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Viktor had been pacing around the house for thirty minutes like a lost insect.
His day was fine until he realized what day it was.
Since he started hormone treatment nearly 15 years ago, his cycle wasn’t irregular per se, but instead of normal bleeding and terrible cramping, he’d spot a little for a week in the month. Slight cramping but nothing worse than his leg.
He was enjoying his afternoon reading a book when one of the characters mentioned her period.
“Hm,” he got up leisurely and checked the calendar.
“Hmmmm.”
He flipped back to last month— couldn’t remember any bleeding that month either.
“Fuck.”
Jayce wasn’t going to be back for a bit. He was out at the market and that was going to take at least an hour, an hour thirty if he gets distracted, which he will.
So an hour and thirty minutes to conduct a test.
Uncomfortably, Viktor peed into a small cup and took it down to the mini lab in the basement. Dropping a bit onto a slide, he slid the glass under his microscope.
That takes us to now, Viktor nearly hyperventilating over the kitchen sink, cane left disregarded at the top of the basement stairs.
The door opened behind him and the house filled with warmth.
“V, you here?” Jayce voice boomed. “I got a ride back ‘cause I got more stuff than I planned. They were selling these shoes— now that I’m looking at them they’re actually a little small for both of us. She was really convincing.” He dropped bags at the table and walked over to Viktor. He rested a hand on his lower back and kissed the back of his neck. “Hey, everything okay?”
Viktor looked at him slowly with red eyes. He didn’t miss the way Jayce’s eyes nearly welled up just at the sight of him crying.
“V, c’mon, sit down,” Jayce immediately led him to a chair. “W- where’s your cane?”
Viktor hiccuped and pointed to the basement door. Jayce quickly grabbed it and leaned it against the table. He pulled over a chair for himself and sat in front of Viktor. “What is it? What’s going on?”
Viktor exhaled loudly, hunched over in his seat. He finally met Jayce’s eyes. “Jayce, my period is late.”
“Oh- okay. You know that’s possible. With your treatments, we’ve been over it,” Jayce said, his voice full of reassurance. Viktor sighed.
“No, no!” Viktor cried. He grabbed his cane and started for the basement. “Come down.”
Jayce obeyed and stopped at the bottom, waiting for the reason. Viktor pointed to the microscope.
“Sit down. Look,” Viktor told him. Almost reluctantly, Jayce sat down and looked through the lens. “My urine, Jayce.”
Viktor visibly saw Jayce’s shoulders tense and freeze. He pulled away from the tool and looked at Viktor with wide eyes. His expression, though, wasn’t really something Viktor could decipher. Intrigue and surprise, but also fear. He stood from the seat slowly.
“Viktor…”
Viktor shook his head, looking at the sample.
“V, look at me please.”
Viktor’s face twitched, his nose scrunched into a slight snarl as he looked at Jayce through his eyebrows. “I can’t carry a child, Jayce.” His hand shot out and pushed Jayce’s chest a bit. He pointed a finger at him. “This is your fault. You put this in me.”
“It was a team effort.”
“I don’t wanna hear it.”
Jayce reached for Viktor’s shoulder and Viktor wiggled out. Viktor smacked his arm.
“You have one job during sex: Pull. Out. I can’t imagine this being a difficult task, Jayce.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Do not defend yourself. You’re evil.”
Jayce giggled a bit. “Viktor, hey—“
“You laugh? As if this is humorous. I know how big you were as a child, if you’ve forgotten. You’ve put one of your massive children in me and I must bear it. My spine will snap in half.”
“Viktor,” Jayce grabbed his shoulders and shook him a bit. “I need you to breathe, first of all. Second, sit down please.” He spun him around to the chair and gently pushed him down onto it. “There.”
Viktor’s elbow rested on the desk, his hand over his mouth. “Despite the circumstances, Jayce, this is quite the miracle.”
Now Jayce fully laughed. “I know.”
“I surely didn’t think I could still get pregnant. Pulling out was a precaution. Which you’ve failed at.”
“Right.”
“We’ll have to work on that.”
“Right.”
They were quiet for a moment. Jayce let Viktor gather his thoughts. Jayce watched his brows furrow slightly as he sniffled. Suddenly his eyes were bright red again and glossy. Jayce rubbed Viktor’s thighs from his spot crouched on the floor in front of him.
