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Tadashi just wants to meet his baby.
He and Kei have already been on paternity leave for a couple days, anticipating their daughter’s arrival any day now, but it’s been very uneventful. They were supposed to have been cleaning dirty diapers and feeding their baby, but instead they have been rearranging the nest and doing last minute baby proofing.
They were already supposed to have her in their arms two weeks ago, but his doctor said that since he’s healthy that it would be better to let the pup take her time and choose when she thinks it’s the right time to be born. Apparently, omegas who are pregnant for the first time tend to have longer pregnancies, so here he is, as pregnant as ever.
His back constantly hurts along with his hips and his feet and his chest, he’s horny all the time, and he overall just feels bloated and uncomfortable. Thankfully, Kei has been really good about the whole thing. Over the past few weeks, the omega has been pretty much stuck on the couch or in his nest, so the alpha will bring him food and water or rub circles into his stomach when he’s not feeling too good. Just like today, all morning he hasn’t been able to get up off the couch with how round he is.
Besides his scare early on with the drop, Tadashi has had a rather easy pregnancy, but he’s so done and ready to get his baby out of him. He grabs his laptop that sits beside him and rests it on his stomach. If there’s anything that he’s going to miss from the pregnancy it’s going to be the way he has his very own table to rest snacks and books on. He quickly types in the search bar to find ways to naturally induce labor.
“What are you doing?” Kei asks him, putting his hands on his hips. Tadashi has been given clear instructions from both his bosses and his doctor to not do any work, but sometimes he gets bored. It’s not his fault that sometimes his code and programming frustrates him when it decides to not work properly. Because of this, Kei is always on the lookout for things that could cause stress in the pregnant omega, which has become a full time job.
“Relaaax,” Tadashi draws out, not looking up from the screen and the article that he’s already reading. “I’m just looking up ways to induce labor.”
That makes Kei perk up and travel across the living room to read with Tadashi. He, too, is eager to finally meet their daughter. “What’s it saying?”
Tadashi looks up with a smile. “Definitely, plenty to try.” Even though he’s over nine months pregnant at this point, he still tries to be independent, so he starts to get up from the couch but to no avail. His stomach is giving him a hard time, so he just sighs. “Help me up. We’re going on a walk since exercise is supposed to put me into labor.”
“Wait, let me get your shoes, stay sitting,” Kei says with a pointed look. Ever the worrywart. However, at the mention of shoes, Tadashi does pause. He isn’t able to see his feet anymore, which is a problem in terms of getting shoes onto his feet. He’s gotten used to slippers and just choosing to not leave the house because it’s easy and then his feet don’t hurt.
Kei then offers a hand to Tadashi and supports his back as the omega gets up off the couch. “Are you sure you want to go on a walk?” The question is a reasonable one since Tadashi doesn’t walk anymore. He waddles. And it doesn’t seem very comfortable.
“Kei, I’m getting this baby out of me one way or another.” The look of exhaustion and desperation in his eyes makes Kei let up on the questioning. The omega hasn’t been getting much sleep for the past couple weeks because he can’t seem to be comfortable. The alpha doesn’t blame him for wanting to not be pregnant anymore.
“Okay, how about when we come back we try to lay down and take a nap together?”
“No, you’ll be taking me to the hospital because I’ll be going into labor. Kei, keep up,” Tadashi tells him with almost an inkling of annoyance. Kei wants to laugh, but he knows that now is not the time.
“Right, my bad.” Kei rolls his eyes in good nature.
It hasn’t snowed in a while which is a huge relief for the alpha. He doesn’t want Tadashi slipping once they’re on their walk, and he also thinks about how it will be a huge relief to not be driving on icy roads when he does go into labor. Kei still holds the omegas hand to stay close to him in case anything does happen and he needs to catch him.
They only make it around the block before Tadashi is out of breath and complaining about his hips hurting. They silently make it back to their house, Kei not commenting on the fact that their walk was much slower but also shorter than expected. Tadashi is already frustrated, and Kei knows he doesn’t need his sarcasm.
