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Shizuo groaned as a shrill tone punctured his sleep, and clumsily reached over to pat around blindly for his phone. Without bothering to open his eyes and squint at the caller ID, he flicked it open and put it to his ear.
“Shizu-chaaan~”
He pulled the phone away from his ear and peered blearily at the small screen. Number withheld, he’d have to figure out where the flea had found his cellphone number later, but right now all he could do was grunt down the phone as he settled it back in place.
“-coconut ice-cream,” his part-time fuck buddy and full-time annoyance was saying, “Get me ice-cream.”
He snapped the phone shut again and settled down to go back to sleep.
The next day, as he left the house to meet Tom, the first thing that met him as he opened the door was a pouting informant.
“You hung up on me.”
Shizuo sighed and produced a cigarette out his pocket, bringing it to his lips and lighting it. The flea’s blade wasn’t currently in his hand, and he didn’t seem to want to fight, so Shizuo deemed it appropriate to start walking to work, assuming the louse would follow.
Not only did he follow, but he knocked the cigarette from the blonde’s lips as well.
“It’s bad for the babies!” Izaya exclaimed before Shizuo’s temple could so much as twitch in irritation.
The taller man frowned and glanced about, certain they were the only two in this particular street at the current time.
“Our babies!” Izaya chided. “Weren’t you listening to anything last night?!”
Shizuo could only blink dumbly.
The flea let out an over exaggerated sigh.
“You didn’t think you could just fuck me without protection all those times and get away with it, did you Shizu-chan?” he started. “Well the other day I realised that I’d been feeling weird, and feeling sick a lot, and of course a normal illness is out of the question, so I went to see Shinra and-”
Shizuo could see where this was going, the flea was just messing with him.
“- I’m pregnant!”
Definitely messing with him.
Giving a snort of disbelief Shizuo continued on his way, pulling out another cigarette, which was once again knocked away. This time his temple really did twitch.
“I’m really going to-” he started.
Izaya yanked up his top.
“See~?”
The expanse of pale flesh looked the same as before, smooth and milky white with slight shadows cast from his prominent ribs, which Shizuo knew matched equally skinny hip bones. Perhaps the only difference was that Izaya’s stomach looked a little less toned than before, the muscle wasn’t as obvious as it had been when Shizuo had stripped him in the past, not that he paid that much attention.
“You’ve been going to see Simon too much,” Shizuo grunted, walking away for the third time, “lay off the sushi.”
This time Izaya didn’t follow, but let him go.
“Go see Shinra if you don’t believe me! He’s managed to make some pictures of them!”
Seeing Shinra wasn’t planned. Shizuo just so happened to impale his thigh on that rail and need to have it removed and stitched up, as Tom refused to lend him glue after the mess it had made last time. He hadn’t meant to forget the glue was fresh and pick up the milk carton.
“Ah, Shizuo! You’ve come to- ah.” Shinra stopped mid sentence as he realised Shizuo was slowly bleeding on his door mat, then stepped aside to let him in.
“Come to what?” Shizuo prompted as he limped in and dropped down on the sofa, sprawling awkwardly with the metal still sticking out.
“The ultrasound, Izaya said he’d mention it,” Shinra busied himself with collecting what he needed, and tossed a sheet of paper to Shizuo as he pulled up another chair to start working on the wounded leg.
The blonde picked up the sheet and looked at it, then turned it to the side and looked at it, then turned it the other way before finally giving up and putting it aside.
“The hell is that?” he asked.
“That, is your twins!” Shinra declared happily as he snipped away at Shizuo’s trousers. “Eight weeks in and developing well, as far as anyone can tell so far.”
“Did Izaya put you up to this shit?” Shizuo asked, automatically picking up the paper again in order to scrunch it into a ball, pretending it was the flea.
“No no, it’s all true, and don’t do that! You’ll hurt their feelings!”
Shizuo groaned and tipped his head back on the sofa.
“… just sort my leg out.” He’d deal with Izaya later.
-
Later never really came, and instead Shizuo took to ignoring any mention of these so called babies Izaya and Shinra dropped, and even Celty made the occasional comment, he’d thought her above their games. If anyone pointed out that the chases between the two infamous men had become less strenuous, or Shizuo had started dragging Izaya into more hygienic places for a less violent than usual fuck, it would have been vehemently denied, and as this carried on over several weeks which turned into several months and Izaya’s stomach became bigger and rounder and definitely more obvious with his shirt pushed up, Shizuo could no longer blame the fatty tuna.
This called for a meeting, which took place at Shinra’s home as it was generally considered neutral territory, not that they’d fought much recently, and he was best for explaining.
