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”When are they coming?”
“Again, in half an hour.”
“You said half an hour four minutes ago!”
“… 26 minutes, then.”
This was frustrating. Galo loved Lio more than life itself, but… This was getting old.
Lio, being 35 weeks pregnant with twins, was antsy as hell. He couldn’t stand still, even if his feet were swollen and his back ached in the worst way. Galo could tell because Lio was constantly frowning, one hand rubbing his lower belly, and the other hand pressing into his back as he tried to alleviate the pain. Sometimes, if he felt really bad, he would grimace for a moment, but when Galo looked over at him, he would just brush him off.
“It’s fine, baby girl is just kicking really hard.”
“Baby boy wants to dance on my bladder, but it’s okay.”
“They’re a bit heavy, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
But that had been hours ago, and Galo could see that Lio was getting tired, even though the guest hadn’t even arrived.
“Lio, maybe you should go lie down…” Galo tried, mostly because Lio was tired, but also because he could get him out of the way. Until the guests came, at least.
But Lio was having none of that. “No, I have to make sure that everything’s okay. Did you set the table?” Lio asked, then, when Galo only replied with a sigh, he waddled to the dining room as fast as he could.
“Lio, I already set it hours ago!” Galo yelled from the other room, but he could still hear the clinks of cutlery being moved around. He sighed once more and went to the dining room, and even though he was really frustrated, he softened a bit when he saw Lio.
Lio had sat down on a chair to polish the cutlery, scrubbing at it furiously. He didn’t notice that Galo was looking at him until at least a minute had gone by, and when he did, he gave him an incredulous glare. “If you have time to watch me work, you have time to work as well.” Lio grumbled, not looking happy with Galo.
Sighing softly, Galo came over to Lio and gently lifted his chin to make Lio’s magenta eyes meet his own blue eyes. The tender moment stumped Lio, and his snarky attitude disappeared quickly.
“Hey…” Galo gave Lio a soft smile, trying to calm him down. It worked, because Lio put down the knife he had been polishing and gave Galo an equally soft smile, albeit a bit more tired.
“You gotta relax, baby. Take it easy, for all three of you.” Galo said as he placed a hand on Lio’s big bump, rubbing the taunt skin through the black dress shirt he was wearing.
Lio closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting himself relax as much as possible. But with two babies right up under your ribs, it was very difficult. So when he opened his eyes again, Lio was frowning. “I know, but… I just want to be ready. I feel like I’m not doing enough, and the guests could be here any minute now, and-“
“But we are ready. We’ve gathered the things we need, the house is literally spotless because of your nesting behaviour, and the babies are fine, the last scan showed it,” Galo reassured Lio as he sat down on the chair next to his pregnant lover. “You just gotta trust us, okay? Trust me.”
Scoffing playfully, Lio said: “I don’t know if I can ever trust you. After all, you did this to me.” Lio gestured to his middle, and while he did that, the baby on his left side, the girl, made herself known with a sharp kick. Groaning a bit at the intensity of it, Lio also placed a hand on his stomach, right over the spot where the baby had kicked.
Galo let his hand wander over to the spot, joining Lio’s hand on the spot on the blonde’s stomach, and he gave Lio a light kiss on his forehead. “I know, but it’ll be over soon…”
If it wasn’t for the fact that Lio was pregnant, he probably wouldn’t have blushed as badly as he did now. He tried to hide it by looking away, but one glance at Galo’s face made him turn back. Galo was looking at him with such soft eyes that Lio could literally burst into tears. He tried not to and barely succeeded, blaming his damn hormones on his behaviour.
Galo saw it, and with a small smile he got up and dragged Lio along with him. “Just take a couple of minutes on the sofa, I’ll wake you up before the guests come.”
Lio, who had been groaning a bit from the exertion of getting up from the chair, yawned as Galo dragged him to the sofa. “But I still have to fold the napkins properly. The cutlery needs to be polished again and so does the glasses.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Galo smiled.
“Do you promise?”
“I promise. Now go rest. You don’t want to be tired when the guests come.”
And so Lio did. Toeing off his shoes as he went to lie on the sofa, Lio let himself relax for just a moment. And before he knew it, he was fast asleep, with a smiling Galo putting a blanket over him.
-
Galo, the liar, did not wake him up, so Lio was startled awake by the sound of loud talking and rustling. He sat up as quickly as he could, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Grumbling at the idiotic husband of his, Lio slowly got up from the sofa, straightened out his black button up shirt, and then when to the front door, where his friends were waited for him.
“Lio! You look stunning!” Aina said as she gave Lio a side hug and kissed him gently on the cheek.
“And big. You look like you’re about to pop!” Lucia grinned, which made Lio blush in embarrassment. He knew he was kind of large, but being small and carrying twins would do that to everyone. In the end Lio just flashed a strained smile and bid them welcome.
