for a kiss.

…

The next morning, Hiei awoke around noon to find, as per usual on weekdays, that Kurama had gone to work and left him to sleep in. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was the first snow of the year; the Tree of Life had lost its leaves, but the branches looked beautiful lined with the delicate white substance. Hiei was glad he didn't have to drive or go to work, and that he could just snuggle up in the warm sheets with Kurama's pillow, which smelled just like him.

It was winter; that meant the second trimester had officially started, and the second trimester was supposed to be the easiest one. Besides the sex thing, it was turning out to be at least halfway true for Hiei. Some of his problems were ones he'd had before, unsavory things like burping, gas, constipation, and an annoyingly weak bladder. He had gotten up to pee no less than four times last night, maybe more, if he'd forgotten.

But those cooking pots that had once sat by the bedside were now gone; Hiei had enough energy that he could make it to the bathroom on time, every time, and he hadn't thrown up for weeks now. Sometimes seeing a food commercial or hearing about one of his aversions made him feel a little queasy, and plenty of smells could make him downright nauseous, but it had never been so bad that it got to the point of vomiting, at least not yet.

Again, not all of Hiei's problems had gone away, so this morning began with a trip to the bathroom, as usual. When he was washing his hands, Hiei chanced a glance at the bathroom mirror, marveling at how different he looked now. Of course he knew that his body was going to change, but that had been more in terms of getting a pregnant belly. What he didn't anticipate was the fact that his entire body had changed, not just his abdominal area.

One fairly new thing he noticed was that, in addition to his rounder (and, okay, cuter) face and fuller ass, his hair had gotten thicker and softer. When he ran his fingers through the spiky black locks, they felt almost silken. And his skin! It wasn't as if he'd had an acne problem before, but still, his skin had never looked so clear. For the first time in his entire pregnancy, he was able to look in the mirror and see what Kurama saw: someone who was attractive, and carrying the "glow" of life inside him. It was nice to feel sexy and not self-conscious in the least.

When he went to get back in bed and read some more of his dirty manga, maybe get rid of that morning wood, he found a curious little plant sitting in a pot on the nightstand. It had a short, thick, wooden stump, but no leaves; instead, on the little branches were these things that looked like green link sausages, only bigger, with little feelers on the ends like fingers. They seemed to be about four inches around and seven inches in length. Attached to the clay pot was a note in Kurama's handwriting.

Just a little something to do while I'm at work all day, the note read.

"Huh?" said Hiei. What was he supposed to do, water it? Kurama's plants grew from youki, not water.

But suddenly, as if in answer to the question, the plant grew much bigger, and many more of its strange leaves grew. The link sausages secured themselves around Hiei's wrists and ankles, suspending him in the air, and some more of them started to take his clothes off. Before he knew it, there were little feelers on his nipples and a larger-than-usual sausage thing was winding itself around his penis and squeezing it tight.

"Hey!" Hiei cried out, startled. "Stop it!"

And, just like that, the plant dropped him back onto the bed and shrunk back into its pot. Apparently the plant was sentient enough that it understood consent. That was a relief; the last thing he wanted was to get sexually assaulted by a plant, especially when pregnant. But Kurama wouldn't do that to him. This plant was his idea of a gift.

Hiei readjusted himself on the bed with his book, but he didn't bother to put his clothes back on. And as he got further along into a steamy scene between the two characters, he wondered if maybe he should use the plant after all. Wasn't it exactly what he had been longing for? Since it had those countless appendages, with feelers on the end of every single one, it could probably satisfy him in any way imaginable. In fact, most demons (and humans, possibly) would kill for a gift like this.

Putting his book down and grinning, Hiei reached for the plant, which obediently started to grow again. "I am going to have a lot of fun with you."