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Honestly, the buttons he was missing were the biggest thought on Tom Cassell’s mind when he took the elevator downstairs. Well, that was until he saw one of his best friends Mini that is.
When he had arrived from Ireland to attend the ESports Awards in Arlington, he had heard from Luke in passing when they met up in the morning for breakfast before the whole Six Flags thing, that Craig was going to be there, but he didn’t expect to see him like this.
It stopped him in his tracks and he just stared at him, heart pounding a hundred miles an hour.
You see, he and Craig had always had a different relationship to each other that others had no idea about. Normally, if they were going on a trip together or at least, knew each other were attending a con separately, they usually met up and…well, did a different kind of collaborating than normal.
He and Craig had been ‘friends with benefits’ for around a few years now and despite Craig and even himself having numerous girlfriends, they still found their way back to the other come every time they crossed paths.
While Tom wouldn’t say he was an expert on the way they worked, he could tell right off the bat something was deeply wrong with his friend and travelling bed partner.
Craig was pale, hunched over near the stairs that led up to the first floor of the hotel, away from groups of friends and other gamers who were all dressed and ready to go get in the provided cars to the awards, eyes closed and groaning quietly to himself.
Despite his current problem, Tom’s forehead creased in worry as he rushed over to him and lightly touched Craig on the arm. “Hey mate, you alright?”
At hearing his voice, it was weird how Craig suddenly latched onto him, straightening up only to hug him, curling his arms around his shoulders and sweaty head pressed against his chest, breathing hard. Normally, they showed affection with several hugs and of course, their rendezvouses within Tom’s hotel room, but Tom could feel this was different.
However, quick as the moment had come, Craig suddenly pulled away, smiling.
“Hey man, how you been? It’s been a while.”
He really wanted to know what the hell that was about but given Mini’s tone just /pleaded/ to change the subject as quickly as possible, Tom obliged.
“I’ve been great, man. Perfection.”
“Cool.” Tom couldn’t help but worry though, when it came out breathy and shaky, despite Mini’s grin.
Something just wasn’t right, and he was hell-bound and determined to ask him later if they got together that night after the show.
He, of course, acted up for the camera as normal when he pulled it out and Mini, despite the look on his face turning from fake happiness to that other look he had earlier before returning, seemed to play along too when Tom asked him to twirl on the spot.
He did it, but he didn’t look like he enjoyed it one bit at all, hand timidity splaying across his back after he’d done it before their friends distracted both by telling them the cars had arrived.
Originally, Tom had been planning to ride in another car with some people he’d just met down in the lobby, but instead, hopped in the same car as Craig had. He didn’t really know why, but something in him was saying he needed to keep an eye on him and not leave him alone.
At the venue, Craig seemed to improve some, but only mildly before he went back downhill again.
Settled at their table, Tom couldn’t help but note that Mini would keep excusing himself to the toilet pretty much every next minute that they were there for, seemingly tired and in pain every time he’d come back. It was obvious to him that his bedmate was sick somehow, but he wasn’t telling him.
(That and when he’d been presenting on stage, he looked like he was about to collapse.)
Eventually, when Mini excused himself to the toilet once again, but this time didn’t come back like what seemed to be normal, Tom excused himself to go and find him, worry now rather obvious.
Wandering through the many halls of the stadium where the show was being held, he paused outside a set of bathrooms, hearing a moan before a sniffle got his attention.
Walking in, he turned the corner to the urinals only to see Craig against the wall, breathing hard again and head against the wall, eyes closed in agony.
“Shit!” Tom bolted down to his level, noting that he skidded in something wet, but barely paid attention to it as he hooked onto Craig, who after a minute of shaking looked up at him, terrified.
“Hey, hey love it’s just me.” Tom put on his gentle voice, the one he usually reserved for when they were alone. “What’s happened, aye? What’s the matter with you?”
Craig looked scared but opened his mouth to speak. “I…Tom, I-ah-AH!”
He barely got a word or two out before he hunched over again, Tom’s arm holding him up as he doubled over, tears rushing out of his eyes and fogging up his glasses.
Tom meanwhile, was now also terrified. This was more than just sick, Craig looked like something out of a disaster movie. He couldn’t go back to the award show like this.
“You’re not well, let me call us an Uber and take us back to the hotel, okay?”
“But…but the award show…?” Craig managed to get out despite everything, but Tom shushed him.
“Fuck the awards show, you are more important.” Tom said sternly and couldn’t help but notice the grateful, but scared look in Craig’s expression before his eyes closed again, groaning.
