Chapter Text
The atmosphere in the base had shifted dramatically after Heavy had rejected the medic. the past few weeks Heavy had barely spoken to the other man more than a curt hello or good morning earning only an uninterested hum from the other man. It hurt terribly. Heavy still thought of Medic as his best friend. He had an obligation to his mother however. To marry a handsome woman and provide her with many grandchildren. A relationship with the doctor was not going to provide him with that. As much as he loved the doctor, his mother had sacrificed so much for him. To fail her would kill him. His mother would surely die of a broken heart.
To say team morale had decayed would be putting it lightly. Heavy sighed as he watched Medic brush by him, ignoring the giant by pretending to be deep in thought. "Medic." Heavy said annoyed at being ignored. "Jawohl?" The doctor's voice answered spritely likely hoping for a wound to poke at. "Why do you ignore me past few weeks?" Heavy asked bluntly, causing the smaller man to stammer a bit. "I..I'm not ignoring you Heavy. I've simply erm… found another man to focus my attentions on. Surely you must've expected that to happen eventually Ja?" Heavy visibly winced at his words. "You have new friend to speak to like you do with me?" He asked to clarify. "Well he definitely occupies my time that's for sure. Oh come now don't look so upset. I'm simply giving you your space and freedom to pursue… well… others." Medic's clinical tone shifted into one of sorrow.
"Really don't let it drag you down my friend." He finished chipperly and squeezed past Heavy to enter the mess hall. Heavy sat down on the other side of the breakfast table from the medic. How had the Medic moved on so quickly? Medic never does anything by halves, if he's settled on something he is relentless until he gets what he wants. He knew better than to think the Doctor had suddenly grown a conscious understanding of other people's feelings. Medic felt Heavy's eyes burning him from across the table but still elected to ignore the man. Everyone noticed that the usual barely eating medic had managed to shovel down two plates of bacon and eggs this morning, before abruptly leaving after washing his dishes in the sink.
So this new man of his had gotten him over the displeasure of eating? Impossible, but Heavy had just seen it happen. Things weren't adding up. Medic had been avoiding everyone in battle as well lately, disappearing whenever his teammates had been healed to go who knows where. Not to respawn, heavy knew that. His doctor was no coward. Medic loved to throw himself into the fray and saw people apart at any opportunity. Now though, he barely caught sight of him unless it was time to ubercharge. The finnicky actions of their medic was beginning to trip up the team in battle. He'd heard him arguing with the engineer about it faintly as the Medic healed him.
Still, their team still won an acceptable amount of matches. Everyone begrudgingly accepted the Medic's affinity for survival. What didn't make sense was seeing Medic studying the blueprints for the respawn system him and the engineer had worked so hard on. Making tiny modifications to the plans and taking his blood sample down every week to be input into the respawn. As if his body was changing rather rapidly. Engineer asked but got no answers. Leaving both the engineer and heavy stumped and worried. Who knew when the doctor would want to test on other subjects as well. Heavy slipped into the infirmary quietly to sit down beside medic on the couch by his desk as he usually did before things got awkward between them.
Medic looked over at him questioningly. "Doktor you are my greatest and truest friend. Why are you hiding things from me? Do you no longer trust me?" Heavy begged, setting a large hand on Medic's forearm. The doctor stared down at heavy's hand before using his left hand to free himself from Heavy. "I don't understand what it is you want from me now. I've been nozhing but civil since you rejected my… vell you know what happened you were zhere. I know I've been working a lot harder on my experiments but it's really nothing to be concerned about. Really I… vell." Ludwig huffed out a sigh, turning back to his work and shutting out the other man again.
