Chapter Text
YAY-OK had no idea what to do with himself.
Within a span of two months, he had dealt with what started as a sharp pang in his stomach, alongside nearly passing out on the couch because of a random wave of fatigue. The last time he'd been able to keep his lunch down (whatever sensible thing he was able to eat) felt like an eternity ago. He resorted to excuses, telling the monkeys that he was just sick and the possibility of another being growing inside him was below zero percent, practically impossible. Eventually, halfway through the passage of time, he's been forced to come clean to Wally given he's been seeing all the little things he's been buying. And he was left begging him not to tell anyone which, surprisingly, he agreed to do. Inevitably, Dr. Chimpsky found out too, and YAY had to convince him that this was nobody else's business.
All because of one party…
Now he was rolling down the quiet, vacant halls of the ship with a house robe draped over him just barely covering his somewhat swollen stomach. Trying his hardest to contain the nausea lingering below the back of his throat, wrestling with the idea of telling Gus about his pregnancy.
"Gus? May I speak to you later?"
He remembers those words distinctly in his head; the exact amount of anxiety layered behind it, the sudden stillness of the kitchen area. He recalls Wally turning with a knowing look on his face, he can practically hear Gus' relaxed but oblivious demeanor ring in his ears.
"Yeah, sure."
It didn't help that he had to go through the same stressful confession process as the ones through these past weeks, where he nearly threw up each time trying to get the words out of his mouth.
It also didn't help that Gus didn't yet know that he was the soon-to-be father of his child.
YAY-OK rolled up to the bedroom door, nervously watching as it slid upwards. By now, Gus would've already saw his shadow in the doorway and was expecting him to enter completely. So the robot slowly turned the corner and inhaled sharply as he stopped in front of his bed.
It was empty.
He spotted Wally sitting at the far end of his bed, staring back at him from the dark corner; the primate reaches for the lamp, turning it on to reveal a dim, warm orange, which slightly illuminated his face.
"Where's Gus?"
"I dunno," he said, leaning back on the pillow beneath him, fidgeting with the comic in his hands. "He's probably somewhere, couldn't have gone too far." He flips through a page.
"Right…" YAY-OK sighed, and began to retreat out the door.
"Oh, yeah," Wally interjects; YAY-OK comes back in. "He was headed to your room, I think. Said it was bigger."
"…I see."
YAY-OK gets ready to leave again, silently hoping that he hadn't disarranged things while he was looking for him.
"Brobot?"
The robot stops, turning back to Wally.
"Good luck," he said, giving a soft smile.
YAY-OK smiled back. "Thank you, Wally."
A creaking comes from across the remainder of the hall, sending a jolting YAY-OK running towards the commotion. "Gus!"
By some miracle, he hadn't vomited yet from the heightened motion and the rising feeling that the monkey did in fact ruin a few of his belongings. He skrrts to a stop at his door and rushes forward, briefly calling out before he can even register the surroundings: "Gus, what—"
The sight of the dark room stills him. He was left mesmerized at the light blue spots of light crawling across his ceiling, his walls too. Everything else seemed to be where it was supposed to be, fortunately. YAY-OK looked down and found Gus sitting at the front edge of the bed, a revolving ball of light right beside him. The latter notices him as well.
"Figured your room needed a little more to it."
"Thank you," YAY-OK muttered. "Though I will have you know that my room is perfectly fine the way it is."
"Yeah, but… wouldn't hurt to have some other source of light in here other than your light switch."
The robot ushered himself into the room, taking a seat beside Gus, where the light ball sank into the sheets between them. The two stare at each other.
"You wanted to talk to me?"
"Yes—I..." YAY-OK swiftly turns away, fidgeting while trying to conjure a way to properly word this without setting the monkey off. "You see, I… we…" He was trailing off after every few words, switching between looking at the floor and looking at him. Why was this so hard to do?
He feels a warm sensation engulf the otherwise cold figment of metal that was his claw, being pulled back from his chest and toward the part of the bed beside him. He looks back to find Gus holding his hand in his.
"Look," he said, "you don't have to say anything right now." He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "After all, I'm–I'm exhausted, I'm not really in the capacity for talking—"
"Gus." YAY-OK was able to speak with a firmer tone this time. Maybe he finally found that courage to actually speak. "I'm certain that this is something you need to hear.
"Okay, then tell me."
Nevermind. Whatever courage he was thinking about earlier had vanished in an instant, and all he can do is stare Gus right in the eyes 'till he feels like he'll break into tears. Either that or another wave of sickness. Meanwhile, Gus is trying to stare at him with moderately heavy eyes.
"Tell me." His grip around YAY's hand grows tighter. "I promise you. I'm not gonna get mad. I'm not gonna go monkey-crazy or whatever; I don't have the energy for that. Just tell me."
YAY-OK closes his eyes once again and takes a deep breath through his nose, a half-hearted attempt at trying to ease his nerves. He knew he'd regret these words later, but it was useless dwelling when they were already out.
"I'm pregnant." He watched as the lethargy faded from Gus' body in an instant. Felt as his grip on his hand lightened. YAY-OK winced, but kept going. "…And by thorough investigation, you're the other father."