After Aina and Lucia had come inside, Remi and Ignis entered the room bearing gifts from the whole team. There were at least 5 boxes, all in different sizes, shapes and colours. Because of them carrying the presents, Remi and Ignis both just gave Lio a kind smile as they greeted him, then passed him to place the gifts on the table reserved for them.
“Varys was very sorry, but he couldn’t make it…” Ignis said when they had placed the gifts on the table. “He said something about an important basketball game, so he couldn’t possibly ditch his team.”
Lio was kind of relieved that it meant that there would be less people to see him this big, but when Galo came out with drinks, he could see that the taller man was looking a bit down. He gently touched Galo’s arm and gave him a slight smile, hoping it would cheer him up.
It seemed to work, because Galo gave Lio a slight smile in return, then went back to his usual loud and energetic self. “It’s okay! We’ll just have to take lots of pictures to show him when we come back to work!”
The others agreed to that and took their drinks from Galo, who talked to them, happy and spirited as always. The only one who didn’t seem that happy was Lio, who looked out the window once more.
Taking out his phone he wanted to see if either Meis or Gueira had sent a text about being late or being unable to attend, but neither had sent him anything, making Lio feel a bit discouraged.
Eventually Lio left the window and waddled into the living room. Here he was greeted by the Burning Rescue team, who was chatting cheerfully, but stopped when he came into the room. Feeling quite left out, Lio went to lower himself gingerly into his favourite chair, looking more than a little unhappy. “Don’t mind me,” He said with a frown. “I’m just going to sit here until I ‘pop’.”
“Awww, don’t be like that!” Galo said with a grin. “You just-“
The sound of the door being ripped open and a joyous “We’re here!” interrupted Galo so he couldn’t finish his sentence. However, Lio seemed to perk up at the voice, which belonged to a certain energetic former Mad Burnish member.
Meis and Gueira came into the room in leather jackets, no less. Meis was rocking a pair of sunglasses, while Gueira had messed up his hair completely because of the helmet he had been wearing previously. They also had gifts in their arms, and Gueira promptly threw his on the gift table.
“Hi there, people!” Gueira greeted the Burning Rescue team, looking like he already owned the place with his confidence.
“Fashionably late as always, I see.” Lio finally smiled for the first time in what must have been 30 minutes, relief showing on his face.
The others just laughed at that, and suddenly Lio had a feeling everything was going to be alright.
Meis, on the other hand, went directly to Lio to give him a hug, and when Lio tried to get out of the chair, the long haired man stopped him, his low voice gentle.
“Boss, there’s no need to get up. You just relax while we get you the presents. Here’s the gift I got you.” He said as he placed the box in Lio’s lap. Or well, what was left of it. Lio’s bulging stomach left little room for anything else, so he had to make the box balance on the edge of his knees, a thing that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
“Is it time for presents already?” Lio said, looking at the clock.
But the Burning Rescue team insisted that it was, and so Lio was forced to sit up straight in the chair and smile, even though he wished that he could lie down in his bed and not be forced to socialize with these people.
He didn’t mean to complain, but having been Galo’s spouse for a year, he had started hanging out with Burning Rescue. Still the team seemed so well-knit together, and it was difficult for him to become a part of them, even if it was his work.
“Lio, open it already!” Lucia practically squealed, not wanting to wait any longer.
And so Lio did. And when he had gotten a good look at the gift Meis had gotten him, he was almost weeping.
In his hands were two small onesies, both black with pink and blue streaks, one with the font ‘Burnish Gal’ and the other ‘Burnish Pal’.
Lio couldn’t hold the tears back, and so they ran down his cheeks, shocking the crowd of people in front of him.
“L-Lio! What’s wrong?!” Galo was at his side immediately, one hand on his shoulders, the other hovering over his belly.
“They’re so cu-u-ute!” Lio bawled, hormones getting the best of him. He hated them, but they were a part of him no matter what, so he tried to deal with them. Emphasis on tried.
Once again the group of people laughed a bit, but some of them looked a bit uncomfortable, especially Lucia and Remi. Apparently they weren’t used to deal with a pregnant Lio, because this was pretty common. Ignis had seen it a couple of times, and Aina had seen Lio’s outburst more times than she could count.
That was nothing compared to Galo, though. Having lived with Lio for a long time, he had seen all sides of Lio, both the good and the bad. And he loved them, but god, sometimes they were a bit too much. Like now.
“Come on, Lio… Lighten up.” Galo tried, and Gueira agreed enthusiastically.
“Yeah! Boss, open up my present!” The ex-Burnish said, shoving a small, rectangular box into Lio’s hands.
Opening the box, Lio found another box with a look he recognised. And suddenly, he also recognised what the items inside were. Something he and Galo could use when they were intimate.
“You got us… Condoms?” Lio couldn’t believe his own eyes, but it was true.
Gueira looked very satisfied, and he flashed the couple a great smile as he spoke. “Just so you don’t have any problems afterwards. ‘Accidents’ tend to happen, y’know.”
