Chapter Text
Melone doesn't make it a habit to panic. For one thing, he can't really afford to, and for another, it's just not in his nature. He's generally the kind of person who accepts things as they come, even if said things are shitty.
But this situation is a little different. For the past half hour, he's been sitting on the floor in the bathroom, crying uncontrollably as he tries to process what he's just found out:
He's pregnant. With a whole human baby. And now he has to talk to his boyfriends about it.
But, see, that's where the panic element comes in. Because the last time he told a boyfriend about being pregnant... it didn't end well for him. And that's about as much as he wants to think about it right now. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of situation he can just stop thinking about and let it go away, fade into obscurity. Whether or not he decides to acknowledge it, the child inside of him will keep on growing. At some point, it'll be far too obvious to hide. Well, Formaggio might remain clueless for a while longer than Illuso, but Illuso will absolutely notice once Melone starts to show. Which, considering how he's built, probably won't be long.
Melone knows, logically, that neither Formaggio nor Illuso are anything like the man who killed his child before they had a chance to really live, but...
Every time he keeps trying to imagine himself telling either one of them that he's pregnant, the only thing he can hear is someone screaming at him, and then he feels a pair of hands around his throat, tightening more and more and oh God he can't breathe, he can't breathe, he needs to breathe and --
Melone leans over the toilet, holds his hair back with one hand and grips the bowl with the other as he empties his stomach once more into it. There's not much left inside of him but bile, but that doesn't matter. He feels disgusting all over, but there's only one thing that truly matters right now. Wrapping an arm around his belly, Melone takes a deep breath.
He must protect his child. He will protect his child. And if that means he's got to distance himself from the only people he's ever loved and seen as family...
Then that is the price he will have to pay in order to fulfill his duties as a father.