"No, nonono, don't fall! Don't fall, Link! Don't fall - oh thank the gods." The giant bird stopped flapping its wings and flew up offscreen, allowing the young man in green to run back to the center of the platform.
Best-Shoeman: oh thank gods.
pzztim: get it, mei!
Goliath-Birdeater: One more hit should do it!
The eagle flew towards Link, and Mei ran to meet it. With only two more swings of the sword, the boss was down and out. "Got ya!"
The chat exploded, much like the bird boss did. Mei could hardly keep up with the messages, all cheers and spamming victory emojis. Mei couldn't help feeling a twinge of guilt as she made Link grab the Organ of Evening Calm. Oh, of course this was honestly for the best, and it'd be way less stress on her, sure, but still… The excited and happy messages sure weren't going to make it easy.
"Okay, guys, let's get serious now." With a few taps, the game closed, and Mei's small corner of screen filled her monitor once again. She dabbed at her forehead with a tissue as she began. "So. Unless you're new here, you're aware that I'm pregnant."
The messages popped up again, varying between questions about the baby and congratulations. One made her frown, however.
"I'm not going to show you the baby bump, but this does nicely tie into part of what I wanna say. I'm going to be taking a hiatus from livestreaming."
PecsandGains242: awww nooo! BOOOO!
Goliath-Birdeater: Understandable, makes sense.
LunarMooncakes: Yeah, totally fine.
ArielAce: but ur still putting up vids rite?
"I might put up little videos from my phone here and there, but I'm not going to be providing 'bumpdates,' and I'm not going to make a family vlog."
dj-doublejump: awwwwwwww
"I'm gonna have my usual bi-weekly gaming vids, but that's about it until everything's settled. That means I've had the baby and we've fallen into our new routine with them. You'll get an update when it's Baby Time, and that's all I can promise for now."
dj-doublejump: i know plenty of streamers who do bumpdates and livestream while they're preggers
Goliath-Birdeater: Hey, she made her decision, would you give her a break?
dj-doublejump: im just saying
GoldTwin: Hey, shut up, mate.
TheCoolerTwin: Yeah, fecking lay off.
Mei snorted, wiping at one eye. "Yeah, thanks, everyone."
LunarMooncakes: Will we be seeing the baby at all?
LunarMooncakes: Like just to say hi to everyone before a stream?
"Uh - I'm honestly not sure, yet. We'll see what happens. I just don't wanna be putting our kid online before they can even say yes or no."
LunarMooncakes: Understandable.
dj-doublejump: yeh pls dont become a family vlog
sweett3a124: We'll miss you, Mei! ❤️
Mei blinked hard, feeling her eyes sting. "Ah, geez, guys, stop, I'm gonna–"
The door opened, and Mei saw Red Son appear behind her. "Mei–"
TheCoolerTwin: red booiiiii! 🔥🔥🔥
GoldTwin: RED BOOIII 🔥🔥🔥
Goliath-Birdeater: Oh, look who it is!
ArielAce: 🔥 fireball husbaaaand 🔥
The chat started to fill with flame and firework emojis, messages coming in at top speed. Red wrinkled his nose in distaste, which Mei couldn't help laughing at. "Red Boy, say hi."
"Yes, hi," he muttered. "You know, all of you could come up with a more original emoji when I walk in."
There was a short pause.
Goliath-Birdeater: How's this? 🐂
Red's frown deepened as the chat exploded into capslock, keysmash, and a series of bull emojis. A few people mixed it up a bit by spamming a bull and a flame together. Mei just cackled, leaning forward on her elbow, her forehead in her palm. "Guys, c'mon, don't be mean to him," she managed.
"Dragon Girl, it's time to go."
"Okay, okay, guys, this is my brief 'goodbye' to all of you, I'll have another Link's Awakening video up in two weeks, see you whenever!"
She waited for the string of farewells and occasional capslock to slow down before she disconnected. Once her screen went dark, she sighed, leaning back in her chair and fanning herself a bit. "Ugh…"
"You okay?'
"Fine. Just warm." Mei grabbed a spare hair tie and started to put her hair up, away from her neck. "I've been feeling a little hot lately, and my hair isn't helping."
That was another change she and Red Son had noticed in the past few days, when Mei was brushing her hair after a shower. Her hair was getting thicker, and a little bit longer. It wasn't unmanageable, it didn't take too much longer for her to wash or dry it, and honestly her growing fingernails were more annoying than her growing hair, but… With the warm weather, changing of the seasons, and with her own temperature rising, she felt warmer than ever.
Mei grabbed a tissue, only for Red Son to gently take it from her. As he wiped some sweat from the back of her neck, he said, "We can stay in if you want. It's not a big deal, the Noodle Boy will understand-"
"Nuh-uh! I've been craving an ice-cream for like, hours, and I wanna go out for fresh air! The gods know I won't be able to go out much in a few weeks." This was something else they'd agreed on as well. That as she grew closer to delivery, it'd be safer to just stay in, and wait.
And at 32 weeks, Mei didn't have much longer before she'd be hanging out indoors full-time.