Flushing madly, Lio hid his face in his hands, feeling immensely embarrassed. When he looked over at Galo through his slightly parted fingers, he saw that Galo was also blushing, but he kept on smiling.
“Thank you for the present, Gueira! I’m sure we’ll be able to use it in the future.”
After that, Lio opened the rest of the presents, and he was happy to find that the others were more normal: Diapers, pacifiers, blankets for the babies for burping them, and so on.
And as time progressed, Lio was happy to realise that being together with everyone wasn’t as bad as he had thought it would be. No one was commenting on his size, and they all knew how bad he felt when they wanted to touch his belly, so they simply didn’t.
Per Lio’s request there were no baby shower games as he found them weird as heck and straight out pathetic. So the group just talked to each other, telling stories and anecdotes, especially about Lio and Galo.
“Okay, okay, but did you hear about that time Lio was in the store?” Galo grinned, to which Lio immediately facepalmed.
“Galo, they don’t wanna hear about that.”
But Lucia insisted, already gathering enough material to embarrass Lio for the next decade.
“So, a week ago Lio and I was in the store, right, and then when we go to the baby aisle, there’s this little girl who looks at Lio with crazy big eyes, and she obviously wanna ask about something, but she doesn’t. Then her mom comes up to us and gets her, to which the girl asks ‘Mommy, why’s that man so fat?’ And Lio just becomes beet red in the face, like, he looked like a tomato!”
Lio groaned and wished that the chair he sat in would just swallow him whole, embarrassed beyond belief.
“Come on, baby. It was really cute!” Galo said as he gave Lio a kiss on the head. Lio would agree to disagree.
“I think I’ve heard enough.” Lio grumbled as he slowly got up from the chair, Galo helping him. He went towards the bathroom, and when Galo wanted to follow him there, Lio gave him a stern look. “I think you should go entertain our guests, not help me piss.”
“But will you be okay?” Galo asked as they reached the door to the bathroom, fidgeting slightly with his hands.
Lio brushed him off easily. “Yeah, stop fussing. It’s not like I’m gonna go into labour just by going to the bathroom. And with that, he closed the door, locking it for good measure, and only when he could hear Galo go into the living room by his footsteps did he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.
Galo was so nice and gentle, but… Sometimes he could be a bit too much, especially when Lio was so close to his due date. But they were going to work through this, and they were going to be awesome parents. Lio looked into the mirror as he thought that, running a hand over his large belly. It would be nice to breathe properly again, and walk properly again, and go to the toilet properly. Actually, there wouldn’t be a thing he would miss about being pregnant.
But as he felt the baby girl move around lazily, he felt a pang of fear. What if, when they were out of him, they would never have the same connection to him?
What if they never liked him?
What if… They hated him?
A single tear escaped his eye, but he quickly brushed it away. He wouldn’t cry, for their sake… He was going to be okay. Somehow, he would be okay. After all, Galo would also be there for him.
As he finished up in the bathroom, Lio passed by the nursery, which was ready now. It had only just gotten ready 4 days before the baby shower, so they made it in the nick of time.
Looking inside, Lio saw the rocking chair they had gotten from the team when Galo and Lio had announced that they were expecting. He waddled over to it, tracing a hand along the sturdy wood and made it rock. It had calmed the twins when he had been too exhausted to walk around, and he was sure it would calm them in the future as well.
Lio decided to sit in it, feeling tired all of a sudden, and he rocked back and forth while gently rubbing his belly. The rocking made him feel sleepier than before, and soon he was asleep, leaving his guests to be entertained by Galo.
-
“Hey Lio, wake up.”
“Hm…?”
“The guests have already gone home.”
It was Galo, who had come to wake Lio up, but Lio was still confused. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around to see that the sun was bathing the room in a golden light, indicating it was getting rather late.
Taking a minute to process Galo’s words, Lio squinted at his spouse sleepily before being startled by his words. “They went home? Why didn’t you wake me up?!”
“You looked so peaceful, I just couldn’t bear to wake you up.”
Lio groaned, feeling really bad about not being able to say goodbye to his friends and co-workers. He wouldn’t be able to see them for the next couple of weeks, at least no properly, so the least he could do was be there when they were here to celebrate the babies. “I should have seen them off…”
“Don’t worry, they all came in here while you were asleep to say goodbye. Lucia even took a picture of you.” Galo grinned, making Lio groan even more.
“Oh god, why?” Lio said as he slowly got out of the rocking chair with help from Galo.
“Something about blackmail.”
Lio was too tired to groan this time and simply let it be, but he was going to trick Lucia into deleting that picture, that was for sure.
As they stood there, holding hands in the light of the late evening sun, Lio knew they were going to be okay. Come what may, they would go through it together, be it baby burping at three in the morning or the first tooth falling out, they would figure it out. And even if they didn’t, they had a lot of wonderful friends that would drop everything to help them out.
And if that wasn’t a promising future, then Lio didn’t know what it was.