“Come hold me,” Tadashi tells the alpha, gesturing upstairs. He wants his nest.
“Of course.” Kei helps him up to their room and helps him settle into the nest, laying on his side. The alpha then comes up and holds him from behind, rubbing circles into his belly and hips. He then scents the air heavily to help the omega fall asleep. Luckily, it seems to help as Tadashi’s breath evens out.
---
“Okay, so this website is saying red raspberry leaf tea.” Tadashi lays on his side and looks up more articles on his phone. He would prefer reading on his laptop, but trying to get up would be like a turtle trying to turn over.
“Huh?” Kei was still kinda out of it from their nap. He blinks a few times to try to clear the sleep from his eyes. He pats around the nest, looking for his glasses and sliding them on his face when he grabs them.
“To induce labor, I’m supposed to drink red raspberry leaf tea. It’s supposed to strengthen my uterus and stuff.”
It seems too simple to Kei, and he knows that if Tadashi weren’t so desperate, that he would also question it. However, Kei knows it won’t hurt, so he’ll do whatever he wants. “Do we have any?”
The beady eyes that Tadashi gives him in response answers his question, so he stretches before getting up and grabbing his keys. He’s done grocery store runs for Tadashi’s cravings plenty of times, so he can do it one more time. The alpha presses a kiss to his forehead before leaving for the store.
He grabs the only box left of the tea, the cashier making a comment about how it tends to help pregnant omegas.
Back at home, he brews the tea, while Tadashi prepares a bath with epsom salt. He read that as long as he doesn’t keep the temperature too high, he can take a bath. With his muscles aching and stress higher than usual, he figured that anything could help at this point. Kei’s just happy that he’s trying to calm down.
The alpha brings a mug up to the bathroom and knocks. Knocking has always been a rule between them, both valuing their privacy, and it hasn’t changed just because they’re together now.
Kei opens the door and sees the bright lights off, but several candles lighting the small room. “Need help?”
Tadashi sits on the edge of the bathtub even though he was already stripped, hair tied and a frog headband pushing the rest of his hair out of his face. He nods his head at the blond, knowing that he won’t be able to get into the tub by himself. Once fully seated, the omega sighs at the feeling of warmth covering his body. He didn’t realize just how tired his body was, so the salt water feels great on his skin.
Kei sits on the edge of the tub and hands him the mug, watching as Tadashi takes the first sip, not knowing what he’s expecting. He continues to drink until he winces and places a hand on his stomach.
“What was that?” Kei asks quickly and urgently.
“I just had a contraction.”
Kei immediately checks his watch in the faint candlelight so that he can time the contractions if he has another one. “Did your water break?”
Tadashi looks down to the bathtub full of water. “I don’t think I’d know if it did,” he laughs. He continues to drink every drop of the tea, and they wait around for the next ten minutes.
Nothing.
“Ugh, it’s a bust. Must have just been a Braxton Hicks contraction.” He lays his head against the tile of the bathtub, frustrated.
“Well, at least you’re hydrated?” Kei offers. He doesn’t like seeing his best friend so upset.
Tadashi knows that Kei’s being rational, but he still just really wants his daughter already.
---
That night, the doorbell rings, and Kei is about to get it when Tadashi moves faster than he has in the past few months to get to the door before the blond.
“Suga!” Tadashi wrenches the door open, his face brightening at the sight outside.
“How are you feeling?” the other omega asks sincerely while handing over a plastic bag to Tadashi.
“Like garbage,” he answers honestly.
“Been there, done that.” Suga has now been pregnant twice, so as much as Kei tries to sympathize and help, he doesn’t truly understand what it’s like to be two weeks overdue. Especially since they’re not bonded yet, Kei can only comprehend what he can see and based on Tadashi’s scent. It’s nice to be able to talk about this with someone who’s been through it.
“Thank you for this.”
“I made extra anyway. Also, I want to meet my niece, so I’ll do anything to help. Can I?”
“Of course!”
Suga leans down and presses a hand to his stomach, laughing when the baby kicks. “Oh my gosh, she’s so energetic.”