Said experiment was currently giving him a lot of trouble. Barely two weeks old the little bud of life inside him troubled him greatly. He was getting a little too old for this. But better late than never. He continued to work on the plans for the genetic profile. What traits made Heavy what he is and why. If he couldn't have the real thing, then what difference was a substitute? The little clone was rewired to grow at an alarming rate and everything as it was now was completely touch and go. How to transfer the memories, how to make sure the little clone was the same as it's predecessor, How much he'd have to consume to keep the tiny little thing alive and growing, was now what he'd thrown himself into finding out. Heavy tried to peel at the papers but Medic subconsciously blocked his view. After a moment of silence, heavy began to notice some changes around the office. A larger number of books about female anatomy, prenatal care, parenting guides, books on infant development and childcare. He raised an eyebrow at this. These experiments Medic usually did had to do with the displacement of organs or addition of extra organs. Maybe Heavy's explanation of wanting to give his mother grandchildren was misconstrued.
Medic did take things a bit too literally at times. "Doktor. You are not trying to make a baby are you?" Heavy asked nervously. "No don't be ridiculous Mikhail." The doctor answered, waving a hand dismissively. Mikhail felt his heart sink. Medic never called him by his legal name anymore. He knew how much Heavy giving him his family name meant to him. The usually stoic man had to fight back tears. He'd hoped they could at least have remained friends but now he wasn't even sure. "Misha." Heavy said firmly studying the man before him. "Hmm?" Medic looked up for a moment before turning back to his work. "Ah. Yes. Misha, my apologies, it's been a while since we've had any sort of conversation like this I suppose." The doctor said emphatically as if the conversation itself was painful.
Mikhail stared him down, willing the Medic to look at him. The Medic finally tossed him a fleeting glance. He looked exhausted, sickly, like he used to back when he let his studies wholly consume him. Heavy supposed the doctor had let himself fall back into that bad habit now that he'd been giving the doctor more space to sort his feelings. Feelings the doctor vehemently pretended not to have anymore. "Why are you researching baby things so hard?" Mikhail said pointing to the stack of books. Ludwig followed his finger. "Oh! That's just a bit of light reading. I've been erm sleepless as of late." He answered. Heavy sighed, accepting that he wouldn't be able to pry what he wanted from the doctor and leaving him alone for the rest of the night.
Maybe this new partner of the doctor's had discouraged Medic from having any other relationships with the men. If that was the case he'd have to find a way to put an end to this relationship before it got any worse. Especially if him and this mystery man were planning to have a baby. Now that he thought about it, he wouldn't put it past Medic to be able to make something like that happen. Heavy considered that for a moment before regret began to gnaw at him. If Medic was as committed to this new man as he had been to Mikhail… yes. There was no questioning it. Medic would find a way to provide this new beau with anything he would ask for. Including a child. The thought made him nauseous.
Mikhail quickly threw himself into the nearest room and found a chair, interrupting whatever conversation Engineer and spy were having in the workshop. The men looked between themselves before turning to Mikhail, who's head seemed to be spinning. The spy excused himself, leaving the engineer to his guest. "What's going on slim? Trouble with the Doc?"
Mikhail nodded his head miserably. "Well don't say I didn't warn ya. Medic is more stubborn than a mule and too smart to understand anything but medicine and zoology. It's great y'all were friends as long as ya were. But I'm guessing he's up and moved on to something or someone else already." Engineer said coming over to comfort the man. "Subtlties and subtext ain't something he's gonna figure out on his own. If he wants something not hell nor high water is gonna stop him you know that. What exactly did you say to him when y'all had your fight exactly?" Engineer said, taking a confident sip of coffee from a mug on a table.
"I told him I could not have relationship with him because he is a man and that my mother wants grandchildren." Mikhail said unsure what about that statement was unclear. Engineer choked on his coffee, dropping his mug and wheezing. The minute he managed to get air in his lungs he made a mad dash for the door Spy had left from. "SPY! WE GOT A SITUATION!" Engineer called out frantically. "What kind of situation?" Came the spy's tired reply. "MEDIC!" The engineer yelled back impatiently. "Jawohl?" Medic called from the infirmary down the hall innocently. "Aw hell." The engineer grumbled, stepping out of the workshop and closing the door behind him. Heavy stood and made his way out to the infirmary hallway to see Spy and Engineer entering the infirmary sparing each other wary glances.