“We didn’t plan for this,” Viktor finally said, his voice broken and wet sounding. “I didn’t plan for this, we—“ he took a deep breath. “Our lives would change.”
Jayce ran his hands up and down Viktor’s leg. “Nothing we haven’t been through before, V. Our lives would change but we wouldn’t.”
When Viktor didn’t respond, Jayce continued.
“V? You know that if you don’t want to grow this thing-“ he poked his stomach “-you don’t have to. We have endless resources at our disposal. You don’t have to go through with a pregnancy if you don’t—“
“You don’t want children?”
Jayce frowned at him. “This isn’t about me.”
“Yes, but do you want children?”
Jayce grabbed Viktor’s hand and brought it to his own cheek, holding it there, feeling the coolness of his partners skin. “Viktor, I would travel to the ends of the earth with you and you alone. I am so, so happy and content with just the two of us. I don’t need anything else.” He paused. “But I’m open to needing more. In all honestly, I’ve never really thought about it. You’ve filled my heart.”
Viktor tilted his head at him. “So you're indifferent?” he asked matter-of-fact-ly. Jayce laughed. “Yes, I’m indifferent,” he kissed Viktor’s palm. “Do you want children?”
Viktor didn’t answer immediately. Slowly, he nodded his head.
“Oh.”
Viktor chuckled. “I really do. I didn’t expect it to be so soon. I figured we would adopt someday. I didn’t think I’d grow it.”
Jayce brought Viktor’s hand down to his lap, squeezing it. “You’ve never brought it up before.”
“Like I said; this is soon. I would’ve brought it up in maybe 5 years.”
Jayce just looked at him.
“What? It is so surprising that I would want to be a parent?”
“Not at all. It’s surprising how I never thought about it until now. How good you’d be,” he tucked a piece of hair behind Viktor’s ear. Jayce’s eyes burned. His eyes quickly flooded over. It was Viktor’s turn to chuckled at an inappropriate time.
“That’s sudden. What is it?” he cradled Jayce’s face.
Jayce rubbed his eyes. “God, wouldn’t it be beautiful? Our love in human form.”
Viktor felt his bottom lip tremble. “A baby.”
Another quiet moment.
“What are you thinkin’, hm?” Jayce sniffled. “What’s going on in your pretty head?”
“A lot,” Viktor said. “I think… I think we should keep it.”
“Really?”
“Mmh-hmm.”
“Okay. Yeah, alright,” Jayce wiped his hands over his face and stood up. “Absolutely! Yes, a child!”
Viktor stood with a smile. “A child.”
Jayce was practically vibrating. He pulled Viktor into a tight hug and shook him around. “You’re so amazing.”
“Thank you. Not so much shaking, please, you might scramble it.”
Jayce gasped and dropped Viktor. “That can’t happen but you scared me.”
Viktor scrunched his nose playfully. He reached for Jayce’s face and pulled him into a kiss. “You’re wonderful, my Jayce. I hope you know this.”
“I’m a little nervous, I’ll admit.”
“I’d worry if you weren’t,” Viktor kissed him again. “If anyone was going to be the best parent, it would be you.”
Jayce smiled at him. He hugged him again and kissed his nose, his cheek, forehead, chin until he was a ball of laughter.
“We must prepare,” Viktor said through cold tears.
“Right. If it’s a boy, I like the name Viktor Jr.”
“Oh, I meant furniture and diapers.”
“Well, we can discuss names while we build a crib.”
-
“I fucking hate you, Jayce Talis,” Viktor shouted at his spouse.
“I know, V, I know.”
“One was fine, but two is ridiculous. I should fucking murder you.”
“You absolutely should. Do that later though, yeah?”
Viktor screamed and dug his nails into Jayce’s hand. The midwife at the end of the bed spoke reassurances over the shouting. “You’re doing great! One more push!”
“This is the third one more!” Viktor’s head fell back onto the pillow when a sudden wave of relief washed over him.
Moments later, he was holding two babies in his arms. Jayce was practically laying on the bed with him with how close he was.
The babies and Viktor were cleaned and the bed was changed. Viktor held a boy with brown eyes and pure white hair. Jayce held a girl, chestnut brown hair and strange iridescent eyes.