“So,” Shizuo cleared his throat awkwardly. “The, uhm…”
“Our babies!” Izaya corrected all too cheerfully, taking delight in Shizuo’s discomfort, where as he had adjusted to the situation months ago.
“… yeah, them,” the blonde finished lamely.
Shinra smiled his reassuring, albeit somewhat creepy, smile.
“Izaya’s reassured me that you’re most definitely the father,” he started. “And right now he seems to be at about twenty weeks, so half way through, and he’ll be producing two little boys.”
Shizuo stared dumbly, something that he had the feeling he’d be doing a whole lot more of in the weeks to come.
“But isn’t this a little farfetched?”
Shinra and Izaya raised their eyebrows, Izaya glancing pointedly over at Celty, who was sat on the couch and watched the television, the smoke above her head moving slowly and lazily in a contented manner. She jumped slightly and half turned when there was a loud thunk, and started tapping out a message in concern as Shizuo wondered aloud to the tabletop why it had to be him.
-
There was absolutely no point in denying it after four more weeks of Izaya’s stomach growth, and another scan for proof, and the informant was becoming more and more secluded. Whilst odd sights like the Dullahan and flying vending machines were now accepted in Ikebukuro, he didn’t feel like adding a pregnant man to the list, and he was moving considerably slower with the ever growing belly before him. Why make a point of going out and showing how vulnerable he was right now when enough people wanted to harm him as it was?
Although he had to admit he was rather surprised when his couch lounging and idle stomach rubbing was interrupted by a knock on the door that turned out to be Shizuo. The brute grunted something about taking care and responsibility, then set about ravishing his apartment and shoving relevant things into duffel bags, pushing Izaya down firmly, yet with a surprising gentleness, whenever he tried to get up to assist with the wreckage that was occurring.
And that’s how his solitary couch lounging and idle stomach rubbing turned to companionable couch lounging, with Shizuo’s lap as a pillow, and idle stomach rubbing where his hand occasionally bumped against the larger and warmer hand that had staked its claim on the patch of skin just below his belly button.
-
Shizuo had to admit that living with Izaya was a lot easier than he’d imagined. At first he’d just dragged him there with not much thought except for a primitive sense of protecting one’s spouse and young, and the first night he’d laid awake on the couch, with Izaya in the bed of course, wondering what he’d gotten himself into. But the flea had been bearable, perhaps too tired to be up to his usual tricks, his body not exactly developed for what it was carrying, and their arguments barely occurred and only ever remained vocal. Even names settled, barely ever derogatory, and Shizuo started to become almost fond of the way, at twenty-six weeks in, Izaya would call out for “Shizu-chan” to come help him up, after he’d dozed on the sofa and was too sleepy to maneuver himself and his stomach into an upright position.
They settled into routines, and any biting remarks and ill feelings towards Shizuo Izaya still bore faded to nothing, he was aware his feelings were changing towards the man, with or without the added hormones, and chose to openly accept them rather than struggle to deny, no use wasting the little energy he had left after lugging two little people round the apartment with him all day. Besides, he had to give the taller and mentally slower man credit for all he’d managed to do so far. And having company felt nice.
Nicer still when Shizuo was persuaded to share the bed with him and he could arrange himself and his bump over the sturdy man and cuddle up to him. Shizuo had let out a surprised grunt the first time this had happened, but all Izaya did was drag his warm hands round so they rested below the loose sweater he wore to bed, and Shizuo swore the smaller man started purring as he gently kneaded the skin there.
With less arguments and the occasional light kiss, everything was starting to look uncomfortably like love to the blonde, but when the red-eyed informant who spent half his day sprawling on the couch didn’t comment on their new found coupley life, he decided not to either. Although when Izaya was sleeping next to him, with the firm and very real bump pressed to his side, he often found himself deep in thought, an incredibly foreign place, wondering what would happen once this was all over and Izaya could take care of himself again.
This worry lasted for several more weeks, until one night, at perhaps three in the morning, when the kicking kept Izaya awake and lying on his side as Shizuo lazily massaged his back with one hand, the raven-haired man gasped, tried to bolt upright, and promptly fell back against the bed.
Eyes wide with concern Shizuo rolled onto his knees and helped with informant upright, resting a gentle hand on the protruding stomach.
“I-is it the babies? Are you alri-”
“We haven’t done their rooms.” Izaya gripped Shizuo’s shoulders, looking horror struck. “I can’t believe we’re so unprepared, we just-”
Shizuo blinked as the pyjama clad Izaya slid off the bed and started waddling around trying to find something, then had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from smiling. Izaya looked far too adorable when he tried to move quickly in this state, in a cross between an unsteady totter and a waddle, with the healthy flush across his cheeks that had appeared at some point during his pregnancy.