Pulling him up from the soaking wet floor, Tom carefully walked him out to the door of the bathroom and propped him up against the Men’s bathroom entrance before dashing back to grab Craig’s and his stuff, fielding questions from their friends at Craig’s absence.
(“He’s really sick, I’m taking him back to the hotel so he can shake it off before he goes home.”)
Ordering the Uber in a dash back on his phone, he rounded the corner to see Craig still hunched over against the trashcan near the bathroom’s entrance, this time vomiting more than in pain.
Wincing, Tom rushed to his side, rubbing his back as Craig expelled the dinner they’d had only moments earlier, noting that Craig’s suit trousers were wet through. He must have slipped and fallen when he was in pain and the water must have seeped through them.
Craig, with one last dry heave, finally eased up, but was still curled around himself as Tom slung one of his arms over his shoulder and walked him toward the entrance, body automatically shuffling onto Tom’s side as he tried to groan quietly.
“It’s alright, love.” Tom kissed his forehead (he had a fever as well, not good) when they got into the car, him easing Craig in before getting into the back himself. “We’ll get you in bed and stop you up full of painkillers and you’ll be right as rain, yeah?”
When he didn’t hear Craig reply, he quickly turned to his side, finding that Craig had just curled himself around his side and had passed out, the exhaustion even when he was asleep apparent.
Sighing, he just kissed Craig’s feverish forehead again, a murmur of “Please be okay, love.” leaving his mouth before he could stop it.
Half an hour later, despite Texas traffic, Craig is still asleep when the driver pulls up to the hotel.
Tom was quite surprised by this, but knowing Craig was in pain, he didn’t hold it against him.
Quietly, Tom slid out of the passenger seat, before shaking Mini’s arm. “Wake up love, the ride’s over.”
Craig groaned, but slowly opened his eyes, which were wet and sleepy. “ ’s it over yet?”
“Almost darlin’.” Tom murmured as he slowly helped Craig move out of the car and onto the footpath. “Just a few floors to go and you’ll be alright.”
“No, I meant-ahhhh, AHHHHHHH-“ Craig hunched over as soon as he got out of the car, clutching his arms to his torso, Tom’s arm trapped under one of his, stumbling.
Tom, in a moment of panic, quickly caught him and tried to shuffle him in as quickly as possible.
However, the way Craig’s legs were splayed out as he walked (something Tom only just realized he’d been doing the whole night, but much worse now) made it rather difficult to move him in this state.
Carefully however, they managed to get into the lobby, where Tom secluded them off to the nearest elevator, watching the numbers count down and wishing it would come fucking faster because his friend was in pain and looked like he was dying, and he was quite concerned that he needed more than just painkillers and-
DING!
He took in a breath when the elevator doors slid open and man-powered himself and Craig inside, the doors thankfully shutting quickly behind them and leaving them alone together.
"Craig? Craig love, look at me.” Tom coaxed, but Craig could barely respond, still in what looked like unbearable pain. “Craig love, I need you to tell me what floor yer on.”
When Craig didn’t respond, Tom called out again. “Craig?”
He put his hand just underneath Craig’s to shake him out of whatever pain-induced stupor he was held in when he felt 3 things.
1. Craig was shaking, trembling and could barely stand, the splay in his legs not helping.
2. His stomach where his arms were clutched was rather…hard compared to the rest of his body. (Not trying to make any dirty jokes whatsoever)
and
3. A foot. He’d felt a fucking tiny foot kick out at him.
That last one shook him to his core and made him still as Craig cried out in pain next to him. It all made sense. Oh god, Mini was here in… he was going to be… shit!
Quickly, Tom reached out blindly and picked his floor as the elevator went without them pressing a button and held Craig to his side as he continued to shake, overwhelmed.
Why hadn’t he told him? He wanted to be mad, but then he grimaced. He knew why.
Of course he wouldn’t have been able to tell him. Other than cons, they were barely able to stay in contact and even then, Tom had been hopscotching around the world as well as him, that even if he had told him, they wouldn’t have seen each other anyway.
Craig needed medical attention, more than he could give, but right now, he had to help him first.
“ ’t’s alright, it’s going to be alright…” Tom tried to reassure Craig, despite freaking out himself as the elevator quickly reached his floor and the doors opened.
He could have sworn he heard Craig say “Nothing’s alright…” under his breath as he pulled his room key card from his pocket and let them in.
