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Unlike Ilya, Shane has never been much of a fan of summer and this one right now isn't about to change that, especially with the heatwave going on at the moment. And because he is currently eight months and a half pregnant with twins and was already complaining about the weather being too hot back in January when he was only in his first trimester.
Thankfully, the cottage has one of the most expensive and effective air conditioner on the market but that doesn't seem to be enough to cool down his husband who walks around the cottage wearing nothing but boxer briefs he has overgrown a few weeks ago but which he refuses to stop wearing since that would be admitting he has gotten bigger. Again.
Nowadays, they hang low on his hips underneath his baby bump while it clutches tightly at his thighs and ass.
At first, Ilya was worried because what if his husband was right and he really felt as hot as he said? It couldn't have been good for either him or the babies! But Yuna quickly reassured him she was the same while pregnant with Shane, that it was just the Hollander genes acting up.
There was no need to worry though; his husband and their babies were safe and healthy.
So now that he has been reassured, Ilya looks fondly at Shane as he drags himself around the cottage, fanning himself with everything that lies around whether it's a magazine or one of his hockey books.
"You're never getting me pregnant again!" Shane tells him several times per hour, pointing an accusatory finger at him as if Ilya was the sole responsible for the excruciating predicament he was in.
As if they hadn't been talking about kids since Shane told him he was a carrier the first time they had sex over a decade ago, as if they hadn't chosen their house in Ottawa for its many spare rooms which they could turn into nurseries someday. As if Shane hadn't burst into tears the first time they tried for a baby and the pregnancy test turned out to be negative, not that it took them that long for it to work anyway; a month later, Ilya had woken up to his husband excitedly shoving a positive test into his face, looking the happiest he had ever seen him.
So as much as Shane reminds him this is the first and only time he'll ever be pregnant, Ilya knows it's an empty threat caused by the fatigue and the heat. His husband enjoyed his pregnancy way too much until the heatwave began for it to be his only one.
He doesn't say so out loud though because the closer they get to his due date, the more Shane's emotions are all over the place and he doesn't need much to get pissed off or start crying. Just a few days ago, he bursted into tears when Ilya made the mistake of sighing while they were watching a movie together and he took it as a sign Ilya was getting bored of him and would eventually leave him.
But no matter how much of a handful Shabe can be while he's pregnant, Ilya has absolutely loved these past few months and he can't wait to do it all over again eventually, when his husband will swallow his pride and admit he wants to have another baby.
Until then, Ilya is planning to fully enjoy what's left of Shane's pregnancy. It's as if seeing his husband pregnant with his babies had woken up the most primitive, the most animalistic part of his brain. He's the one who did this to Shane, he's the one who got him pregnant. It's his babies who are growing inside him.
And if he thought his husband was hot before, it pales to how gorgeous Shane looks nowadays. He's glowing with his beautiful round baby bump, his thighs thicker than ever before and his ass rounder as well. His skin and his hair are softer while his lips are always cherry red as if they had been kissing for hours. He's irresistible.
Even when he waddles around the cottage like a penguin, mumbling about feeling like a camel as he's carrying two of Ilya's giant offspring. Especially then.
"I swear, Rozanov," he says, furrowing his brows as he looks at Ilya, "you're either getting a vasectomy or you're never touching me without a condom again!"
"Yes, sweetheart," Ilya agrees as it's not worth arguing with his husband at the moment.
Shane huffs and resumes his routine of walking around, criticizing the weather, fanning himself while accusing Ilya of having done this to him and then drinking lots of water only to complain later about having to go use the bathroom again.
As soon as his husband is out of ear shot, Ilya chuckles to himself, feeling a smile stretching onto his lips. As much as a "diva" Shane is at the moment, Ilya wouldn't change a thing. He sighs happily and looks back up at the tv.
However, it doesn't seem like he will get to pay much attention to the movie because as soon as Shane walks out of the bathroom, he makes a beeline for the couch which he flops down on top of before throwing his feet over Ilya's lap.
"You put these babies into me," he reminds him as if Ilya could have forgotten, "so you owe me some massages!"
Ilya's smile widens as he nods and tosses aside the remote before grabbing his husband's swollen feet and massaging them.
Shane doesn't even try to be subtle and moans out loud, throwing his head back against the armrest and closing his eyes.
"Right there," he whimpers when Ilya gets to his heels and presses against them to relieve some pressure.
Ilya neither knows nor cares how long he spends like this, massaging his husband's feet. He must be doing it right though because Shane slowly sags against the couch, all the tension leaving his body and Ilya is pretty sure he could get him to fall asleep like this but in his condition, the couch isn't the best place to sleep on.
