I never thought that writing fluff was such a trial XD I rewrote this chapter 3 times, because always the drama would creep back in and I had to fiercely fight it back!

But I hope you enjoy this version now and I am very very grateful to my beloved beta Chephren for helping me out and encouraging me!

Chapter 2

"I am pregnant," Yazoo replied, just as calmly and if it was the most natural thing like, having a knot in his hair.

The room was utterly silent for at least ten minutes before Sephiroth opened his pretty mouth again and blankly said "Well, that is… … … that is … … … most unexpected."

"Hn," the other affirmed quietly, but then he narrowed his eyes. "Could you… you´re squishing my hand."

The ex-General furrowed his brows, but then let go. "How… how could that happen?!"

Yazoo just lifted a brow, replying somewhat sardonically, "Well, I could explain it to you, but you may just remember what we did last night when you woke me at 2 am because you got all-"

"I know that," Sephiroth interrupted him, clearly confused. "I mean how can this happen to you? I am fairly certain that you are not female!"

"Hn." Yazoo looked down on the tiles, but patiently explained, "Aeris said that nothing is impossible within the lifestream and that the goddess of the planet brought us that gift…"

"Gift." The ex-General repeated emotionlessly, then he shook his head and briefly closed his eyes. "How do you know it´s mine?"

"Oh right, of course I don´t. Could as well be from the 365 other guys I´m having regular intercourse with."

Sephiroth looked up at that, startled at the reply as his features darkened in jealousy, but then he noticed the somewhat tired posture of Yazoo. "I didn´t mean it like that." After all, how could they really know? This whole situation was so messed up, Yazoo could be pregnant from ANYTHING! Heck, even the air they were breathing could have infected him!

"She said it´s yours," Yazoo pointed out, sensing his lover´s still doubtful thoughts. He was still watching the tiles, slowly blinking. His chest had started aching again, as if a weight had been put on it, and breathing was a bit difficult. These new feelings, he couldn´t understand them, and they seemed to come out of nowhere, but they were really rather annoying, making his body go all strange… His eyes started burning again and he bit his lip to distract himself from it.

"I´m not ready for this," Sephiroth suddenly announced, blankly staring at the wall as if in a trance.

"You are not ready for what?" Yazoo looked up, directly into those jade eyes, his own narrowed.

"…This." The former General replied, shaking his head and gesturing into the general direction of Yazoo´s belly. "I can´t be a father, I am not prepared, I didn´t even have time to think about if I like it or not and how dare you anyway to get spontaneously pregnant without asking me?!" His gaze had become very stern, as if he was lecturing an impudent child.

An invisible, but rather persistent power pulled at Yazoo´s lower lip, as it started to tremble and the burning in his eyes got more severe. He noticed it with slight wonder and tilted his head, but it made him look even more like a kicked puppy.

"Oh no…please…" Sephiroth´s anger melted to make place for a rather helpless expression and the silver haired man quickly grabbed some toilet paper to carefully wipe away the tears that had gathered in the corners of Yazoo´s eyes, threatening to spill over. "We can talk about this later," he offered in a distinctively friendlier voice now, cupping Yazoo´s cheek and inwardly sighing. He really didn´t want to think about it now, this was such a big change and he did not like change. Things had been perfect and peaceful so far, they enjoyed their new life together and he didn´t want to give this up…

Yazoo simply nodded, briefly leaning into the touch and signaling that he was fine now. In a sudden fit of consideration, Sephiroth awkwardly helped his lover up and with a hand on his back, guided him towards the bathroom door. As soon as he´d opened it though, they were confronted with a bunch of people, that worked very hard on looking as if they´d gathered there just incidentally, but Zack stumbled a few steps forward as the door was yanked open so suddenly and his head had no support any longer.

"What the…" Sephiroth flared up, an expression plastered to his face that could have made a whole army go running for cover. He went totally ignored though, as the center of attention was unceremoniously shifted towards Yazoo and the startled young man found himself surrounded by excited questions and congratulations.

"My congratulations," Angeal said, holding the puppy by the back of his shirt to deter him from jumping Yazoo.

"We´re getting a baby!" Loz breathed, utterly fascinated, fumbling with Yazoo´s arm.

"Just so you know, I´m not babysitting," Kadaj announced decidedly, crossing his arms over his chest, but then he abandoned the gesture in favor of poking at Yazoo´s belly with a critical, curious expression.

"I´m so happy for you, dear!" Aeris exclaimed and drew the pregnant man into a tight hug, her braid bouncing.

"… Excuse me?" Sephiroth peeped up, blankly watching the crowd and not sure how he should deal with the lack of interest in his person.

