Chapter Text
“You know what? I hate you.” Seth responds from the bed, and then a loud crackle of an apple is heard as the man bites into it with noticeable ferocity, crunching loudly afterward. Despite the apparent cruelty to the unfortunate fruit, the elder's voice still doesn't sound aggressive, if anything, a little kind.
The elder god lay on the bed in a star pose, legs spread wide, because it was already a problem to rest one leg on his raised knee due to his rounded belly, which often irritated Seth. Finding a comfortable pose had become its own kind of torment. Next to him stood a metal tray with various fruits and even a couple of pieces of meat. Set apart from everything else was a salad, which was funny: the only thing Seth had ever been able to tolerate in his stomach, the kid definitely hated and refused to eat.
Seth examined the apple thoughtfully, setting aside the half-eaten one and picking up a grape.
“But you know, with love.” He added later, popping a few into his mouth at once.
“Oh yeah?”
Horus grinned, sitting nearby at a table with a pile of paperwork his mother had kindly brought over a couple of hours ago.
“Mhm. Your kid is insufferable and makes me eat shit.” Seth spat out a previously bitten grape, wrinkling his face in disgust. Apparently, it was too sweet (though Horus couldn't tell the difference).
“Our baby.” The younger man smiled, glancing at his husband out of the corner of his eye.
Seth lifted himself up on his elbows, taking a sitting position with some effort, which looked rather comical. The pregnancy had gone by rather quickly, and that was probably why the older man couldn't get used to the change in balance in his body, so sometimes his movements looked amusingly awkward.
“Don't laugh.” The older man snorted, glaring at the very busy king of Egypt, who was obviously only pretending to work. “You're slacking off.”
“I'm prioritizing.”
“Watching a child abuse my body couldn't be more important than ruling the country.” Seth cast a skeptical glance at Horus, scratching his belly absently.
The older man would throw off his dog mask as soon as he entered the chambers and loosen his shendyt a little. At first, Seth had been ashamed to be seen with his soldiers and to leave the palace as a general, but eventually he grew tired of sitting at home. Perhaps his decision had also been influenced by a run-in with a pregnant maid who was being teased by several palace guards. Maybe, just a little, Seth had scared the shit out of them and sent them to the borders. Not to say that Seth felt completely confident in public, but he felt he was doing something right when he put men in their places if they dared to misspeak about his pregnancy and his position as general.
Seth had expected discipline in the country and at the borders to be less controlled and unfavorable during his… state, but surprisingly, it worked the other way around. Perhaps it was partly due to his heightened sense of justice and need to protect, just as the raging desert perfectly demonstrated whenever an infidel set foot on the golden sands.
Still, Seth had been resting more lately, and he was helped by Sekhmet, to everyone’s surprise.
But Seth did not let anyone touch his belly, except perhaps Horus.
“I want to take a break and be with you...” the younger one sighed noisily, turning around in his chair to face his husband.
“When you’re done with work, we’ll go to the market. I… The baby wants a katayef. Right off the tray.” Seth wrinkled his nose mockingly, shifting his squeamish gaze to the meat on the tray, but stubbornly picked up the apple he hadn’t finished before and bit into it again.
Horus laughed quietly, watching for a few seconds.
“Can I kiss…?”
Seth threw a condescending glance at him and paused for a moment before nodding.
“Then get right to work. The kid’s going to start practicing his martial arts skills right on my organs if his father makes him wait too long for those fucking pancakes.”
Horus laughed, walking over to the older man and kneeling in front of him. He gently placed his hands on the bulging belly and stroked it with his thumbs. Both Seth and Horus thought to themselves that the large dark-skinned hands looked beautiful on the light-colored round belly. Horus smiled contentedly, Seth blushed slightly, embarrassed, but tried desperately to maintain his proud look. The younger man closed his eyes before leaving a soft kiss over the other’s navel, sending goosebumps all over Seth’s body. Horus whispered softly:
“Wait just a little while, baby, okay? And let your papa get some rest while I finish my work.”
Seth exhaled noisily, with the same aggressiveness as before when biting into the apple, and felt a warm, pleasant sensation spreading in his chest.