"Come on," he gently nudges him. "Let's go to bed, okay? I'll do your back if you want."
Whatever he was about to say dies on Shane's lips at the prospect of also getting a back massage and he nods as he gets back up as quickly as his bump allows him to. Together, they make their way over to their bedroom and Shahe climbs into bed first. It takes him a few minutes to get into a comfortable position, lying on his side in the middle of the bed with a pillow underneath his bump to support it as well as another in between his knees. Then, Ilya strips down to his own underwear and gets in after him, lying down behind his husband and running his hands all over his back, gently massaging his sore back.
That's another part of the pregnancy he loves. Before, Shane rarely asked to be taken care of but nowadays he does, daily, and Ilya lives for those moments.
Eventually, Shane's breath evens out and Ilya can tell his husband has fallen asleep. He sits up and just like he thought, his eyes are closed, he's got a peaceful expression on his face and he's one hand on the underside of his bump, protectively cradling it. The sight brings a smile to Ilya's lips as he lies back behind him. He throws an arm over his husband's side to lay a hand over Shane's bump, gently rubbing it and closes his own eyes, letting himself drift into sleep.
●○●○●
He doesn't get to sleep for long though as he's soon woken up by Shane twisting and turning around beside him. He hears his husband groaning so he peaks one eye open and watches as Shane rolls over so he's now lying on his back.
"Ilya?" he calls out, turning his head around to look at him.
"What's wrong, sweethearf?" he asks, already guessing what his husband’s answer will be.
"Your kids won't let me sleep," he explains, huffing. "Do something!"
Chuckling, Ilya nods and pulls himself up, climbing over one of Shane's legs to sit down in between his husband's thighs. Then, he lays both of his hands over his bump and smiles. He can feel how active the twins are as they roll around and kick his palms.
"Calm down in there, you monsters," he warns them in a gentle tone, leaning forward to press a kiss to the distended, tight skin of Shane's' belly. "What's wrong? You can't fall asleep so you decided Dad won't sleep either? That's not very nice."
And as they always do whenever he talks to them, as if recognizing his voice, they calm down a little but they remain more active than usual so he keeps talking.
"I know it must be getting tight in there," he continues, resting his head onto Shane's thigh, using it as a pillow as he runs his fingertips across the bump. "Just a few more days left and then you come out. But once you are out here, you'll miss how warm it was inside Dad. If I could, I wouldn't pull out either and-"
"Ilya!" Shane scoffs in annoyance but Ilya can hear the fondness in his voice as he says his name, he can feel it in the way he looks at him.
"What I'm trying to say," Ilya concludes, his smile widening, "is that it's almost over. Just two more weeks and you'll be out. I can't wait to hold you both in my arms. I can't wait to meet you and see if you're boys or girls.
It had been hard to resist but ultimately, both of them had decided to not know the gender of the twins so they would have a surprise the day they would be born. All they knew was that they were fraternal, not identical, so they really had no idea as to whether it was two girls, two boys or one of each.
They had prepared a gender neutral nursery with a space theme; galaxies, stars and planets painted on the wall, and they also had picked four names in total to prepare for whatever eventuality.
In the meantime, they were their little wildcats, their little monsters, their peanuts, Ilya's loves and Shane's angels although he had changed it recently to his devils when the heatwave had kicked in.
"I love you so much," he added, kissing Shane's bump again. "I used to think I would never get to have this but then I met your Dad and he was everything I ever wanted. And now that we're about to have you two, I love him even more!”
Ilya hears the sob Shane tries to muffle above him by slapping a hand over his mouth and he keeps his eyes on the bump, pretending he didn't hear anything so he doesn't feel embarrassed.
"You three are the greatest gifts life ever gave me," he whispers, peppering some more kisses on his husband's distended belly.
He's just about to say more stuff when he suddenly sees a stain spreading on the front of Shane's underwear as some liquid starts dripping down his thighs and his boyfriend lets out a whimper, his whole body tensing up.
Fuck!
"Shane?" he worries in a trembling voice, looking back up to him. "Now?"
"Now," his husband replies, his voice cracking as well while he smiles nervously. "Looks like they didn't like being given a two weeks eviction notice."
Ilya chuckles nervously and sits back up on his haunches as his mind starts racing a hundred miles an hour.
They've got to clean first- no! They surely aren't the first expecting parents to go to the hospital right after the waters broke without taking the time to clean up.
Shane's hospital bag? Right! It's already in the car where they put it a few days ago when they've packed it.
Clothes! They do need to at least put something on!