At least Zack deigned to take notice of him and, walking over and throwing an arm around the man´s shoulder, pulling him close, and he said with a wink, "My, General, you really are omnipotent, uh?"

Before Sephiroth could even open his mouth to reply something rather snarky, Aeris had already popped up in front of him, bobbing on her toes, hands clasped behind her back as she asked with curious eyes "So, how do you want to name it?"

"Name it?" the former General asked incredulously, eyeing his lover who stoically let himself be poked and pulled by Kadaj and Loz, before he frowned, "I´m not even sure we will keep i-"

"Of course you will!" Aeris interrupted, huffing and stemming her little fists into her hips. "How can you even think about not wanting it?! It´s a gift of the goddess, of course you will keep it!"

Sephiroth just arched an elegant brow, not pleased to be interrupted and finding her attempt at being authoritative rather amusing than frightening or persuasive. "Excuse me, but I do not see how your opinion has any significance to this case." His gaze became sour and the corner of his mouth twitched a bit as he added sardonically, "Unless you are the father, that is, and seeing what happened just 10 minutes ago, I am not sure that this possibility is entirely out of question here."

"Don´t be silly," Aeris frowned, "And don´t change the topic, young man!" she accusingly pointed her finger at his face. Green sparkles had started to appear around her, casting her face into a scary light, her voice suddenly booming through the house as GAIA took over her body to make her point unmistakably clear. "This is your chance for redemption and you will not mess it up again, do you hear me?"

Sephiroth unconsciously made a step back, opening his mouth in stubborn protest, but a stern, daring glare from the Goddess made him shut up. Folding his arms over his chest, he gave his best bored look and replied haughtily "Whatever."

A collective sigh of relief emitted from the group standing around him and the young men relaxed. Even Sephiroth wouldn´t dare to refuse a direct order from the planet -he wasn´t THAT insane (at least not anymore). The green light vanished and Aeris returned to her normal, cheerful self. She blinked in confusion, obviously unaware of what had just happened and followed the line of her arm and hand that still pointed at the silver haired man´s nose. "Uhm… what did I just say?"

"They´ll keep the baby," Zack explained, scratching his head and giving a nervous laugh, wisely keeping his distance from her.

"Oh great!" the flower maid exclaimed excitedly, clasping her hands together, turning around "I've got to go now and start knitting tiny little baby socks and hats and scarves and rompers and-"

The last words couldn´t be understood anymore since she had bounced off through the kitchen, cheerfully chirping her endless list.

Sephiroth held his head in slight misery, the headache finally having caught up with him.

"I think we should leave you two alone now," Kadaj offered casually, though he felt anything but. He just wanted to get out of the danger zone and pulled an utterly clueless Loz behind him with a meaningful look, that went opaque.

"Good luck." Angeal clapped his friend on the shoulder in a gesture of sympathy and support, nodded at Yazoo and then got the puppy by the collar to drag him away in much the same manner as Kadaj had earlier done with Loz.

Sighing, the two men stood in the now empty corridor until Sephiroth stopped to massage his temple and gestured towards the living room. "Let´s have a seat, shall we?"

They sat down on the couch, being quiet for a while until the elder pondered aloud,

"It can have its good sides as well… I mean, we can teach the kid, pass on our experiences… It will inherit our good looks, brains and cleverness, so it has a bright future ahead of it, and I daresay that even world domination is not totally out of its reach, given who its fathers are…" Something akin to content had coated the one-winged angel´s face as suddenly all the new options and possibilities were opening up before him.

"You are aware that neither of us has any fatherly qualities, not to speak of the non-existent motherly ones…" Yazoo pointed out, earning himself an almost desperate sidelong glance.

"Could you not screw up my carefully thought out attempts to get used to the idea?"

"Just saying…"

Sephiroth snorted and inwardly shook his head. Yazoo did have a point indeed. Both of them weren´t prepared for… that. They had just gotten used to that new life, found some peace of mind and established their relationship. It wasn´t like he was generally against having children, or rather: he´d never really thought about it, since with Yazoo, he´d thought it was a non-issue. But now he had been thrown into it and somehow they´d have to deal with… Sighing, he moved his arm around Yazoo, pulling him closer and so they sat there in silence, trying to get used to the idea.

tbc

I think there won´t be more than 2 chapters at most, because really, this is exhausting and pushing me to my limits XD I want the characters to remain IC, somehow, so I hope it worked out XDDD

I´m still a bit sick from my surgery so I hope you´ll forgive me for not doing review replies this time, I just quickly wanted to post this so you don´t have to wait much longer. Thanks for your understanding and I hope you leave me a few thoughts on the new chapter anyway!