The good news was that Mei was going to have no shortage of soup, noodles, or rice for the next few months.
The bad news…
"Hrrrrmgh…" Mei groaned in annoyance as she swallowed down another bite of noodles. "And we really can't add more sauce? Or some garlic?"
"Absolutely not," Pigsy retorted without even looking up. "My usual is going to upset your stomach, you need blander food for now."
"You've got ginger," MK pointed out helpfully, indicating the pale yellow pieces in the broth. "That's flavorful, right?"
"Not enough," Mei muttered bitterly as she chased one of those pieces around her bowl. "Man, this sucks…"
"You'll have to get used to it, Mei," Tang said from his own position. He sat further away from her than usual, just in case the smell of his own lunch would trigger her nausea. Mei didn't think it would, as even he'd been ordering blander and less strong-smelling food since she'd broken the news, and the usual smells in Pigsy's Noodles weren't bothering her. But the thought was still much appreciated. "You're going to have to watch what you eat for quite a while."
"I know, I know… The first thing Red Son did was lock up his best spices and sauces, you guys know that? Oh, but no, it's worse, actually - I was craving some Saliva Chicken last night, but when I asked he made Ginger Chicken Soup instead."
"Oh no, how dare he," Tang said dryly.
Mei sighed, propping her chin in her palm as she rested an elbow against the bar. As her other hand idly toyed with her chopsticks, she continued, "Okay, yeah, I know, it's better for me, but just once in a while won't hurt. You know?" She huffed, taking another bite of food. "It's only been a few weeks and I'm really missing my favorite foods."
After taking the day to process what they'd learned, Mei and Red Son had both started their research. They'd turned to the internet, the library, Mei had asked Pigsy and Tang for their thoughts, and one of the first things they learned was that she needed blander foods. It'd help with whatever nausea she'd have, and traditionally bland, warm food was better for one in her condition. That had seemed a little daunting, but do-able. Mei took the first two or three days of rice, chicken soups, and simpler dishes rather well. And it did help her stomach.
One thing they didn't agree with was that she had to do it the entire pregnancy. Obviously the foods made at his usual spice level were off the table, but she'd be fine with fast food or flavorful things after she was sure it wouldn't make her sick, surely. So they agreed on that front.
But now the cravings were starting to get worse and she was sure at some point she was going to stab someone if she didn't get some spicy chicken.
("You know the whole 'spicy food will hurt the baby' is a myth, right?" she had complained the night before, roughly stabbing a piece of bland chicken breast.
"It's not them I'm thinking about," Red Son had snarked right back, writing something in a red moleskin book. "You can eat something spicy once we're sure it won't come back up ten minutes later."
"You do remember that I'm the one who's supposed to have a pregnancy diary, right?"
Red Son's hair sparked as he pushed the notebook behind the spice rack.)
"Oh, by the way," MK's voice cut into Mei's drifting thoughts. He ducked beneath the bar, then rose with a bamboo box - one Mei had seen sitting on the floor when she'd come in, but hadn't thought much of. "Monkey King says this is for you."
"For me?" Mei frowned, pushing her bowl aside. She lifted the lid of the box and saw an assortment of fruit. "Huh. A fruit box. Weird thing to-"
Wait. She looked at the fruit again.
Mangoes. Plums. Pears. Bananas. Oranges.
"It says here the ten best fruits to eat include oranges, mangoes, plums - anything with a lot of juice," Red said, taking another note. "We'll have to keep a full stock–"
"MK, did you tell the Monkey King I was pregnant?!" Mei cried, slamming the lid closed.
"Wha- no! I swear, I didn't say anything!" MK held his hands up defensively. "I don't know how he even knew! We just wrapped up another training session, I said I had to go, and he said 'Give Mei this!'"
"Did he say anything else?" Mei frowned, lifting the lid again. Hm… It all did look pretty good…
"Yeah, he also said, 'Tell her there's more where that came from.'"
"Come to think of it, have you been eating fruit lately? How's your stomach takin' it?" Pigsy spoke up, watching as Mei lifted a decently-sized plum from the basket and inspected it.