Mikhail made his way down the hall as quietly as possible, sitting in the furthest chair from the double doors, watching the shadows of the men through a privacy curtain medic had moved in front of the large plate glass windows. Unfortunately even straining his ears, years of fighting with heavy weapons had rendered Mikhail hard of hearing so he could only watch the shadows of the men through the curtain like a unnerving puppet show. He wasn't at all surprised when Pyro noticed left swiftly, returning with Scout and a bucket of popcorn. Mikhail glared over at them for a moment before returning his attention to the men in the infirmary. Spy was animatedly gesturing his arms in what looked like outrage while medic was leaned back casually in his chair legs crossed with an elbow on the desk behind him.
Spy's obvious anger bouncing off Medic like water off a duck's ass. Engineer stood between the two, likely the only source of logic and reason in the room at that point. "Oh this is gonna be good." Scout said, shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth before offering the bucket to Sniper who'd snuck in at some point. Sniper, who had an arrow in his arm, rolled his eyes and helped himself to a handful of popcorn. It wasn't long before Demoman and Soldier joined them to watch the show. Medic still held his casual pose, but Engineer now had his hands on Medic's shoulders while Spy paced back and forth like a caged tiger. The Engineer threw a hand up protectively every time the Spy stopped in front of the Medic to placate the Frenchman's temper.
Heavy knew that Engineer was close to the Medic, having taken him in while they worked on projects for Mann co. Even so he doubted they were getting the answer they wanted from Medic. The people in the hallway were even taking bets on who would win this argument. Mikhail bet on medic of course. Most of the other mercenaries moved on after an hour or so, leaving Mikhail in charge of the betting pool. Spy finally burst out of the door sweating and full of rage. "You! You have doomed us all Fat man!" He shouted angrily at Mikhail before leaving to go to his office. Mikhail had never been less excited to earn seventy five dollars in his life. He stood from his seat and made his way into the infirmary, earning a glare from the Medic that stung his very soul. Engineer sighed tiredly, pulling the Medic towards himself.
"I'll meet ya in the workshop slim. Just give me a minute." Engineer said, squeezing the medic's shoulder. Mikhail nodded, throwing a confused and sad look towards Medic unintentionally before making his way back to the workshop. When Engineer returned he looked completely defeated. "I'm pretty sure I know what's going on but the Doc's got his walls up and fortified. Not even Spy could get him to budge. Doubt it's any of our business though, as long as these battles keep going ok." The Engineer said quietly. "I know he's still hurting. He doesn't want you around. Maybe give him some space for a while. He'll get over himself eventually." He continued, shaking his head and returning himself to his work. Mikhail sighed heavily and returned himself to his room. He wrote a letter to his mother, asking her to clarify if her grandchildren had to come from a woman, and telling her about his situation with the Medic.
He knew his mother loved Ludwig as much as her own children, especially with all the care Ludwig had given to keep her son alive and healthy. Still, disappointing her wasn't on his to do list. What was he going to do if the Medic had a baby with this mystery man? Medic would leave then to raise the child. Heavy would likely never see the doctor again if that was the case. The gravity of the situation finally started to sink in for Mikhail. Could he really live with himself knowing he practically threw Medic into the hands of another so excited to use him for their own personal gain? Would they leave Ludwig if he had misconstrued his partner's words? Mikhail felt sick, finishing his letter and bringing it out to slip through the mail slot of Miss Pauling's office.
How was he to choose between his mother's wishes and the Medic's wild whims? He had no answer for such a question and resigned himself to his work for the next week. Ignoring the Medic as their job continued with as little communication between the two as possible. Soon it became second nature not to pay attention to the Medic other than barked commands and the call that his Ubercharge was ready. By the end of the week both him and Ludwig looked completely miserable. Ludwig shooed anyone who tried to come into the infirmary for a 'nonemergency' away, keeping to himself. Mikhail checked his mail cubby every day desperately every day waiting for a reply. The next day, Ludwig met him at the mailboxes. They sat in silence waiting for Miss Pauling to arrive with the mail.
