Chapter Text
Vincent heard Alastor beside him, letting out a pained grunt. He rolled over on the bed, Alastor was facing away from him, he wasn’t sure but maybe Alastor was curled up. He also wasn’t sure if Alastor was awake or just making noise in his sleep but making noise in his sleep was something that his fiance rarely did.
“Al? Are you okay?”
The tan man let out a small breath. “Just… cramps,” he replied.
“Didn’t you have your period last week?”
“It seemed like it, I guess these are just random cramps.”
“Okay… but you know that curling up makes it worse, babe.”
“I know…”
Vincent sat up and leaned over Alastor, bringing a hand to his fiance’s head, fingers running through the curls.
“Did you want me to make you something to eat now? Or did you want me to lie on top of you for a little bit?”
“Can I have some cereal?”
“Just cereal? Did you want some yoghurt and berries in it too?”
“That would be nice.”
He leaned down to give Alastor a gentle kiss on the side of his head.
“Okay, I’ll get you your cereal.”
“Thanks, darling.”
Vincent got out of the bed, walking out of their bedroom, through the living room and into the kitchen. He got the yoghurt, blueberries and raspberries out of the fridge, placing them on the counter before getting the Cheerios out of the cupboard. He put everything in a bowl, and took a spoon out of the drawer, and then took the bowl to their bedroom.
He really disliked eating food in the bed but he made exceptions when Alastor was on his period, or now when he was cramping. It wasn’t him eating in the bed anyway.
When Vincent returned to the bedroom, Alastor heard him stepping inside and sat up in the bed. He handed the bowl to Alastor.
“Merci, cher.”
“No problem.”
Vincent stood still for a few moments, watching Alastor eat the cereal for a few moments before speaking again.
“Are you alright?”
Alastor looked up from his bowl. “Just feeling tired and queasy,” he replied.
“You were feeling queasy two weeks ago.”
“I was.”
Vincent fiddled with his fingers. “Didn’t you say your sense of smell was getting stronger too?” he asked.
“Something like that.”
He bit his lip, suspecting that this might be a sign.
Alastor noticed his change of expression. “What’s that face for?”
“Just… thinking that maybe you should… call your mom and ask about your symptoms?” Vincent suggested. “Because you’ve been having strange symptoms for almost three weeks now.”
“Are you worried I’m ill?”
“No, I’m just saying.”
Alastor looked back down at his bowl. “If you’re worried, I’ll call her and ask,” he said.
“Thank you.”
Vincent didn’t want to bring up the possibility himself, at least not right now, and he didn’t want to get his hopes up right now. He knew that these were the symptoms of pregnancy, he had obviously been the one doing the research because… even though Alastor had accepted that he’d be carrying their offspring, pregnancy as a concept made him uncomfortable. So Vincent was handling everything, until they had a confirmed pregnancy.
He’d just nudge Alastor in the right direction, and get him to talk to his mother, who was a nurse. She’d be able to tell him gently, and she’d be free today as far as Vincent was aware.
It was Saturday and usually Beatrice didn’t work weekends often. Vincent did though, and he should probably eat something and get ready.
. . .
Alastor was sitting at his desk, on his laptop, he wasn’t working, he was working on a script for… a project. He did work on weekends sometimes, due to his flexible schedule, but he also wanted to work on his little project.
But he was also still incredibly tired, despite sleeping a normal amount the previous night. He was still cramping, he was still nauseous, and he had gotten up to pee several times in the last few hours.
Maybe Vincent was right and he should call his mother. Alastor didn’t trust Googling his symptoms, that usually just made him more anxious.
He picked up his phone, opening up his contacts and selecting his mother’s number, putting the phone on speaker before putting it back on his desk.
The phone toned out for a few moments before being picked up.
“Hello, baby.”
Alastor rested his head on his hand, elbow on the desk. “Hello, Maman,” he said.
“Did you want to talk about something?”
“I guess, I’ve been experiencing strange symptoms and Vincent suggested I ask you.”
“What’s wrong, baby?”
“It started about two and a half weeks ago, I guess? I was spotting and feeling queasy and my sense of smell seems stronger, and now I’ve been cramping badly, feeling tired, and more queasy and I’ve been going to the toilet a lot more.”
He heard his mother hum.
“Did you bleed in the week after spotting?” she asked.
“Yea, I bled last week but that was just my period,” Alastor replied. “I don’t know what else it would be if it wasn’t.”
“Was it like your usual periods though?”
“I guess not.”
“Mm. I thought so.”
That got Alastor’s attention. “So you know what it is?”
“I have an idea of what it could be,” his mother paused. “I’ll, uh, I’ll be over in a moment.”
“Oh, Maman, that’s not necessary, just tell me and I can look into getting a check up myself.”
“Is Vincent home?”
“No, he’s at work, he’ll be home in a few hours.”
His mother was silent for a few more moments.
“I’m coming over. I won’t be long.”
She then hung up, leaving Alastor questioning what was going on, for her to be unable to just tell him what was wrong. It made him worried that there was something really wrong with him.
Fortunately, Alastor didn’t need to wait too long before his mother was at his front door, about a half-hour tops. He heard a knock at the door, walked there, and there she was. The sepia-skinned woman gave him a hug, standing on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek, before walking inside. Alastor closed the door and locked it, turning his head to follow his mother with his eyes. She placed her handbag on the kitchen counter and shuffled around in it for a few moments before pulling out a small box.
“You need this,” his mother said, turning around to hand it to him.
Alastor held the small box in his hands, looking down at it. His eyes widened when he read what it was.
Pregnancy Test
He looked back up from the box to his mother. “Really?” he asked.
His mother nodded. “You seem surprised, you and Vincent mentioned that you had begun trying almost a year ago,” she said. “Did you change your mind?”