Moving all the junk from his bed, he quickly set Craig down on top of the covers as carefully as he could, seeing that Craig’s pain was easing out a little. Walking the way he was, Tom wouldn’t have been surprised that he was in more pain standing than sitting.
Neither man talked for a moment, Craig’s breathing seemingly the only noise between them, before Tom finally got up the guts to ask, “What do yah need, love?”
It wasn’t said in their normal way, before Mini effectively jumped him, pulling him to bed. No, it was said so gentle, gentle enough that wincing, Craig finally looked up at him, scared.
“I….I don’t know. It’s just…so fast…I don’t think…I don’t need to go to hospital yet, but I…”
“It’ll be alright love, I’ve got yah.” Tom moved from the door and sat beside him, a hand running down his back. Mini leaned into the touch, grateful. “How ‘bout we get yah undressed, yeah?”
Craig, worriedly, looked down at where Tom assumed was the bump he had felt before taking in a large breath. “Please. Everything hurts so bad, I feel like my skin wants to jump from my body.”
“Alrighty then.” Tom said gently as he took his hand away. “We’ll go slow, so it doesn’t hurt as bad.”
“I think we’re past the point of slow given we’re about to go through the world’s most unsexiest strip tease.” Mini, despite everything, managed to joke before he groaned again, face screwing up as the pain returned and hands splayed around his lower back.
Tom had to laugh a little, a smile on his face that turned into a concerned frown as he watched Mini close off again in pain. Quietly and as gently as he could, he got down on his knees and started to undo Craig’s loafers, wincing as he saw the reddened feet that emerged from the socks within them.
He heard Craig sigh in what seemed to be relief when he got the other soak off and looked up to see he’d undone his tie and taken it off, as well as his jacket and was starting to undo the buttons of his white shirt, only getting maybe 2 or 3 undone before he groaned and had to stop, hands palmed the bed as he rocked himself back and forth, pain obviously still flooding his insides.
Tom quickly got up and with shaky hands, undid the rest of the buttons, only to stop in shock.
Underneath the dress shirt, hidden by what could only be some type of stomach shape-wear women used, was a bump. Sure, it didn’t look that big of course, but he was corrected when he managed to pull Mini’s trousers off from where the wet parts clung to his body and saw it ballooned largely over his underwear.
The dunderhead had put on briefs over the shape-wear to make it look normal.
Looking at Craig for permission, a slight nod was all he needed from the exhausted man before he moved the tight band at the top of the shape-wear and slowly pulled it off of him, revealing more and more baby bump before he finally came off of him along with his briefs, leaving him stark naked on the bed except for the white dress shirt hanging from his arms.
His stomach, once flattened, but now its full size, sat in his lap, moving when Craig took a breath as he finally could really breathe. He couldn’t look at Tom’s face though, afraid of what he’d see.
However, his eyes snapped back fast when he felt a hand on one of his aching sides and saw Tom holding a pair of boxers and a t-shirt, wide-eyed and just as freaked out as he was.
Calmly, both worked with each other, Tom helped him into the t-shirt carefully, the bottom thankfully covering his stomach without being tight and he got himself into the boxers with help of Tom’s steady hand, putting the waistband just under his stomach, which had suddenly became hard as a rock as he was getting up, making him attempt to double over, groaning again.
Tom managed this time to catch him before he did, pulling him up to let him clutch onto his shoulders and bury his face away into his own dress shirt, his cries quiet, but hearable and making Tom feel so incredibly bad for him, given that Craig had been through the ringer the last couple of years with the car accident and everything.
He wondered how on Earth he thought he could pull this off alone, considering he felt like he knew that’s what Craig had planned earlier that night before he found him. If he hadn’t…Christ, he didn’t want to even think about that scenario, so he settled for just rocking Craig side to side, a hand on his lower back to hold him up and the other caressing the bump that sat against him, feeling a few kicks in response that made him tear up and smile, wiping his face in Craig’s hair as they rocked.
This motion continued for a long time, hours in fact. Tom, while Craig was taking a break and asleep in bed for the time being, even cancelled his flight home as the first strings of daylight flooded through the small crack in the curtains of his room.
There was no way in fucking hell he was going home and leaving Craig like this. His manager would prolly give him hell for it, but he knew once he explained this to her, somehow, she’d understand.
It had ticked over to about half-past 5 AM when he decided to take a quick bathroom break from watching Craig sleep. He had taken off his jacket, but hadn’t changed out of his dress shirt and pants, wary that once Craig finally asked to be taken to hospital (or at least, he hoped he would ask), he’d better be dressed for it.