Despite everything, Mikhail found Ludwig sitting closer and closer to him on the bench. Soon their hips were almost touching. Mikhail wanted to grab the man around the shoulders and pull him closer, but instead he sat still, not wanting to scare Medic away. "Doktor." Heavy said quietly. "Misha." Ludwig replied, turning to watch Miss Pauling come in with a pallet jack of orders. Mikhail helped her sort through the mail, helping to deliver the parcels to their proper places before coming back for the letters. Ludwig brushed past him when he returned to the mail room, giving Mikhail's arm a subtle squeeze, causing a tiny ray of hope to flow through the larger man. Miss Pauling handed him a few envelopes before going to place the rest of the mail in the other mail cubbies.
Mikhail went to read the envelopes in the infirmary, ignoring Ludwig's protests as he dropped down on the couch. Ludwig gave up after a minute from where he was perched over the sink, looking sweaty and disheveled. A small pink envelope caught Mikhail's attention and he used the Doctor's letter opener to open it, pulling out his mother's letter. 'Dearest Misha, How silly you are to assume I would want grandchildren from all of my beloved children. If that were the case I fear we would end up having to all live together in a very big house. As to the answer of your question, I don't care where my grandchildren come from as long as you and your lover are happy. All I have ever wanted for you my son is for you to be happy, and to live your life to the fullest. I know you cannot do this by pretending to be someone you are not. Tell Ludwig Mama still loves him and I will be sending sweets for him soon. I love you Misha, you take good care of that man. Love, Mama.'
Mikhail sighed heavily, scanning over the words over and over. It seemed his mother knew something about him that not even Mikhail was sure of yet. His warm fuzzy moment was ruined by Ludwig wretching into the sink. "You are pregnant." Mikhail accused. Ludwig whipped around. "YOU'RE PREGNANT!" He shrieked his retort, not caring that it made no sense before storming into his bedroom. Mikhail sat there in stunned silence for a moment at the odd exchange of words before he made his way into the bedroom where Ludwig was curled up on the bed, sobbing miserably. "Come. Come to Heavy." Mikhail said after sitting next to the man in his bed. Ludwig scooted himself closer but kept himself turned away. After a moment of Mikhail rubbing soothing circles into the doctor's back he pulled the man in between his legs and up so that his upper half was on his chest. He wrapped his arms around the Medic resting his chin on top of the doctor's head.
They sat like that for a good while before the doctor's frustrated tears ebbed. "You are pregnant. This other man, he knows of this?" Mikhail asked. Ludwig huffed out a laugh. "Misha. Zhe baby is zhe other man." He said as if that was obvious. Quiet ruled the room as Mikhail absorbed Ludwig's words. Suddenly the room got a lot hotter. Ludwig squeaked as he was suddenly hugged tightly. He tried to squirm free but was really no match for Mikhail's strength. His head craned to look up at the man who was holding him captive. "Vhy do you care? It's not your baby. Vell I mean not in the strictest sense." Ludwig asked trying to turn himself with no success. Mikhail pulled the letter from his pocket and handed it to the doctor. Ludwig read over the letter a few times, bringing it closer after a second to read it again. "Oh…" The doctor handed the letter back to Mikhail who returned it to his pocket. They sat together quietly for a moment before Mikhail loosened his grip.
Ludwig smiled up at him before making a mad dash for the bathroom. Mikhail listened with sympathy as the doctor's morning sickness ruined the moment again. Maybe a nice beet stew would help. When Ludwig finally returned to him, he crawled back between Mikhail's legs and pressed his chest to his. "I'm never doing this again. I've handled parasites better than this." He said tiredly. "I am sorry doctor. Did not mean for this to happen." Mikhail told him, kissing the Medic's forehead. Ludwig looked up at him in disbelief for a moment, trying to decipher why Mikhail was suddenly so affectionate, it only resulted in Mikhail pressing his lips to Ludwig's. The Medic let himself press into the kiss before he pulled away. "Misha…" The doctor gasped, looking up at Mikhail pleadingly. "Mama says I must take care of you. I will not fail her, or you. You are stuck with me now doctor." Mikhail told him kissing the corner of his lips before continuing. "I love you, Doktor."