Jayce rocked her a little, glancing towards Viktor as he gazed at the baby boy.
“She looks like you,” Jayce said, breaking the comfortable silence. Viktor looked up, lids a bit heavy but eyes full of love.
“You can tell already, huh?” Viktor played. Jayce nodded, looking back at the baby and walking closer to the bed.
“Look,” he ran his thumb and pointer finger down the middle of her face. “She has the long nose bridge.” He brought her closer to him and kissed her.
“I wonder who they will take after as they grow,” Viktor thought aloud. “They have your skin.”
“They do,” Jayce agreed. “The hair and eyes, though.”
Viktor sucked his teeth. “Yes, I was wondering this too. Do you think it is from—?“
“I think it’s the only explanation.”
Viktor huffed. “Yeah. Their names are fitting.”
“I agree.”
-
“Oh dear,” Jayce said, feigning exhaustion. He stood in the yard of their home, leaned against the fence. “It’s over, Táta. I can’t find our kiddos anywhere.”
Said kiddos giggled from their terrible hiding place behind a bush. Viktor gasped from his spot in their hammock, not looking up from his book.
“Oh, what ever shall we do, Papa? I can’t live without my twins.”
“I don’t know!” Jayce shrugged. “I guess I’ll go cry behind this bush. Because what else am I gonna do?”
Suddenly, the twins jumped up, yelling “surprise!” Jayce screamed.
“My babies! They’re here!” He got down to his knees and held his arms open. They came running to him and he picked them up. He turned to Viktor while the kids had a giggle fit in his arms. “I found them, V.”
Viktor looked up and smiled. “I’m so proud.”
Jayce put his kids down and picked leaves out of their hair. He paused, looking at his son. “Swann, what’s all over your face?”
Swann stopped laughing. “Nothin’.”
Viktor leaned forward and turned Swann to face him. “Birdie, we told you to stop eating the berries out here.”
“But they taste so good.”
“We need them for our deserts and we can’t make our deserts if you keep eating the unripe fruit,” Viktor poked his forehead.
Swann huffed. “Estelle ate some too.”
Their daughter gasped. “Swann, you tattle! I’m better at hiding it! They wouldn’t have ever known!”
“Oh how dare you lie to us about your surprisingly healthy eating habits?” Jayce kissed the top of her head and sat next to Viktor in the hammock. “But seriously, both of you. Stop eating the damn berries; we said not to.”
“We’re sorry,” Estelle said. She smacked her brother’s arm.
“Oh. Yeah, we’re sorry.”
Viktor squinted his eyes at them. “Forgiven, I guess. Birdie, can you go grab a basket from inside? We have to tend the garden before the rain starts up.”
The boy smiled and ran off into the house.
“Oo! Can I do the potatoes?” Estelle raised her hand.
“Of course, Starlight. Go get it started for me?”
She nodded and skipped over to the other said of the yard. Viktor leaned back in the hammock into Jayce’s arm that draped across his shoulders.
“They’re so good,” Viktor said. “And old. Why are they so old now? They are like little people.”
“Well,” Jayce started, scratching the hair on his chin, “they are. Eight years is a long time.”
“Bleugh. They should regress.”
Jayce snorted and Viktor started to get up from the hammock. Jayce gently held him back.
“No, no. No more manual labor,” Jayce told him. “The twins and I are more than capable for pulling some potatoes and carrots from the dirt.” He placed a hand on Viktor’s round stomach. “You sit here and grow round two.”
Viktor scoffed. “I too am more than capable of pulling shit from the ground. Move, buffoon.”
Jayce laughed while helping Viktor out of the hammock.
“Táta! Papa!” the kids called to them. The shuffled over to see Swann clutching a fat cat in his arms with Estelle pointing at it jumping for joy yelling “can we keep it!?”
Viktor sighed. “I thought I patched that hole in the fence. How did they catch a cat?”
“I dunno. Those are your kids.”
“Excuse me?”
“They’re yours when they’re doing something that I don’t wanna deal with,” Jayce turned to look at Viktor but he was gone. He turned further to see him dropping back into the hammock.
“Ask your Papa, dvojčata. Táta has to sit here and grow your sibling,” he shot a look at Jayce. “It better be just one sibling.”