Whatever kind of shock Gus was experiencing seconds before that last part became more of an exaggeration: his eyes were widened to the point where they might just pop out, jaw dropped and tensed to the point where it might just break. The robot returned it with a similar look, only he had a bigger grimace.
"Gus…" YAY-OK sighed. "I wanted to–"
"No," Gus breathed, immediately getting up and pacing around the room. "No, no, no, no…"
"Listen–"
"This isn't real. This has to be some sort of stunt, a joke, right? Right?"
"Gus."
The monkey stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at YAY-OK.
"If you don't believe me, check the drawer."
Before he knew it, Gus' hands were scrambling through the desk beside his bed, and froze the second he found it. He held the pregnancy test up in his hands, reading the two lines on the small screen. "Oh my god." He facepalms. "Ohhh, my godd…"
YAY-OK watched as the monkey plopped back down on the bed beside him, where the light ball sat between them. As much as he didn't want to heighten the levels of disbelief radiating off from him, the robot would have to come clean about the whole thing.
"How long have you…"
"About eight weeks," he started, "which if you do the quick conversion… two months."
"Two Mon–" The brunette huffed as he ran his fingers through his hair. At this point Gus looked like he was going to faint. "What, did you tell Wally? Does Chimpsky know?"
"Yes, yes, both Wally and Dr. Chimpsky know—"
Before he could finish that sentence, YAY-OK found himself upchucking his guts out, and the sight of his own oil and bolts shooting out of his mouth was an unfathomable blur for a few seconds; something that he should've seen coming. Somewhere in between he could hear an "OH GOD–" from a recoiling Gus.
The sudden wave of nausea left him hunched over, letting out long, scratchy breaths. "Eurggh…" YAY-OK groaned, wiping away any oil left on his mouth. He really should've seen that coming.
"I'm—" Gus was standing at the far corner of the bed now, cowering away and gagging at the heap of robo-vomit that just emerged. "I'm gonna go get a mop," he managed while scurrying out the door.
YAY-OK fell back onto the rest of the sheets, slapping both hands over his mouth to block out the smell. It was without a doubt that both of them were repulsed by the newly-brought stench that came from the floor. The heavy feeling of the aftertaste didn't help either.
It was a solid minute and a half before Gus came back in again, pushing in a mop bucket with a few newspapers tucked into his armpit. He got to work as soon as he entered, dipping the mop in the compartment full of water and slamming it down on the puke pile, hurriedly wiping away the multitudes of oil from existence. Afterwards, he takes the papers out and lays them out over the stained mat, looking up at YAY-OK once his hands are completely empty.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," YAY-OK mumbled from the far side of his bed. Watching him do all that work while he just… lies there. Keeping a secret from him that he should've been the first person to know. God, what was wrong with him?
"It's fine, YAY, it's just…" Gus sighed, eyes wandering around the blue spotted room for a moment. "God, what were we even doing back then?"
YAY-OK peeked up at him for a moment in surprise, and immediately knew by his face that the question was sincere. Turns out he remembered a lot more than him; he remembers every little fragment from the moment they were alone, to the moment conception presumably happened.
"We were at a party, some celebration," he began, pushing himself off his back and sitting up straight. "You were pulling me through the crowd and through the hall, back to the ship."
He could recall the image of them in somewhat exhilarating silence, the small blush on Gus' face as he led him out the back of the building, focused on the ship, glowing with the indoor lights still on.
"Before I knew it, we were in my room, and you took me by both hands."
"I was…"
"You confessed to me."
It's like he can see those green eyes under the light from his window again. Sincere, honest eyes looking into his as he mindlessly spilled his heart out. He remembers their lips touching.
"I… I did."
YAY-OK's mind skims through the rest of that moment as he faces the floor. "I don't think either of us were thinking straight when we did what we did."
He felt a palm press against the side of his stomach. Looking up at the origin, he about flinched when he saw Gus gazing down, and he realized his hand was directly over the bump he's tried so desperately to hide all this while. YAY-OK blushes, peeking back up at Gus through the corner of his eye.
"This is… real, isn't it?"
"Yes," he said, placing his hand over Gus'. "This is real."
There was a silence that followed after. One that sort of certified that whatever came out of YAY-OK in the next seven months, no matter how leaky or stinky it was, they were going to raise it.
"Gus?"
The monkey turned to look at him. "Yeah?"
"Would you like to sleep here for the night?"
Gus thought for a moment, almost hesitant to decide. Then, he relaxed and answered, "…Sure."
YAY-OK rose from the edge of the bed and made his way around the closest side of it. On the other hand, Gus crawled right onto it, tucking himself into the velvet covers.
"You gonna keep that robe on?"
"…I suppose."
The former slithered in after him, pulling the blanket up to his waist before rolling on his side, facing Gus. And the latter facing him.
"Guess we're gonna have to do some shopping tomorrow." The monkey mumbles.
"Affirmative," The robot concurs.
"Hey, I'll take the helm and get all the stuff we need. Just… relax for a while. You probably need to."
YAY-OK smiled, scooting over and smooching Gus on the forehead. The simian returned the favour by kissing the side of his dimming monitor.
"Goodnight," YAY-OK whispered.
"Night," Gus repeated, closing his eyes.
And YAY-OK, being the only awake one in the dark, blue spotted room, closed his. Slowly drifting off to sleep.
He was unsure if he would survive these next seven months.