He was just washing his hands when he heard a scream so loud it made him jump and he dashed back into the room, only to see Craig hunched over beside the bed, the sheets wrapped in his fingers and shoulders squared, eyes closed but pouring with tears.
“God, it hurts. It’s hurting so bad, fuck!”
Tom flew over the bed to get to his side, thinking he had fallen off the bed while in the middle of a contraction (as that’s obviously what they were) only to freeze, seeing Craig on his knees and blood dripping down his legs, staining the boxers and the floor.
Quickly, he ran back around to grab some towels out of the bathroom and went back to his side, intent on wiping the blood up, when he saw Craig looking at him, tired.
“I need to, we need to…help me up.” That’s the signal Tom was waiting for.
Pulling the towel gently around Craig’s now expanded waist to keep the blood from further staining the floor of the room (which he would knowingly have to pay for), he moved Craig into a standing position, but suddenly Craig let out another scream, hunching over.
“No, no, I can’t, I…it’s…no!”
Tom, panicking, quickly brought him back down to the floor and let him clutch the bed again as he took the towel away, finding it quite bloody.
Taking off the boxers to see what was happening, Tom’s heart was in his throat seeing a sliver of a tiny brown-haired skull bulging out of a new hole he’d never seen, blood running out of it at a steady, but not less alarming rate.
Shit, they were too late. This kid, Craig’s kid, his kid, /their/ kid was coming. /Now/.
“Craig.” Tom’s voice was shaky, but gentle as he palmed Craig’s back with his hand, seeing Craig turn his head towards him. “Craig, I need ta call 911. It’s coming now, love.”
“But…but I…” Craig seemingly decided to freak out, but Tom shushed him, seeing how much his shaking had increased. “I’ve got yah love. Just do what you feel yah have to do.”
“I…uhghhhhh-” Craig’s protest was cut off by another pain and Tom shook his head in disbelief as the small bit of skull turned into a much larger bit of skull before it retracted, Craig’s sob the first thing to reach his ears.
“Keep going love, it’s coming as fast as it can.” Tom tried his best to comfort him as he grabbed his phone from the dresser and called 911 as best he could.
Thankfully, someone answered a lot faster than he thought they would and he directed them to where they were staying, just barely able to hang up the phone and throw it across the room (he knew someone told him to stay on the line, but in his panic, he forgot) before Craig’s whole body shuddered and with a yell, opened up to reveal a skull with a face and everything before it closed off again with a loud popping sound, the head finally staying in place.
“Hang on Craig.” He managed to call out, getting a muffled moan in return as he grabbed the towel he had swaddled him in earlier and spread it on the ground under him, before grabbing his own suit jacket quickly as the head went from just a head to one shoulder and then two before it suddenly fell and Tom caught it in the jacket, swaddling it as carefully as he could.
The baby, still connected to Craig by its cord, spluttered, but then with a small intake of breath, let out a loud, high-pitched wail that had Tom laughing, wiping his face as tears ran down his cheeks.
Turning to his side, he managed to assist Craig in moving to that he sat on the ground forward facing him, before handing over the little thing still attached to him in his arms, watching as its cries settled to whimpers.
Craig, looking rather overwhelmed to Tom, curled around the baby with a sniffle, a smile breaking through his features. “Hey. Hey there…hi.”
“Hello, indeed.” Tom shuffled over to Mini’s side as the baby whimpered, looking between both the little one and its father in wonder. “Bloody hell.”
Mini agreed with a hum, wide eyes looking down at the little one. “She’s…Tom…”
/She/. Tom blinked away his tears as he looked down at his now daughter, smiling at Mini.
“Aye, she’s a beautiful bairn, ain’t she just?”
"Ain’t she just? Now there’s an expression I haven’t heard in a long time.”
They both just laughed at each other, quietly of course as the baby seemed to have fallen asleep on them before Tom heard the door being knocked on and got up to answer it.
“Hey.” He looked down at the quiet voice calling him to see Mini looking up at him.
“Is this enough to make you marry me now?”
Tom couldn’t help but laugh out loud at Mini’s joking statement, shaking his head before kissing his forehead so he could go and let the paramedics in.
“As soon as you come with me back home, love.”
“Nice try.” Mini countered, chuckling as he cradled the baby, watching the back of his lover with a small smile. “I’ll think about it…”