Work Text:
~
This is a place where I don't feel alone.
This is a place where I feel at home.
~
It was late summer, and the afternoon sun pierced the window of the bright corridor in which the commander and his older brother waited anxiously for a nurse or doctor, or anyone, to come to inform them of Sano Takemichi’s condition.
“You’re growling,” came the dull voice of his brother, Izana.
Eyes narrowing – full of worry and fear and anxiety and more worry – midnight black eyes threatening to turn red at any moment, Mikey turns to his irritating big brother – for god’s sake, why couldn’t Shinichiro have come instead – with his ill-disguised emotions bubbling on the surface.
He says nothing to Izana, who’s seated in those horrible and rough-plastic chairs that could only belong in hideously decorated hospital waiting rooms as he continues to pace again.
“Emma said he’d be fine Mikey. Takemitchy said he’d be fine. Having contractions this early is very common with omega’s who are carrying twins. It’s nothing to worry about, and he’s in the most capable hands.”
“Did she tell you that too?” Mikey snaps, halting a foot away to scrutinize Izana intently.
Izana rolls his orchid hues and leans back into the hard chair. He focuses on his phone then, sending out a few quick messages to the pack that their commander’s omega may be about to give birth.
Kakucho is just as excited as Emma at having children within the pack. It’s adorable, and Izana can’t help the thoughts that swirl in his mind every time Kakucho comes home with another tiny article of clothing for when the babies are born.
Letting out a sigh, Izana tries in vain to calm the younger alpha down, “Yes, she did. As did the doctors currently taking care of Takemitchy. You’re just being your usual self. Takemitchy gets so much as a paper cut and you’re all over him.” Izana replies, looking up at Mikey. He regrets it immediately when he sees the look that the younger man is sending him.
“If you’re talking about that one time you walked in on us, he really did need a band-aid– “
“No! Geez, I do not want to hear about your sex life, Mikey.” Izana cuts him off flustered. “God knows we’ve all heard and seen enough to know, hence Takemitchy about to pop your pups out.” He grumbles under his breath.
Mikey of course catches it with his enhanced hearing, but sure enough squabbling with Izana and his attempts to calm him, have settled his nerves some. He knows logically that Takemichi is fine and healthy. His due date wasn’t for another two weeks, so it’s not as though the twins are terribly premature, but he can’t help worrying.
Mikey releases a breath, focusing back on the present and their surroundings. He also takes comfort from a familiar packmate being near, enough so that their inner alphas don’t even try to spar like usual. Instead, it’s tempered to snarking and huffing – an improvement, Takemitchy would say.
But he can’t help the urge to be near his mate and his pups. The itch underneath his skin screaming at him to go seek them out. But he refrains, barely.
He instead focuses on sending love and warmth and comfort through their bond. Smiling slightly when he felt a small, warm tingle in his chest as his mate sends his own love and support back.
And then, finally, after an hour and a half, a nurse comes to tell them the news.
“Sano-san,” she refers to the blonde alpha pacing the length of the corridor.
“Yes,” he’s immediately in front of the nurse, looking at her anxiously.
“We’ve managed to halt your omega’s labour, and I believe he stated that he would like to have a home birth?” At Mikey’s nod, she continues. “He’s ready to go home. However, I must stress the importance of bed rest. Takemichi-san is not to do anything physical or stressful until after the pups are born.”
Mikey nods eagerly, he’s already heard all this before and has it written down, but he listens again just to appease the nurse.
He just wants Takemitchy home, safe in his nest and in his arms, where he belongs.
A few moments later, Emma is wheeling Takemichi out in a wheelchair. His little mate is pouting and looking as grumpy as he possibly can. “Emma-chan. I can walk.”
“Not – a – chance ~” She sings and looks towards her brothers. “Takemitchy’s ready. Shall we head home?”
Mikey doesn’t reply as he makes a beeline towards his mate, nuzzling against his cheek in greeting.
Takemichi lets out a light laugh at his mate’s childish behaviour. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”
The tight sensation in his chest doesn’t loosen or leave until he sees his mate comfortably snuggled up in bed, softly dozing surrounded by their pack. Takemichi’s hands resting gently on his swollen stomach.
~
It’s a few days later, in the early hours of the morning that Takemichi's water breaks and he goes into labour.
And, to put it lightly, it’s chaos.
Everyone was running around without thought or purpose. Baji and Pah were hollering for help, just a little grossed out at the thought of seeing an omega, even if it was someone they loved like a little brother, going into labour.
Ran and his brother wisely stayed out of everyone's way and was slumped over the kitchen table, slurping coffee as their lives depended on it. Sanzu and Nahoya paling at the sounds of Takemichi's pained cries.
Everyone else’s panic was stressing Takemichi out, and with a roar, Emma ordered everyone to calm down.
“Hakkai, you get towels, Mitsuya, boil some water! Mikey, get behind Takemichi and hold him.”