"I've had some dried fruit as a snack once in a while. I can handle those fine, but I haven't tried…" Mei trailed off, then brought the fruit to her lips. It wasn't that it was a problem eating fresh fruit, but she hadn't really been hankering for any.
The second the fruit and juice hit her tongue, though, it was like something connecting her brain and mouth had suddenly been switched on. Like she'd been craving something and hadn't even realized until that very moment. The other three watched in a combination of impressed awe and horror as she devoured the plum in record time.
"You know what," Mei said, swallowing the last of the plum and reaching for an orange. "Tell him he can gimme all the fruit he wants."
Honestly, for as anxious as the two had been that fateful day, this part was… uneventful.
The only thing that was a problem was the nausea, sore breasts, and cravings at this point. And for all her complaining, Mei could handle it no problem.
Plain white rice and lukewarm tea took care of her morning nausea.
The juicy fruits settled her stomach with their sweetness and kept her hydrated.
Her soreness was easily remedied by latching onto Red Son and using him as a heat pad - something he seemed more than happy to do for her, holding her close to him without a single complaint.
And as for the cravings, sure, she wanted spicy food for dinner. But some days she really, really wanted tofu. Or chocolate pretzels. Or pickles. Or the fruit the Monkey King had sent, which had already been emptied and replaced by a new box. Nice, normal foods. Safe foods, as Red Son put it.
Most of the things they were worried about weren't going to come til later.
"Let's see… leg cramps, swollen ankles," Mei read from her phone, taking a huge bite of an orange. "Not til I start getting bigger."
"Good, good, we have time to prepare," Red Son said with a nod.
"Heartburn; nothing yet but it might start happening in a few months. I just gotta be careful with what I eat."
"As you already are."
"Back problems won't happen til I'm way bigger…"
"How big are you right now?" Red Son asked, a strange edge in his voice.
He knew, of course. Mei knew he knew.
But wordlessly, she sat up in bed and lifted her pajama top. Nearly a month had passed since they'd first told MK and his dads, now. Mei's hoodie had hidden her slowly-growing stomach well.
When she zipped it up.
But now, the two of them looking at her midsection, that swell had gotten bigger, a faint line going down her belly and vanishing into her pajama bottoms. Her clothes wouldn't hide the grapefruit-sized bump for much longer; give a week or two, and it'd be impossible to hide.
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow."
"Thanks for the tea, Sandy."
"No problem! You sure I can't get you anything else? Cookies, some brioche?"
Red Son met Mei's eyes over her tea cup, then subtly moved his gaze to the tea that was already sitting out when they'd arrived. Their own tea was a sweet and fruity one, but the tea on the table was clearly something else.
He could see the box of tea bags past Sandy, sitting open on the kitchen counter: Osmanthus flower tea. Neither he nor Mei drank that, and there were two cups on the table.
"No, we don't want to stay too long if we're interrupting something," he said carefully.
"Nonsense, you're not interrupting anything!" Sandy was quick to assure them. "I was just sitting down to- oh."
All their attention was seized by one of Sandy's newest foster cats jumping onto Mei's lap. Up until this point, the calico had been dozing in a nearby box with a litter of newborn kittens napping all around her. They recognized this cat - Sandy had taken her in when she'd been found on the side of the road, clearly pregnant. Her kittens had been born two weeks earlier, and Sandy was intent on keeping the whole family with him until the kittens were old enough to be adopted out.
(Bai He already had dibs on the coffee-colored one with white socks.)
"Aww, hey, sweetie," Mei cooed as the cat began to make biscuits on her lap and smush its face against her belly. "Okay - yeah, okay, those are sharp claws, honey-"
"Lucky you. Normally Chouchou isn't that affectionate," Sandy said warmly, rising from his seat to gently pick up the cat in question. She yowled angrily as she was lifted away from Mei's lap, reaching out with her front paws to snag the hoodie over her belly at the last second. "O-Okay, Chouchou, let go of Mei, now."
"Rowr!"