Alastor shook his head. He hadn’t changed his mind, and it wasn’t like they were actively “trying” for a baby, they just weren’t taking steps to prevent pregnancy. If it happened, it happened had been their train of thought.
Just… seeing that it was now possible that he may be pregnant right now…
“Look, home pregnancy tests aren’t always accurate,” his mother said. “No matter the result, you should book a prenatal visit for a urine or blood sample to confirm anything. In two weeks.”
Alastor breathed in deeply through his nose. “Okay…” he looked back down at the small box, biting his lip.
His mother hummed sympathetically. “Did you want to do the test now? Or after I leave?” she asked. “Or did you want to wait until Vincent comes home?”
“Uh… I think I’ll take it later,” Alastor replied.
“Mhm. I’m sure you’ll want to be talking to Vincent about this as soon as he comes home but you can obviously talk to me.”
“I know, and I will, I just… I think I need to think about this.”
“I understand if you don’t want to talk about this now but… you can call me later?” his mother suggested. “After you talk to Vincent?”
“I probably will.”
. . .
Alastor heard the front door unlocking, opening and closing, and locking again.
“Al?” he heard Vincent’s voice call out into their apartment. “Are you in your office?”
He wasn’t, he was in their bathroom, sitting on the toilet. Still processing the pregnancy test that he held in his hands.
Two lines.
He was pregnant.
“Uh- No, I’m in the bathroom!” Alastor called out in response. “I’ll be out in a minute!”
“Okay, I’m just putting the groceries away.”
Alastor still stared down at the pregnancy test, even if there was the small possibility of them being inaccurate, he knew that in this instance it was probably correct.
He was pregnant.
Even if he wasn’t, he’d need to go see a doctor to be sure.
That was fine, it was okay. He had Vincent. His fiance had promised to be incredibly attentive once they had gotten pregnant, and Alastor believed him, because he had no reason to doubt him.
Alastor stood up, pulling up his pants. He clutched the test in his hand as he walked out of the bathroom, out of their bathroom and into the living room, he saw Vincent in the kitchen, taking groceries out of bags that were on the counter and putting them away.
“Vincent.”
The pale man stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at him.
“Yes?”
Alastor held his arms behind his back, so Vincent couldn’t see the test, but it was something he did sometimes anyway. “Maman came over,” he replied as he walked through the living room to go around the counter, into the kitchen.
Vincent’s narrow eyes followed him as he entered the kitchen. “Mhm? What did she say?”
“She, uh, gave me something…”
“Yea?”
Alastor took Vincent’s hand, placing the test in his fiance’s open palm.
“You did it.”
Vincent looked down at the test in his hand, his eyes almost bugging out of his head, which surprised Alastor a bit. His partner must’ve suspected that pregnancy was a possibility –as he’d been doing most of the pregnancy research– which would’ve been why he suggested Alastor talk to his mother.
“You- We- Uh-” it seemed the words were stuck in Vincent’s throat. “You’re pregnant?”
“Most likely,” Alastor replied. “I’ll need to see a doctor to get confirmation.”
Vincent swallowed. “How are you feeling right now? What do you need?” he asked.
“In what way?”
“Do you need comfort? Excitement? Are you happy? Or anxious?”
“I think I’m… nervous,” he admitted. “I wanted this, I know I did, and now that there’s a strong possibility that it’s happened, I’m suddenly…”
“Nervous?”
Alastor nodded.
Vincent hummed, tilting his head slightly, lifting his arms, inviting Alastor in for an embrace. He took it, stepping forward and into Vincent’s arms.
“It’s okay to be nervous,” his fiance told him, resting his chin on top of his head. “I-If you don’t want this anymore… we can… go out of state, I’d make it happen, Grandpa would give us money-”
“No, I want to keep it, if I am pregnant.”
“Okay…” Vincent paused to chuckle. “I should probably finish painting the nursery then.”
“It’s still a while away, I’m obviously still in the first trimester.”
“Good point but there’s still a lot to do…”
“Mm but we have each other, and we can always ask for help.”
“Yea…”
Alastor was not expecting Vincent to lift him up at that moment, putting him on the counter, arms on either side of him as he pressed kisses onto Alastor’s face and neck.
“Vince-!”
His fiance pressed their lips together, grabbing his waist, making sure there was no space between them, besides their clothing.
“Mine~” Vincent’s hands moved between Alastor’s waist and hips. “Am I allowed to…?”
“Dear, I’m most likely already pregnant, do you want to try to put another one in there?”
“No, no, I was asking if I could touch your stomach? Give it a kiss? Or is that something that’s not allowed? Like how we had our no-chest-touch rule until you had top surgery?”
Alastor thought about it for a moment. “There’s no bump there,” he replied, “I don’t even think it’s classified as an embryo yet, just a bunch of cells clumped together. Maman said something about it being the size of an apple seed. So there’s nothing to feel.”
“I-I know… but I’d still want to, if I’m allowed.”
“I’d say you’re allowed, that might change once we’re further along, but I’ll let you know if I change my mind.”
Vincent nodded, head moving down Alastor’s torso, to his stomach. His fiance put his face in his stomach, it hurt slightly because of Vincent’s glasses, but it was fine. The pale man was just being affectionate, like he always was.
His partner had so much love to give, his partner was excited.
He was excited too.
And nervous. About numerous things.
Vincent was excited and he knew that Alastor was too, despite also being nervous. He was nervous too –about… well, a lot of things– but he could keep his nerves down for now at least. Alastor needed the comfort and to feed off of Vincent’s own excitement to help him feel at ease.
He could provide that now, they’d be able to talk in more detail about the things they were both nervous about.
They’d get through this together, like they always did.
Vincent would be there, for everything, he wouldn’t miss anything. He had to be there, he had to be present. He had to be the best partner and father.