Work Text:
It was getting harder for Sonya to focus these days.
It felt like her head space was more like a head canyon now.
Whenever she so much as had a thought, it felt like it was just snatched up and tossed into the wind.
Which then led to the debate of whether it was even worth chasing after.
At the very least, with mental tasks being such a struggle, it made it easier for her to focus on the physical things.
Which were more important anyway.
Taking a deep breath, Sonya kept her focus on her position, on her breathing, as she slowly leaned and curled her upper body to the right. She kept her shoulders and back as straight as she could with the movement, and tried to ignore the slight resistance that came with it. She didn't fight against it, but she tried to work with it to get what she wanted without further strain.
Do yoga, they said.
It'll keep you in shape, they said.
It'll help with the body aches, they said.
She preferred weight lifting, but doing yoga wasn't unfamiliar to her either.
The pose she was attempting was supposed to help relieve back pain, which she was in desperate need of, but she sure as shit wasn't feeling any kind of relief from it. She felt the same as before, just in a worse position now.
She knew other positions that would help stretch out her back, ones that had worked for her before.
But there was no way she would be able to pull them off now.
Or at least, no way she could attempt to pull them off without running the risk of getting stuck in them.
This easy and seated position was also supposed to help her belly expand and relieve some of the tension weight from it.
But that appeared to have been a second lie.
Why did she even bother going to the internet for things?
Moving her right hand to the floor now, Sonya slowly brought her left arm up and over her head as she continued to lean into the bend. She felt the familiar pull that ran up along her left side as it was extended, and felt how the stretch tugged at everything from her hip to her ribs.
Thankfully, she had always been fairly flexible, so a simple stretch like this didn't irritate her too greatly.
The same couldn't be said about the hand that now grabbed at her own overhead though - reminding her that she wasn't alone in the rented studio.
"You don't have to do these specific stretches with me, you know," Sonya started, as she carefully rocked herself side-to-side to keep her right shoulder from taking on too much stress from the held position. She used her right hand as an anchor point, and felt how the subtle movement was enough to ease some of the tightness out of her shoulder and ribs. "They won't do much for you."
"They're helping with my flexibility," Kenshi replied, perfectly mimicking the same pose to her right. "I just thought this would bring us closer together."
Sonya snorted and pulled her hand free from his own, before she slapped it away.
"Yeah well, it's a little late for that," she remarked, as she slowly pulled herself back into starting form.
Surprise, surprise, her back still hurt.
There might've been some initial relief from the pose, at least from the shifting of weight, but now that she was sitting straight again, Sonya was quickly reminded of the extra pressure on her back and hips.
She moved her hands to her pregnant belly and adjusted the supported band that ran underneath it.
And to think, she had almost talked herself out of getting one.
"Besides, we already got something to bring us together, remember?" Sonya reminded.
Kenshi laughed as he straightened back up as well, before he moved his hands behind him and leaned back onto his palms. He slowly unfolded his legs out from underneath him, and stretched them out in front, making himself a little more comfortable now. And making her envious of how easy it was for him to just unfold like that.
Admittedly, Sonya felt like she still had limited knowledge of the man, in some aspects anyway.
Enough so that she was surprised to see him out of his usual three-piece suits.
Hell, when Kenshi initially agreed to join her for this impromptu yoga session, she half-expected him to show up in his battle armor - or one of his lesser fitting suits. It couldn't be denied that, from an outside perspective, it seemed like he only had two ways of dressing; he was either going into the office, or he was going into a fight. Neither of which would seem appropriate for a downtown studio room she had rented out from the local exercise center.
But he surprised her by showing up in appropriate attire.
He was wearing a pair of black gym shorts that had the Special Forces logo printed on the left leg. Sonya had snuck them out of the uniform reserve after a particularly violent expedition had left his bodysuit more or less indecent. In his defense, Kenshi had warned her that Outworld would be dangerous once they left the city limits, but she still greatly underestimated the whole... exploding magic bit.
She was surprised he still had them.
She figured he would have trashed them the first chance he got, given that they didn't fit the rest of his wardrobe.