"That's weird," Sandy said slowly as Mei carefully unhooked the cat's claws. "I've never seen her get like that with someone. Usually cats only pay so much attention to someone's stomach if they're–" He stopped, freezing in place. "Oh…" Chouchou took the opportunity to leap back onto Mei's lap and snuggle against her abdomen again, purring fiercely. Sandy just stared, slowly lifting his hands to his mouth. He slowly looked between Mei and Red Son, taking in Mei's zipped-up hoodie, how closely they sat, how Mei's free hand idly covered her stomach. His eyes grew bigger. "Oh…?"
Mei nodded, unable to help the broad smile that stretched across her face. She set her now-empty cup on the table as she added "I'm about fourteen weeks, give or take."
"Oh, Mei…" That seemed to be all Sandy could say before he was lifting Mei up off the couch - Chouchou jumped off with a disgruntled meow - and hugging her tightly, but gently. Mei laughed, chin propped on one of his shoulders, her legs dangling limply.
"You're gonna be a great-uncle!" she added, patting Sandy on the arm when he made a noise somewhere between a chuckle and a sob.
It took a few minutes for Sandy to finally put Mei back down, having needed to take a moment or two to compose himself. During this time, Mo had approached to gently paw at Red Son's leg, apparently not wanting to be left out of the quiet celebration.
Finally, he let go of Mei and rushed to the kitchen again, throwing together an impromptu care package of tea. During that time, he excitedly talked about how lucky it was that he'd made them the strawberry rose hip tea, that the sweetness of the fruit tea would help her stomach and the organic ingredients were good for the baby.
But finally, they got ready to go.
"Let me know if you need anything - I have lots of tea for nausea, heartburn, muscle aches, and insomnia," Sandy told them as the pair headed out the door. "Anything else you might need, my door's always unlocked."
"We know. Thank you, Sandy," Mei smiled, leaning up to hug him.
"Yes, thank you," Red echoed. He didn't hug Sandy, but the river demon reached out to clap a hand on his shoulder.
"Any time, kiddos."
"Well, we'll let you get back to your day. See you later, Sandy." As Red Son opened the door, Mei made a snap decision, a wicked grin on her face. "Bye, Huntsman!" she called over her shoulder.
As the door closed behind them, there was a noise like something heavy fell out of Sandy's closet and crashed to the floor.
As she and Red Son walked down the gangplank towards his vehicle, Red Son drew in a deep breath. "Well," he started, threading his fingers through Mei's own when she reached for his hand. "Are you ready for the next visit?"
Mei squeezed his hand. "I'm ready," she assured. "Are you?"
"As I'll ever be." He frowned, staring at something in the distance. "I have no idea how they're going to react, but…"
"They took our engagement well," Mei pointed out. "And they were… nice… during the wedding."
"Yeah. I know."
"Hey. Maybe they'll surprise us. You thought Pigsy was gonna grab a cleaver and chop your dick off, and that didn't happen."
"Don't remind me."
Mei, truthfully, didn't know what to expect either. Not really.
They both knew that the visit would have to be a little more formal than the one with Sandy. And that they'd have to announce their intention to visit first - the Bull Demons would not appreciate a sudden drop-in, they both knew that well.
Red Son had sent a message the night before, setting up a time for the visit. Noon. They'd speak over lunch.
So they were shown in, just before twelve. Not late, not too early. Led to the dining room. Sat down across from Red Son's parents, managing to sound like nothing was wrong for the first five minutes of customary pleasantries.
Mei couldn't help but notice, though, tha the Demon Bull King's eyes were narrowing slightly, flicking downwards when he looked at her. Like he sensed something.
So, they bit the bullet.
Or rather, Red Son did.
"...Mother, Father, I'm sure you're wondering about the reason for our reason," he began. "And rest assured, it is of great importance."
"Yes? Go on," Iron Fan prompted, raising a perfect brow.
The Demon Bull King said nothing, but his body tensed slightly.
Red Son clasped Mei's hand and brought it upwards, silently showing their unity. "We're pregnant," he said simply. "Three months."