Mei spun in her gamer chair and held her arms out. "Help me up?"
Mei would have gently teased him for the soft expression he had when he took her hands and pulled. But before she could, there was a series of sharp jabs to her front, making her wince. "Oof, hey! Be nice in there!" she scolded, her hand leaving Red Son's and resting over where the kicks were.
"You woke them up, they're just getting their revenge."
"I'm about to give them ice-cream. You'd think they'd go easy on me."
Sure enough, the kicking paused.
Mei snorted. "There, you heard 'ice-cream' and stopped, didn't you?"
Red Son bent at the waist, talking directly at her bump. "Don't relax, yet. You don't know what she'll give you."
"It is not going to be that bad!"
"You know, when you said Mei was eating weird stuff lately, I was thinking like. Peanut-butter and mustard. A pickle breaded and cooked like a corn dog. Not…" MK gestured to Mei's cup of ice-cream. "This. I mean, this I can actually see."
"Pink peppercorn ice-cream with crushed potato chips is understandable," Red responded, taking a bite of his own peppercorn ice-cream. "Congee inside a hollowed-out green pepper is not."
MK's nose wrinkled. "Ew."
"I don't think you two should judge me," Mei said defensively. "And anyway, the weirder cravings are tapering off."
"Not that they lasted long to begin with. Which is a relief."
"How are you guys, anyway?" MK asked, leaning forward to get a better look at Mei's face. The three of them were sitting in a nearby park, on one of the benches. It was still fairly crowded, with families and kids excitedly running about. A few people gave the trio curious looks as they passed by, or smiled at Mei, but didn't approach. "You still need any help with anything, or…?"
"We're good," Mei said after she swallowed a bite of food. "I mean. My legs cramp up in the middle of the night sometimes, but I'm not craving stuff that's too weird, there hasn't been any heartburn, no nausea… Knock on wood, but so far I think it's been good."
"...me too," Red muttered, looking away sharply. He didn't seem to want to see MK's face as he added, "I've been. Doing better. I'm fine, too."
"...okay. That's good." His voice was quiet, serious but satisfied. "How 'bout stuff around your house? You guys need a hand, or–"
"We're not done with the baby's room yet, I have some shelves I've been meaning to open," Red Son admitted. "If you want to… I dunno, come over and help what that–"
"I'll be over on Wednesday night! I'm gonna bring some more stuff, too, we can fill their room together!"
"'Fill the–' Noodle Boy, how many toys exactly did you buy?!"
"...they're not all toys."
"What else did you–"
"And how have you been?" Mei interrupted, waving at a centipede demon that walked by. Said demon paused to stare for a moment, then continued. "Not going crazy from the ceasefire, are you?"
"Oh, it's been so nice!" MK's expression brightened further. "I feel like I have more time to do other stuff and actually relax. And you know, I think not being tensed up and waiting for something to happen has made training go better, too. We're getting to spend so much more time together and–"
As her friend rambled excitedly on, Mei leaned back in her seat, even though she knew she'd regret it later. MK was right; this was nice. It was almost - almost - going to be a shame when life got crazy and exciting again.
And, on that note, she was actually kind of impressed - and touched - by how everyone was honoring this. None of the Spiders had tried anything, Yin and Jin kept their heads down and their noses clean, there weren't any new trouble-makers… Nobody beating them up…
Actually, speaking of the Spiders, a plush spider had even shown up at the doorway of the noodle shop. Nobody was sure who had made it exactly, but the stitches were very well-done and the stuffing was perfect.
And threat-free, Sandy had confirmed with a tiny smile.
It was… nice. Very weird. But nice.
Mei smiled, closing her eyes and tilted her head back to face the sun… and then winced. "Ooof!"
"Whoa, you okay, Mei?!"
"Yeah. Yeah, sorry, kid just kicked my spine."
This was perfect, really.
The centipede demon clung to the side of the building, still and patient in the dark. He'd been careful. He'd been good. And the patience had paid off. With everyone's guard lowered, the girl would be an easy hostage.
And it wasn't like she could run, either. He'd seen her struggling to get off the bench, her companions watching until she finally gave up and meekly asked for assistance. And when she was on her feet, her steps were slower, more of a waddle than anything.
Everyone would be terrified for her and the baby's safety. Everyone would beg him not to harm them. And of course he'd agree, on certain conditions.
He hoped he'd get to use the old "won't hurt a single hair on her head" line. That was a turn of phrase, and it was always so funny when he pointed out that technically he hadn't lied.
He was under one of the windows now. To which room, he wasn't sure; but once he got in it'd be easy to find the bedroom and snatch her up.
The centipede lifted a clawed hand–
–and a strong grip was around the back of his neck.
"Heeeeey, quick question," a deep voice came behind him.
The demon panicked. How had someone else even gotten up here?! And how was the voice behind him if–
The friendly tone deepened into a low growl. "What part of the word ceasefire is too difficult to understand?"
The demon was yanked backwards off the side of the building, and tossed into darkness.
Inside, Mei and Red Son continued to sleep, unaware that anything was going on.