True to form, Kenshi also wore a pair of fitted tights underneath the shorts, ensuring that his legs were entirely covered all the way down to his running shoes - which Sonya had also snuck out for him since he didn't seem to own any other kind of shoe outside of a dress shoe. She had gotten them as a precaution during one of their runs to check a satellite tower; she figured he wouldn't be able to traverse the rough terrain that surrounded said tower in his work shoes.
He ended up being fine as he was.
Sonya assumed he just didn't like the downgraded footwear, but she made him take them with him anyway.
To tie it all off, Kenshi also wore a long-sleeve, cooling shirt that kept his upper body covered as well; and it was kind of nice to see him in something form-fitting for once. Sure, his suits were tailored to fit him, but they didn't fit him like this one did - and it was a nice change of scenery for once. At least for her, it was; although he didn't seem to be holding any complaints for it either.
He was wearing work-out gloves, which was interesting.
Kenshi had mentioned before that, despite the noticeable tattoos on his hands, he didn't like wearing gloves; they had been the signature fashion of some of his former Yakuza members, and he couldn't separate the function from the implication.
The gloves were fingerless though, so she wondered if he was trying them out, and seeing if the difference was enough to bypass his own mental block.
Sonya knew why he preferred to be dressed as such, why he preferred to be seen entirely covered. That's how she had originally met him, and as she learned more about him, a lot of things he did made more sense. Still, she guessed she figured by now he would have loosened up a little around her - especially given the circumstances.
She had made sure to rent a studio room for just the two of them.
And she made sure that it was completely away from the Special Forces base, and away from his O.W.I.A office; she made sure that it was completely away from anyone who might see him, or recognize him - or recognize the both of them.
It wasn't like a little peek of his ankle was going to ruin his reputation.
She had already seen him naked anyway, so there wasn't anything on him that she didn't already know about.
Still, she didn't push him on it.
If he was more comfortable this way, then it wasn't her place to say otherwise.
It was a big enough leap for him to be outside of his usual uniforms.
So regardless, he was making progress in being more comfortable with himself, and with how other people perceived him.
In contrast to him, however, Sonya hadn't changed much from her usual day-to-day wear.
At best, she had swapped out her midriff shirt for something longer, and that was really only if she needed to be out of the house. There was so much maternity stuff out there, but as of late, she was fine just living in leggings and a sports bra - so long as she had the energy to put them on, anyway.
"We may already have something that will bring us closer, but we should try to be closer on our own as well - without interior influences," Kenshi spoke.
From her experience of other people's mistakes, a baby didn't automatically make people close.
They both knew that.
They were both aware of it.
And yet, they also sort of just tiptoed around the subject as well.
Their little game of pretend was just something they could do to bring the topic up without handling it head-on.
Which was ridiculous on both of their accounts, but Sonya had yet to be in the mood to really sit down and discuss it. They had had a brief conversation when she first found out that she was pregnant, and they had made plans around it; and they were working through the plans, but... they sort of needed to do more than just that. They needed to do more than just go through the steps just because it felt like the appropriate thing to do in this situation.
They were making plans to look for a house and move in together.
Because it would be easier in the long run of child care if they were both in the same living space.
They were trying to figure out a nursery design that would work in conjunction with his blindness.
Sento would definitely help, but Kenshi remarked that it was mentally taxing to always be connected to the sword, so he wanted to account for times where he would be without that connection.
Sonya had already worked out her maternity leave.
She was aiming to take off a month before her due date - if her blood pressure stayed stable, anyway.
Kenshi was still working on the dates with Jax.
Everything they had planned, everything they had discussed so far, all revolved around the baby, and what they would need as parents.
Nothing much revolved around them as a couple.
But that was a topic for another day.
Tucking a hand underneath her belly, Sonya kept it supported, while also partly lifting it out of the way, as she slowly unfolded her legs out from underneath her. The tingling in her heels told her that she had definitely kept them crossed for too long.
"You don't think we're close?" Sonya asked, carefully prodding him on the same topic that had just rolled through her head. "I feel like we're close enough."
