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"Should you be eating that?"
Shawn turned and glared at the pesky inquirer, who gulped. Although asked innocently enough, it was now one too many times someone questioned his eating choices as his pregnancy progressed.
Of course, Shawn expected Henry, fussy about anything and everything even when Shawn wasn't pregnant, to be worried constantly, and Carlton naturally was overprotective to the point that he hovered around Shawn when they walked down the street (because he could "fall off the sidewalk--or get hit by a car"), but it was "advice" gone too far when people at work took the liberty to try and dictate his pregnancy as well.
The station had thrown them a baby shower, in light of not only one of their own being pregnant, but also the pregnant person being male.
Male carriers were not nearly as rare as people pretended they were, but male pregnancies were treated with excess caution as a result of the misconception.
It didn't matter that Shawn knew several other pregnant male friends, that the vast majority of male pregnancies were as safe as female pregnancies, or that now, more than ever, were books, doctors, and hospitals available to male carriers and pregnant males.
It didn't even matter, apparently, that the Chief's own husband just delivered their second child a little over a month or two ago, and his pregnancy had been completely safe.
People still treated every pregnant male as the first one they had ever seen, and everyone treated Shawn like he was broken glass-except when they decided it was their business to correct him on what male pregnancy "was really like" or old, outdated myths of eating pineapple during his pregnancy.
Excuse them?! Who was the pregnant male here?
Currently, the person who dared to question Shawn for cutting up fresh pineapple for himself was a newbie, someone who hadn't yet seen Shawn's wrath regarding unwanted advice.
Buzz quickly led the newbie away, mumbling about statistics regarding pineapple and how the bromelain in the pineapple wouldn't harm the baby when fresh pineapple was eaten in safe amounts, and that Shawn usually ate canned pineapple and pineapple juice where the bromelain was almost completely removed due to this and that and all the other details.
Shawn had repeated himself so many times on the pineapple front that he usually had Gus around to correct people, partly because it was easier, mostly because Gus enjoyed knowing more about things than others and telling them so. Gus, however, was in the bathroom, the bromein affecting him more than Shawn, apparently, and Shawn was grateful Buzz was there to intervene.
Shawn was tired of constantly correcting people's opinions of not only male pregnancy but also about Shawn being the pregnant person.
During the first months of his pregnancy, everyone had shown doubt of whether Shawn was "good enough" to be a parent, although they never said it outright.
Henry had constantly called and insisted on cooking pregnancy safe meals for Shawn that he used to cook for Madeleine, Gus had liked to leave tips on Post-Its for safe snacks and replace Shawn's snack drawer with healthy, flavorless snacks, and Juliet had commented more than once on his exercise routine-or lack thereof. Even the Chief took him aside to tell him he couldn't be "as reckless", as though he would have honestly gone traipsing around dangerous criminals while pregnant (at least, no by himself, please).
Honestly, the only person who didn't once doubt Shawn's ability to be a responsible father, even during the pregnancy, was Carlton. Of course, Carlton was there for all the plans to have a baby (especially the fun, practical parts), so he knew the baby was planned and not the result of Shawn's "lack of responsibility".
I mean, Shawn understood, to a point.
He had a reputation for being on the outskirts of the rules, responsibility, and caution. Except Shawn was having a baby now, and the idea that he would continue to be just as irresponsible with his child was irritating him.
He knew they meant well, and, to their credit, they stopped doubting him immediately after their first, few, ill-conceived comments (although Gus still sometimes liked to replenish his snacks), but if he couldn't even eat pineapple this late into his pregnancy without someone thinking he must not have done his research to make sure that, yes, it's safe to eat pineapple while pregnant, he didn't like to imagine his chances closer to his due date.
He would give up everything pineapple he owned, including his silky pineapple-print boxers he got from Carlton on their last anniversary, if giving up pineapple meant keeping his and Carlton's baby safe and sound; however, since eating pineapple was perfectly safe, he didn't see why he had to abstain.
Grumbling all the way back to Carlton, Shawn shoved a piece of pineapple into his mouth, and although he cut his mouth slightly on the fresh piece of fruit, he was certain that was the only danger it actually presented since he had done his research and was an excellent parent, thank you very much.