Everyone scrambled to do her bidding, Hakkai returning only moments later with the towels.
“Are we really gonna do this here?” Takemichi asked, waving his hand around where his lower half was covered with the expensive towels and rich, satin sheets. “What if blood and – other stuff gets everywhere?”
“Then we’ll buy a new mattress,” Mikey said promptly, slipping in behind his mate and smiling slightly, laying a light kiss to the pout on his petulant mates’ lips.
After several hours of pained moans, crunching on ice chips, dozing fitfully against his mate’s chest, and cursing Mikey’s name with a wealth of words that made Baji crow proudly, it seemed that Takemichi was finally ready to push his pups into the world.
“Manjiro, I don’t think I can do this, I’m not ready.” He said as soon as Emma gave him the go-ahead to begin pushing. He looked over his shoulder to Mikey, wild panic in his eyes. “What if something bad happens?”
“Shh, Takemitchy. You’re going to be fine,” Mikey assured him, “I’m right here, and the pups’ heartbeats are strong and steady. Everything’s going to be okay, my love. You just have to breathe and remember that we’re all here for you and that I love you.”
Takemichi’s eyes softened at his mates’ sweet words and then had to clutch at the sheets as another contraction took him. Mikey wanted to take hold of his hands, but he could as he was holding Takemichi’s legs open in preparation for their pup’s arrival.
“How about we get some of the others in here to hold your hands?” He asked, calling in the others.
Ever the reliable one, Chifuyu was there in a heartbeat, climbing onto the bed beside Takemichi to take his sweaty hand. “It’s going to be fine,” Chifuyu said, fierce loyalty apparent in his soft voice. It was exactly what Takemichi needed to hear at that moment. If his best friend, thought he could do it, he could do it. Chifuyu was sweet, but he was always honest with Takemichi.
“Okay, one, two, three and push!”
~
Takemichi wished he could say that giving birth to his children was a breeze, but it wasn’t.
It was difficult and painful, and he remembered every agonizing second his body went through in an effort to bring his children into the world.
He remembered squeezing Chifuyu’s hand so tight that the beta whined, he remembered Emma’s coaching words and hums of approval as he followed them. He remembered Mikey’s soft murmurs of praise and declarations of affection, his alpha nuzzling into the sweat-damp curls on his forehead.
But most of all, he remembered Emma gasping in awe as she cut the umbilical cord of her nephew, his firstborn son.
His sister-in-law cleaned him off and kissed the top of the child’s head before laying his tiny, squirming body down on Takemichi’s chest. The infant immediately rooted around on Takemichi's bare chest for a nipple and latched on to nurse. Takemichi cried openly, running a gentle finger down his perfectly chubby cheek even as he started pushing again.
The second birthing was slightly easier, and their second son came out with a soft wail. Again, Emma cleaned the pup up and placed him beside his twin, resting safely on their mother’s chest.
Mikey’s hands shook as they gently caressed his children’s heads. Nuzzling and cooing softly as his mate slipped into an exhausted sleep.
A few hours later after Takemichi had woken from his nap and showered, Mikey sat back on his haunches and took a deep, shuddering breath. His fingers close and open restlessly on his thighs. Dried blood from helping Emma clean off his babies stains his hands, and he tries to scrape it off on the soft fabric of his shirt.
It’s been months of worrying and waiting, rubbing his hands reverently across Takemichi’s swollen belly as it grows and listening to the hearts beating inside, trying to pick the rhythms apart. He’d stuck close behind Takemichi during the long hours of his labour, ever since they found out that Takemichi was about to give birth to their children earlier that morning.
Mikey knows he’d been overly protective, baring his teeth at the strangers who have been sent from the Toman-owned hospital to give his mate and babies a quick check-up, staying a little too close, keeping his hands all over Takemichi whenever he could, terrified of leaving his mate when he’s so vulnerable.
He couldn’t fight his instincts.
But now, now Mikey is afraid to touch.
Takemichi lies in an exhausted heap in their nest, cradled by a mass of soft pillows and clean blankets. He’s resting on his side, curled protectively around the little pile of soft skin and little hands and twitching noses. Mikey gapes helplessly at the sight. Those are his, his pups – his and Takemichi’s – brought to bear by love and blood and flesh.
Mikey pulls his eyes away from his tiny children and lands on their mother – Takemichi.
He’s a little pale, a little faded around the edges, but happiness and contentment are radiating from him, and his scent is thick in the air. Mikey can smell it seeping from every pore, warm like cinnamon and allspice. Takemichi’s long-held squeamishness of anything bloody is gone in the face of the certainty of his new family. Mikey couldn’t be prouder of his mate, the way he suffered through the opening of his body for the birth of their pups; conscious through it all, he’s the bravest person Mikey has ever met.
Takemichi offers him a small smile as though he knows what Mikey is thinking and his hand drifts down to rest on the wriggling body of one of their sons.