"Close enough for a baby?" Kenshi queried.
There was a genuine hit in his voice with the question, which told her that he probably had the same thoughts that she did.
Which meant that she also knew what the answer to that was.
"Oh, absolutely not."
Rounding back to her prior thought, they were close enough to work together, hang out together, and sleep together, but none of those were real commitments. The two of them working together and hanging out after work went hand-in-hand. The whole sleeping together thing was convenient, but neither of them had really intended on looking at it as more than just that.
Or at least, they hadn't gotten that far into learning about each other to really bring the topic up.
Sonya had been considering it, but obviously something else beat her to the punch.
She did find Kenshi attractive, there was no denying that.
She also found him interesting, and her need to learn more about him grew with every little bit of knowledge he allowed her to have. He was a tough case to crack, but that just made it more fun. His closed off nature was balanced out by his humor, by his lighthearted banter when he was relaxed; there was a different side to him when he felt safe.
Now could a bad break up blow up the close proximity of both of their careers? Sure.
But it was all worth the risk.
Giving into one good stretch, Sonya leaned back and slowly eased herself down onto the thick mat underneath her. She had bought the thickest and softest mat she could find, and honestly, it was good enough that sometimes she just laid on it at home too. It was a solid combination of relief and pain when she laid flat, but she opted to focus on the relieving part of it.
At the very least, it took some of the pressure off her hips.
"It's a little late for us to be questioning it now though, so maybe you're on to something," Sonya continued.
Kenshi laughed once more before he turned his body to face her.
"Alright, tell me what we're doing next," he offered.
"I'm doing something called 'The Bridge'," she answered. "You need to be on standby, just in case."
"I can do that."
Scooting herself around, Sonya found a better back position to start from, before she used her heels to get her legs into the right place. She had to take a moment to catch her breath once she was in position though; despite being seven months into this pregnancy, she was still surprised at just how easily winded she could get doing the most mundane things.
Sometimes putting on her leggings was enough to make her have to sit down for a minute.
Once she was back in control, and with air in her lungs, Sonya dug her heels into the floor mat and used the leverage to lift her hips.
She gradually lifted her back off of the mat with the lift, and shifted her weight onto her shoulders now.
Or at least, she tried to.
Her own weight pulled her back down to the mat.
And despite being more prepared, more aware even, her second attempt did not yield better results.
"Okay, Operator, you're going to need to lift the bridge for me," Sonya spoke.
She watched as Kenshi pushed himself up and practically slid over to join her.
To his credit, he was always eager to help.
But to his discredit, there was a barely restrained grin on his face that came with the movement, so he was more than likely also enjoying the show - in whatever capacity he could.
"What do you need me to do?"
Even his voice sounded excited.
"I need you to lift my hips for me," Sonya started, as she gestured for him to move in front of her. "From the front, preferably, I don't think you'll be able to get a good enough grasp from the side. And I'd rather you not drop me during any point in this process."
"I can do that," Kenshi assured.
He moved around to position himself in front of her now, and fixed himself between her legs; which might've been awkward if it hadn't been a rather common sight as of late. Well, that, and the fact that she wasn't the slightest bit in the mood - although that could change in a second, so she couldn't write it off entirely.
His hands reached out to get a hold of her waist, before she grabbed them and fitted them underneath her hips instead.
She wasn't surprised, but she did find it entertaining that Kenshi opted to help her out himself, rather than delegating it to Sento.
He very easily could have done the same work by using his telekinesis instead.
"Okay, now lift - and do it slowly."
Despite her own struggles, Sonya felt Kenshi lift her hips rather effortlessly off of the mat as he slowly pulled her up into the position she had been attempting to recreate.
She let out a stiff exhale at the movement, at the shift of weight, and adjusted her shoulders underneath her to better take on the change. She dug her heels into the mat once more as she used her legs to lift herself out of his hold and keep herself suspended now. Carefully, she moved her arms to lay flat against the mat and clasped her hands together underneath her.
Sonya closed her eyes and tried to relax into the pose.
Which was not as easy as the tutorial video made it seem.