“You’re telling me,” Tadashi laughs, exasperated. She keeps him up at all hours of the night just doing somersaults in the womb. It’s nice to know that she’s healthy and moving around, but the omega is pretty sure that if it weren’t for the alpha’s scent, he wouldn’t sleep at all.
“Okay, I’ll get going, but let me know how it goes.”
Tadashi waves and closes the door. When he steps back and turns, he comes face-to-face with Kei who is quirking an eyebrow at him.
“What’s that?”
“Spicy food. It’s supposed to induce labor.”
“You don’t like spicy food.” Kei just thinks back to high school when the other boy tried to impress the first years by doing the spicy challenge at a restaurant, but he ended up sobbing all the way home.
“But, the pup might,” Tadashi smiles slyly and rubs his stomach. “Suga is the king of spicy food, and since it was his turn to make dinner, he just made a little extra for me.”
Tadashi sits at their dining room table and starts shoveling in bites, trying to eat as quickly as possible to ignore the fact that he feels like he’s shoveling lava into his mouth. But he wants to push through for the baby. He takes a breather and cringes when he sees that only a quarter of his plate is gone.
Kei just gets up and pours him a glass of milk when tears start to stream down his red face.
“Thank you,” he whimpers as Kei places it across from him. The alpha stands behind the omega and strokes his hair.
Tadashi looks down at his stomach and sighs. “The things I do so that I can just meet you.”
---
They tried a massage. It didn’t work.
They tried nipple stimulation, and it was fun. But it didn’t work.
They tried pineapple. It didn’t work.
At this point, Tadashi is feeling utterly helpless. How freaking long is she going to stay in?
He’s sitting in bed with Kei that night, the alpha against the headboard and the omega between his legs with his back to the larger man’s chest. Kei rubs his belly and talks to the baby to tell her to stop giving Tadashi a hard time.
“Uhh, Kei?” The omega looks down at his lap and observes the wet spot on his sweats grow.
“Hmm?”
Tadashi turns where he sits to look at the alpha. “My water just broke.”
Kei blinks. “What?”
“My water broke. I’m going into labor.”
“You’re going into labor,” Kei repeats. For some reason it just isn’t clicking for either of them.
“Yes.”
All of a sudden, Kei’s eyes widen, and he cups Tadashi’s cheeks. “You’re going into labor!”
“I’m going into labor!” Tadashi shouts back.
“What do we do?” They had everything planned and discussed, but now that they’re in the moment, it seems so surreal and fast.
“I guess we go to the hospital,” Tadashi shrugs.
“Okay, I’ll grab the overnight bag.” Kei helps Tadashi to the car and then runs back inside to get their stuff.
Tadashi is ready to meet his daughter.
---
“One more push, Mr. Yamaguchi,” the doctor tells him.
Tadashi grunts and ignores the way that Kei winces at his hand being squeezed. And finally they hear a piercing cry fill the air. The alpha brushes the omega’s sweaty hair out of his face and presses a kiss to his forehead. Tadashi pants in exhaustion, but a small smile forms on his lips.
The doctor and nurses take their pup over to the little station to clean her and clear her airways before they lay her down on Tadashi’s chest. She’s still a little pink from just being born, but she definitely has Tadashi’s tan skin, moles and birthmarks are scattered over her back and arms, and they just know that she'll get freckles when she grows up. Her hair is a mix of the both of them, not quite blonde, but lighter than Tadashi’s dark hair.
“Hi, Sora,” Tadashi cries, the emotion taking over his voice. He leans down and nuzzles the top of her head gently with his cheek. She’s going to smell like milk and her dam until she presents and gets her own scent, but Tadashi still scents her.
Kei hesitantly reaches out and rests a hand on her back, his hand dwarfing her since his one hand completely covers her whole back. She’s so little, and the alpha is scared of breaking her, but his instincts are telling him to scent her, so he uses the scent glands in the wrist to gently comfort his pup. He looks over to Tadashi and makes eye contact, both of them holding so much love in their eyes. They’ve barely met her, yet they love her more than anything else in the world.
Looking down at their daughter, they both think about how she was worth all the wait.