He returned a moment later with a laptop, and Shizuo realised that the probability that he’d be getting any sleep tonight had shot down to zero, so instead he built up a mound of pillows against the head board and lifted Izaya into place rather than waiting for him to squirm his way back in, ignoring the squeak of protest.
Once settled, Izaya had the laptop open and his fingers dancing across the keys as Shizuo slid in beside him to see what he was doing.
“How big’s this room?” he asked whilst typing. “Do you think we could squeeze two cots in or…” he glanced up and looked around. “Never mind, we’ll use the spare room in my place.”
“We?” Shizuo questioned.
Izaya rolled his eyes, the hint of the taunting façade Shizuo had been treated to for all these years ruined by the smile on his face. Pregnancy had most definitely mellowed the younger man out.
“Well you don’t expect me to look after both of them and do my job by myself, do you?” he asked, turning back to his internet search. “You put them there and you can damn well stay until they leave again. How much do you have saved already? Anything? Do you think we should make up a college fund, or… no, wait, cots first. We can discuss their education later.”
The blonde blinked, mildly stunned yet again, then felt amazingly light as the weight of the worry he hadn’t realised was so intense lifted. Grinning, he slid an arm around the other man’s shoulders.
“What’s that expression for?” Izaya asked suspiciously, glancing up at the movement.
“Mm, nothing,” Shizuo stole himself and pressed a kiss to the raven locks on the side of Izaya’s head. “I like that one,” he pointed out a cot blindly to turn Izaya back to their newfound task.
“Che,” the smaller man snorted, flopping his head against Shizuo’s shoulder. “You have no taste.”
-
At the thirty-sixth week, when Izaya had officially declared himself as fat and useless and sent professional decorators to his home, and Shizuo had officially decided he was well and truly whipped by the man who had once been his most hated enemy, Shinra called. He had decided, he’d told them, that now was best to perform a c-section, just in case the twins decided to take it upon themselves to put Izaya into an early labour and force themselves out naturally. Both men paled at the thought of this, and Shizuo gathered together what Izaya dictated they’d need before heading out.
It was strange, Shizuo thought, that the two child carriers he was holding would be empty on the way over, but full on the way back. He’d barely allowed his mind to rest on thoughts of fatherhood throughout the past few months, and was still reluctant to linger. Whilst Izaya seemed confident in the parental role he’d soon be adopting, Shizuo was worried he’d somehow end up harming his sons, or being a disappointment, or… he wasn’t quite sure.
“Shizu-chan seems deep in thought,” Izaya commented once they were at Shinra’s, in one of the many rooms he used to perform surgery and experiments. He automatically reached out to steady the pregnant man as he struggled out of his clothes.
Shizuo shrugged, Izaya tutted.
“Thinking doesn’t suit you,” he commented with an easy smile as he lay on the bed, Shinra and his equipment next to him. “But if you have to do it, just try to think of names whilst I’m out…”
Celty, Shizuo, and a cup of coffee sat at the kitchen table whilst Shinra worked several rooms away, the two at the table throwing out name suggestions to each other, with the one with the scalpel delicately cutting through skin. When the door was pushed open and Shinra backed into the room, carefully cradling two scraps of pink wrapped in soft cloth Shizuo stood abruptly, letting his chair fall back which Celty hastily caught before the crash disrupted the two newborns.
“All fingers and toes accounted for,” Shinra announced proudly, almost as if they were his own, “healthy weight and length, with this little one on the right being just a little bigger,” he lifted his arm slightly to indicate the child it held. “And Izaya is alive and well and will be awake within the hour.”
Neither Celty, nor Shinra commented on what appeared to be a tear in the large blonde’s eye, Celty instead hurrying to produce more coffee as some form of diversion, Shinra leading Shizuo to where Izaya lay.
He waited there, watching his two new sons but not yet having the nerve to pick them up himself, until Izaya stirred. His eyes flickered between the newborns and Izaya, the man paler than normal from the effort of childbirth, even if he had been unconscious. Black hair stark against his forehead, delicate lids hiding those sharp red eyes. There was no denying the feelings that had developed between them in the past few months. Shizuo guessed he could call it l-
Izaya’s eyes flickered, sliding open along with his mouth.
“Well it looks like you finally managed to land a lasting mark on me,” he mumbled as he lazily peered through his lashes at Shizuo, and waved a hand in the direction of his stapled shut stomach. “You better still find me fuckable with this new scar, you know. Because I‘m not letting you go that easily.”
The blonde’s mouth worked, trying to find some form of coherent answer amongst the flood of happiness at his new and fully functional family.
“… no swearing in front of the children,” he finally managed.
Izaya chuckled and wriggled up the pillows.
“Wonderful comeback, now help me up so I can see what they look like out my stomach.”