"Speaking of being closer, I think this is how we ended up like this," Kenshi quipped, breaking her concentration immediately.
Sonya laughed hard enough in response that she almost lost her balance.
And she felt Kenshi's hands come back to steady her.
"We really can't get much closer than this, can we?" Sonya replied, as she lowered her hips into his hands once more, and felt how he quickly took support of them.
The whole point of this particular exercise was to shift weight away from her hips and alleviate hip pressure - but she was willing to take a shortcut on it.
Whether she was holding her weight, or he was holding it for her, she could already feel a difference in them.
The only downside of being in this position, however, was that her belly mostly kept her from seeing him over it.
"You know, I haven't checked in in a hot minute, but what are you thinking about?" she prodded.
It was a rather open-ended question, admittedly, but Sonya knew she was going to get an open-ended answer regardless of how specific she asked. That was just how Kenshi operated. He could give a direct answer, and she had heard him do so before, but most of the time, he didn't seem quite open to do it. She used to tease that he couldn't commit to anything, not even his words, but he insisted that it was more of a liability thing.
With how he grew up, with how he trained, unless there was an Elder speaking, or a gun to your head, you avoided saying anything directly.
She never pushed him on it.
And at this point, she was usually willing to just take whatever she could get out of him.
"The baby must be big given your stature."
Case and point.
Direct? Sure, in a way.
Absurd? Absolutely.
"She's on the average side, reportedly," Sonya replied. "Which you would have known had you not answered that call from Liu Kang and gone to Outworld to fight a gang, and miss the appointment."
"It was a clan," Kenshi corrected. "Besides, you knew what you were signing up for."
"Did I?"
"Oh, says the woman who was still doing patrols up until a month ago," he retorted. "The doctor even had to tell you to cut back on working out, which I was there for - which is also why we're doing this exercise to begin with."
Sonya laughed again at the immediate rebuttal.
Kenshi was quick on his feet, but he was also quick to keep her on her feet too.
And in fairness to him, he had only missed out on the one appointment so far.
Initially, Sonya didn't think Kenshi would be interested in going along with each appointment; mostly given that this whole thing was an accident to begin with, but also she couldn't really recall any of the men in her family caring much about them. Hell, even some of the men in her unit were okay with missing the check-in appointments. And the women that she knew of didn't really seem to mind either; they always had back ups in other family members and friends.
She also got the impression that Kenshi's family was used to a patriarchal set up, and this kind of stuff wasn't exactly important to the men.
But Kenshi was very insistent with coming along and being involved.
Their child would be the first member to reclaim the Taira clan name, and he was vastly protective of her.
Which was probably why he had stepped so much out of his comfort zone to be here.
That being said, Kenshi did have his complaints when the doctor didn't address him, or acknowledge him when he was in the room with her. Sonya had initially teased him as being a bit egotistical, considering that the appointments were for her, so she needed to be the focus of them. But after his complaints, she did take notice that whenever there was a discussion about their child's development, it was solely directed at her. And when it was brought up that her blood pressure could make her high-risk and lead to bed rest, it was suggested that she find someone to help support her during that time.
As though the father of her child wasn't sitting next to her.
It was a bit of a realization that his disability tended to make people overlook him.
Not that Kenshi allowed himself to be overlooked.
"Okay, so maybe you have a point about us needing to be closer," Sonya admitted. "I want to ask though, and you can laugh at me if you want, but can you read anything from her? I saw a movie once where they said babies in utero can dream, which could be bullshit, but it got me curious. Even if she could dream, I don't know what there would be to dream about, but is your telepathy picking anything up when you're around her?"
"Not really. I can hear her heartbeat though," Kenshi offered, sparing her from any teasing he could have invoked upon her. "She feels calm and perfectly content."
"Well, one of us needs to be feeling calm," she replied.
"Wait, now she's asking for the codes to the nukes-"
Sonya snorted through a laugh this time.
"Put me down, before I roll out of your hands," she ushered.
Kenshi, of course, laughed at his own joke as he lowered her hips back to the floor mat.
And it felt good to be fully horizontal again.