So Ilya hurriedly puts on a pair of grey sweatpants as well as a black t-shirt from his days with the Raiders before helping Shane get dressed. Right as he finishes putting on some black sweatpants and a white t-shirt, Shane feels the first contraction. His breath hitches in his throat and he grabs Ilya's hand, squeezing it like a vice as he hisses through his teeth, waiting for him to be over.
"Are you okay, lyubov moya?" he worries as soon as his husband relaxes, letting out a sigh of relief.
But rather than to reply, Shane stares right at him with an almost murderous rage in his eyes.
"I want an epidural!" he says instead. "I'm not going through over twelve hours of this while still feeling everything to deliver two mini giants!"
"Okay, okay," Ilya gives in, raising his hands up in surrender. "You'll have your epidural but we have to go now."
Except Shane doesn't get to have an epidural.
On the way to the hospital, he has several contractions, each longer and more painful than the one before and it feels like labor is progressing far more quickly than they had been told it would, especially since it's Shane's first.
Then, they have nearly reached the hospital when he screams and slaps a hand over the dashboard of the car, saying he feels like he has to push.
"Not now, sweetheart!" Ilya replies in pure terror. "We're almost there! Just hold on, okay?"
He's heard stories of expecting parents not having the time to reach the hospital and having to deliver the baby in the backseat but he had never imagined nor wanted for this to ever be him and Shane.
Thankfully, they get to the hospital a few minutes later and he nearly leaps off his seat to help Shane. As soon as the security guard at the entrance spots them, his husband is pushed into a wheelchair and a nurse practically pops out of nowhere to roll him to the delivery ward.
It's a few minutes later, when Shane is lying down on a bed and the face of the doctor who is examining him falls that Ilya understands something is wrong.
"You're going straight to the delivery room!" the woman says and immediately, the nurses, like bees at work listening to their queen's orders, start rolling the bed out of the room.
"Wait!" Shane yells out in pain as another contraction hits. "I want an epidural!"
"I'm sorry, Shane," the doctor apologizes, shaking her head, "but there's no time! You're experiencing precipitous labor and you're already fully dilated. Your babies are coming now!"
The delivery part is exactly what Ilya had imagined it to be. Shane screams through it all, nearly crushing his hand into his while Ilya as well as the doctor encourage him to push. But thankfully, it's over very quickly.
After just a few minutes, a second scream echoes against the delivery room's walls along with Shane's who lets out a relieved sob while the doctor proudly hands them their baby.
"It's a girl!"
Lily already has so much thick, curly dark hair on top of her head as well as a solid set of lungs. Her pinkish skin is all wrinkled and she's still covered in a mix of blood and other stuff Ilya can't identify.
But she's also the most beautiful thing Ilya has ever seen in his entire life and he's pretty sure he's falling in love all over again because underneath all that gross stuff? Her face is splattered with freckles.
"Hello you!" Shans greets their daughter while he cradles her to his chest. "Oh my God! Lily! You're perfect!"
There's tears of happiness running down his husband's cheeks while Ilya doesn't think it will ever be physically possible for himself to stop smiling from now on.
However, before he gets to hold her, another contraction hits Shane, reminding them it's not over yet.
Nikolas comes into the world three minutes after his twin sister.
He seems to have even more hair than Lily which definitely explains the heartburn Shane suffered from for the past few months. It isn't curly though. His skin tone is more similar to Shane's as well and just like his sister, his face is covered with tiny freckles.
And Ilya knows he has never seen something as beautiful as those two little lives they have created together out of their love for each other.
After Shane delivers the placenta, that the twins have been weighted, measured, cleaned up and checked on by the doctor who tells them they are as healthy as they could possibly be, the nurses bring them to a private room so Shane and Ilya can get to know their little ones in private. Which is a good thing considering Ilya feels like he could look at them for the rest of his life and he still wouldn't get enough of them.
A few hours later, he's sitting on the bed, cradling Lily against his chest while Shane is holding Niko when thunder startles them both.
"Of course it starts raining after I've given birth," Shane snorts, shaking his head but still smiling widely.
It hasn't rained in days after all, not since the heatwave started.
"Next time," he says, looking at Ilya, "try to get me pregnant so I'll be due during winter, alright?"
Ilya's heart swells up in his chest and his smile widens as his husband's words sink in.
"Next time you say?" he repeats after him, wanting to make sure he heard him right.
"Shut up!" Shane replies with a smirk, grabbing the collar of his shirt in one hand to pull him into a kiss, careful of the twins in between them.
●○●○●
There is indeed a next time. A year and a half later, Jane is born during what is probably the worst snowstorm Ottawa has ever seen. But at least, this time, Shane isn't complaining about the heat…