Our sons, Manjiro thinks, still dazed, and it hits him again. Hard. This is the moment he never thought possible. This is their family.
They’re tiny and defenceless, adorable, and squirming in a pile of pink limbs and tiny ears. Mikey has the overwhelming urge to lick them clean, his alpha pushing to the surface at the sight of the newborns. Bone deep and ancient instincts wars with human practicality. He’s not going to shift closer to his mate just so he can run a broader tongue over their little bodies, but he wonders if his mother did when he was born. Instead, he reaches for the towels they’d set aside earlier to rub them and keep them warm.
“Manjiro, come here,” Takemichi grins and tries to push himself into a sitting position so he can reach his mate, but Mikey just moves towards him and presses him back down to the pillows with a firm, gentle hand.
“Rest, little one,” he says, and he brushes his knuckles down Takemichi’s cheek. His skin is tacky with dried sweat. “You’ve already done the hard work.” Mikey leans over him, pressing a warm, lingering kiss to Takemichi’s mouth and rubbing his nose against his jaw.
Takemichi’s omega body is still putting itself back together. Skin and muscle and sinew knitting closed, organs shifting back into their rightful positions with the help of his omega healing abilities. The room is a confusion of smells, thick with healing and new life – copper and cinnamon and vanilla. The wet scent of blood still clinging to the back of his throat, but unlike any other time, Mikey has smelled it, this time it doesn’t invoke a feeling of disgust or fear.
He sits back and reaches for one of their pups, the oldest boy with a head of dark hair – Takemichi’s hair. Mikey is so careful with him, wrapping the squirming body up in a towel before bringing him to his lap. The boy is solid and bigger than his twin, sniffling against his palm to scent him, and low a sound rumbles from deep in Mikey’s chest. A fierce and abiding love rises wild inside of him.
Mine, he thinks. Ours, his alpha howls.
Mikey bends his head low to the small body and listens carefully. He knows that heartbeat. This was the one that spent so much of the last months on the left side of Takemichi’s belly, kicking him every night around dinner time. Mikey grins and lets himself rub his face into the soft stomach, scent his eldest pup, marking him as his, the way the scent of Takemichi is already engrained all the way down to his bones.
Takemichi has the youngest in his arms, the smaller pup is already awake and Takemichi is urging him to suck on his breast. Cooing when the pup immediately latches on. “Good boy.”
Mikey is at a loss, completely enraptured by Takemichi feeding their youngest. He’s so beautiful.
A soft shuffling sounds at their bedroom door and Mikey turns to see his siblings trying to fit themselves all at once through the door. Takemichi giggles softly at the sight, trying not to disturb the suckling pup.
Emma’s the first one to push through and makes a beeline to the omega lounging on the bed. “Oh my God, Takemitchy, they’re just so cute. I can’t believe Mikey can make something so cute. You! I understand, but him –”
Takemichi smiles and bites his lip at his mates' half-hearted glare at his little sister.
Izana is next to reach them and then Shinichiro.
The eldest Sano crouches down next to Mikey and gives a soft congratulations to the new parents. “Twins are a blessing, I’m proud of you both.” Shinichiro murmurs. “Do they have names yet?”
Mikey nods and looks over to Takemichi who smiles and introduces his babies to their aunt and uncles.
“This,” he gestures to the sleeping pup in his arms, small tufts of blonde hair tickling the mother’s nose, “Is Sano Shōyō! And that,” he looks towards the pup in Mikey’s arms, “is Sano Chihiro.”
Chihiro has soft wisps of black hair, so similar to Takemichi’s, but when he blinks sleepily up at his father, his eyes are as pitch-black as his own. And Mikey feels a well of emotion rising inside of him, even more so when Shinichiro clasps a hand on his shoulder.
He looks between his mate, newborn pups and siblings and doesn’t think he’s ever felt happier. Especially when he can hear the various happy voices of his pack, each of them betting on who ‘gets to be the best uncle’, and hearing Draken resolutely tell the others that it would be him. He could hear Koko and Kakucho in the process of ordering more and more clothes. Damn, Mikey thinks with a grin, he might need to buy a bigger closet.
Laying a sleepy Chihiro down in the crib by their bedside, Mikey takes Shōyō and places him next to his twin. Emma and the others offer other quiet congratulations before leaving the new parents to have a moment together.
Mikey gently settles into bed beside Takemichi, carding his hands through the sweaty locks of hair, he presses a soft kiss to his mate’s forehead.
Takemichi simply smiles up at him, at this moment, it felt like everything was right in the world as long as Mikey was by his side.
“I love you Manjiro.”
“I love you too ‘Mitchy, so much. Thank you for being my mate and bearing me two beautiful pups.”
Takemichi smiles again and wraps his arms around Mikey’s waist, tucking his face into his mate’s neck, he slowly drifts off to sleep.
Mikey following not long after, knowing that his mate and pups are safe by his side, and he can't remember ever being this happy.
-fin-