Chapter Text
Caramel sat on the edge of the bed, propped just enough to see herself in the full-length mirror across the room. The fairy lights were still glowing softly from the headboard, but sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains now, glinting off the soft curve of her fur.
Well… the not-so-soft, definitely-not-a-curve more-like-a-sphere of her fur.
Her belly loomed in the mirror like its own planet, round and vast and twitching visibly every few seconds. The babies were at it again. She could see the surface of her belly ripple, shift, thud, and then lurch like someone had dropped a pebble into a pudding mold.
“Oh my stars,” she whispered.
The top of her belly sat larger than her chest now— honestly? Larger than her head when she leaned back. She placed both paws under it as if that would somehow redistribute the weight. It didn’t.
“You guys aren’t even born yet,” she muttered to the quintuplets. “And you’ve already turned me into a living beanbag with ears.”
She leaned back, trying to adjust the maternity shirt Tony had cut for comfort— his old “Grrrreatest Dad” tee that had been split down the sides like a tent. It barely covered her middle. Her belly poked out from under it with a defiant bounce.
Then something shifted inside. Hard. Baby C, maybe. Or Felix— the little kicker. Her whole belly jumped.
“Hey— HEY— what are you doing?!” she exclaimed, staring in horror as her stomach visibly tilted to the left like a waterbed on a slope. “That was my spleen, I think!”
Another lump pressed outward. She didn’t know if it was a heel or a head, but it made her belly look completely misshapen for a moment— like a loaf of bread someone sat on. Her eyes widened.
“I swear, this thing has a mind of its own! I’m not a bunny anymore— I’m a bouncy castle with teeth!”
The door creaked open behind her.
“I heard the yelling,” Tony said carefully, holding a tray with smoothies and a banana. “You okay in here, or has the belly declared independence?”
She slowly turned to him, eyes wide and wild, her paws cradling the still-shifting mountain of her abdomen.
“It’s bigger than my HEAD, Tony. Look at it! I’m starting to waddle while lying down. This isn’t a bump anymore— this is a takeover!”
Tony set the tray down and crossed to her, crouching in front of her so they were eye to eye… well, eye to navel.
He blinked. “...Okay. Yeah. That’s a lot of bunny.”
“I’ve become a habitat.”
“More like a luxury suite,” he said, running his paw gently over her belly. “Five-star womb service.”
“Stop it,” she giggled, half-whining. “Don’t make me laugh, I’ll pee.”
He chuckled and leaned in to rest his forehead softly against the curve of her belly. “You’re amazing. You feel like it’s taken on a life of its own, but that’s because it has. Five of them. All growing in there because you are doing something impossible and beautiful.”
Her ears drooped, touched. “I just don’t recognize myself. I used to be… soft. Sleek. A little flirty. Now I’m a beach ball with mood swings.”
Tony looked up at her. “You are still everything you were. Just… plus five. And when you’re ready? I’ll help you remember every bit of you. The you that winked at me over a caramel swirl and made me forget how to speak.”
She smiled, teary now. “That was a good swirl.”
“Best one of my life.”
Another hard thump from inside made them both pause. Tony placed a paw on the spot and whispered, “Alright, crew, Mama’s a goddess, not a trampoline. Settle down in there or no banana smoothies.”
Caramel burst out laughing again and leaned into his arms as he wrapped them around her and the whole shifting bundle of belly between them.
“Okay,” she said, muffled against his chest. “But if my belly gets any bigger, we’re going to need a forklift to get me to the hospital.”
Tony grinned. “Then I’ll rent one. With a bunny-shaped seat.”