Mei, again, had not been sure what to expect.
But it sure wasn't the Bull King thumping a hand on the table and declaring "Well, it's about time!"
"Er. What?" Red Son stared.
"Do you know how long we've been waiting for this? How long have you been married, now?"
"How lo- not that long! It's been about six months!"
Iron Fan looked slightly annoyed as she brought her tea to her mouth. "I found out I was carrying you almost immediately after our marriage," she said flatly.
"Oh my God, Red, you were a honeymoon baby," Mei whispered, unsure if she wanted to tease him or for the floor to swallow both of them. Judging by Red Son's face, he wanted the latter.
"I just wish you'd waited a little longer to have a 'nighttime union,'" Iron Fan sighed. She lowered her teacup and frowned, one hand going to her temples. "Now I owe money."
"Wh- You bet on this?"
"I thought something was different about you," Red Son's father said, looking down at Mei. "You feel like you're carrying. Thought I heard a third heartbeat, too."
"Mother, really, did you bet on us?"
"Oh, don't be ridiculous, it wasn't that crass. One of my Huli Jing acquaintances had her first grandchild and the subject of when it would be my turn came up. I said that if I knew you, I wouldn't hear an announcement for another month."
Red Son looked a bit pale.
"Can we go back to the part where you knew I was pregnant?"
"I didn't know you were pregnant, Dragon. I knew you were carrying something inside you."
"What else could it have- oh, wait. No, don't answer that."
"Well…" The two demons leveled their gazes across the table at the younger couple. Mei wasn't quite sure, but it sort of looked like their eyes had grown minutely softer. Iron Fan tapped her fingernails against the table. "Are you healthy? Do you need anything?"
"Oh. Uh, not yet - I mean, I have the usual stuff."
"Meaning?"
"She's sick in the mornings," Red Son cut in quickly. "And her appetite's increased."
"And what else?"
"...nothing?"
Princess Iron Fan and the Demon Bull King exchanged a look that seemed to say a thousand things that only they knew. Before either of them could question it, the King rose from the table. "You will tell us the instant something happens," he growled. "Is that understood?"
His tone was strange. It was his usual angry-sounding snarl (a tone that Mei was starting to suspect was just… how he talked), but there was something underneath it. A strange edge to it.
Her suspicions grew when she saw him subtly take Iron Fan's hand under the table, the queen's expression mask-like.
"We will," she said, rather than question it.
"Oh. And take these before you go." Iron Fan nodded to a Bull Clone that had gone unnoticed until now. Mei jumped as it approached her with a plastic box. "I imagine you're craving something spicy right now. Those are our leftovers from yesterday, but they'll do for now."
Neither of them asked how she'd known Mei wanted spicy food.
"Oh, yes. And congratulations," came a rumble from over their heads.
Red Son and Mei were speechless as they left the room, hand in hand. Lunch had gone relatively painlessly after that - knowledge that they'd been bet on notwithstanding.
"...I can't believe Mother bet on me," Red Son muttered.
"I can't believe she eats fast food," Mei commented, looking inside the box and seeing bright red fried chicken. "And she gave me some."
"...I wasn't expecting them to react that way," Red admitted. "I'm honestly not sure how to feel."
"Uh-hm."
"Did you see Father's eyes when we told them? I haven't seen him look like that since I was small."
"An' your mom. She almost sou'ded nice."
"Apart from betting on me… Wait." Mei's muffled tone finally registered in Red Son's ears, and he snapped his head towards Mei's direction. "Mei, are you eating that?!"
Mei, her lips red, curled protectively over the box. "It's mine, get your own!"
"You haven't had that much spice yet! You don't know what that'll do!"
"It'll satisfy me!"
"Give me that box-"
"Never! Get your own!"
And inside the dining room, the Demon Bull King's ears twitched as the faint sound of the argument drifted towards them. "Hmph. That woman's too nice."
Princess Iron Fan chuckled. "I wasn't as kind to you, that's for certain… Remember when I nearly took your hand off after you tried to take my laziji?"