Sonya pushed herself up into a seated position, or rather once more, tried to. She got about halfway up before she found that her leverage was missing, which didn't allow her to do that final roll forward. Kenshi offered his arm to her, no doubt sensing her struggle, and she took it without hesitation, allowing him to pull her the rest of the way up.
A soft grunt escaped her as she sat up, as she felt her weight shift forward once more.
"I'm still not used to this," Sonya breathed.
"And you did all that training too," Kenshi teased.
She rolled her eyes at him before she pulled at his arm once more, catching him off-guard and pulling him forward instead.
Pulling him in, Sonya pressed her lips to his own, firm and quick, before she pulled away - denying him the opportunity to retaliate.
"It's been about two hours, and I'm surprisingly still in a good mood, so we can cut this early and head out if you want," Sonya offered. "Unless you're just dying to do another rep of the Crescent Lunge, or whatever it was called."
"The Forward Fold was more fun," Kenshi replied. "It brought back some great memories of how we ended up here in the first place."
Sonya chuckled before she brought her hands to cup his face.
"You should be glad that I need you to help me stand up," she remarked. "Besides, we both know I got like this because I rode you like a rodeo bull."
"Debatable," he offered.
"Debatable, he says," she teased, before she tugged on his arm once more. "Now come on, get me to my feet before I make the both of us sit on this floor."
Kenshi got to his feet first, before he leaned down and grabbed her by her outstretched arms.
Slowly, he pulled her up until Sonya got her heels underneath her, which then allowed her to stand up on her own now.
"Ooh, well, at the very least, she's not sitting on my spine anymore," Sonya spoke, as she rubbed at her lower back. "Maybe doing all of that stretching and moving around rearranged her in there. She probably had a helluva time too, which makes for one of us."
"More like two of us," Kenshi chuckled. "Did you have anything planned after this?"
"Not much, I figured this was going to wipe me out, and put me on the couch for the rest of the day," she admitted. "But I'm feeling better than I thought I would. Why? You got something in mind?"
"We need to run some details on that house we were looking at, and also go over the nursery registry so we can get it up and going once the house is signed for," he started. "We don't have a lot of time left, and it's going to be a big change for the both of us once we move in together."
Ugh, there was a laundry list of things she still needed to do and catch up on.
Given they were on a two month time limit now, the list kept getting longer while the clock was getting smaller.
And the nursery!
Lord knew her mother was going to blow a gasket if she wasn't given something to buy.
Sonya was already worried that the woman had bought out the local baby store just as a precaution.
Now, neither of them had planned out a baby shower, and they had yet to give anyone else the chance to do so either.
But she knew that her cousins were biting at the bit to throw one at the first opportunity.
And then there was Kenshi's family.
Given the significance of the new baby, they also had their own plans, and their own gifts they wished to give - which from what Kenshi had told her, was quite a significant amount.
Which they just didn't have a place for right now.
"But-," Kenshi continued, perhaps sensing how quickly she was getting overwhelmed by just thinking about it all, "- let me take you out to lunch first."
"Oooh, an afternoon date, huh?" Sonya teased. "See, this is why I let you knock me up, Takahashi."
"I think there was more to it than just that," he chuckled.
"Was there?" she questioned, as she playfully cocked her head to one side. "I mean, you bringing me dinner was what got us in this position into the first place."
Kenshi laughed before he snaked an arm across her back and pulled her in against him.
Sonya watched as he leaned in and she closed her eyes as soon as she felt his lips connect with her own.
Unlike before, where she had caught him off-guard with a quick kiss, she felt the weight, the passion that came with this one. She felt how his arm slid up along her back, giving himself space to rest his other hand on her open hip now. And she didn't deny her hands the wanton urge to reach out and tangle her fingers in his shirt, as she partly peeled it away from his body on the other side.
It reminded her of the kiss that inevitably broke the tension between them.
The same kiss Kenshi had pulled her into the same night they had inevitably conceived.
"Careful," Sonya whispered. "Keep this up, and I'm going to suggest that we skip lunch and just head back to my place."
"We can get lunch to-go."