A Year of Surprises 6
Pairing: UKUS
Rating/Warnings: M for language, sex, mpreg, and angst (Only the last two in this one)
Word count: 1551
Summary: Nations in times of prosperity are capable of reproducing. Of course there's a problem with this: when they do go into heat it doesn't stop until they conceive. This is the story of America's first pregnancy.
Chapter 1
A/n: Sorry this took so long! I had very little time to sit down and write and in what time I did have this didn't wanna come out :/ I think it's because of the time period. They both seem so OOC when I'm writing them in this time period, just because the normal tsundere aspect has just started developing at best.
November
England fired the servants. It wasn't like they were doing a bad job or anything, but really their main purpose had been to keep America company and England did that well enough on his own. Besides, America was happy for the work. He had missed getting his hands dirty and actually doing things. Sitting around all day was so boring.
(They'd also both realized it was better to get rid of them now when America was still thin rather than have too many people see him once he started showing. Even though they would probably never suspect a man to be pregnant, they might begin to have thoughts of witchcraft if he got bigger and bigger and bigger until one day he was skinny again and had a baby with him. America had had more than enough problems with those sort of accusations. He didn't wanna play that game again.)
The other nice thing was getting to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. He'd been so tired lately, like he'd been doing heavy labor when all he'd actually done was go around the house and dust, so it was nice to be able to go upstairs and nap whenever he felt the urge.
Some days, though, he simply wasn't tired. It seemed his body sometimes understood that he was still mostly wandering around the house doing nothing. Hell, the most physically intense thing he did these days was sleep with England (and oh, how nice it was to do that wherever he wanted! The servants had scarcely been gone for two weeks by the time they'd done it in every room of the house). He missed working the land, though. He would have liked to get out and plow soil or something but it was the wrong time of year. The first snow had fallen and even if he did get through it the dirt would probably be rock-solid beneath. But, of course, that meant at the moment he was bored and had nothing to do. Maybe he'd go find England.
He began to poke around the first floor. He obviously wasn't in the sitting room, since that was where America had been, but the kitchen, dining room, and front salon had all gotten similar results. He went upstairs and found him, to his surprise, curled up in bed.
America took a moment to engrain the image in his memory. The curtains were open and so the mid-afternoon light fell across England's face, making him seem to glow. His body was relaxed in a way it could never quite reach when he was conscious. He was curled around a pillow and with a jolt America recognized it as his own.
Suddenly everything felt a little less happy and cute. He noticed the way that England had his nose buried in the pillow, most likely trying desperately to take in what of America's scent stuck to it.
He walked over to the bed and pulled his pillow away. For a moment England frowned and reached out for what he had lost, but he was pacified when America slipped beneath the covers next to him. He smiled even wider than he had before as he pulled America flush against his chest.
How long had it been since either of them had slept alone? Had they been separate since the first time? Hell, that was only three months ago, wasn't it? Three months and America couldn't even imagine lying back in his own room all alone.
Well, he told himself as he closed his eyes and snuggled against England, there was no point in worrying about it now. He still had twenty years until-
Oh hell, twenty years. They weren't humans where that was almost half a lifetime. America might have to go on forever with nothing but an empty bed and memories. He felt tears pricking at his eyes. He didn't want England to leave, he didn't want to be alone again. If only there was some way to keep him longer, like if somehow when the first baby was fully grown he could force himself into heat and have another. He swallowed. He wouldn't even be able to do it once, much less for centuries on end. But damn, wouldn't it be nice? As soon as one kid could live on its own he'd just pop out another and keep England forever.
But that wasn't fair, was it? He pulled away to look at England's sleeping face. This wasn't his home. He didn't belong here, not really. Maybe to visit, but America knew from experience how hard it was to leave your land for an extended period of time. He had been so homesick when England had taken him to meet the king, how could England stay on the wrong side of the Atlantic for so long? It was selfish to keep him, but nations were meant to be selfish. England had told him time and time again that a nation must first do what most benefits their people and themselves and only once they're taken care of should they worry about others. So it should have been perfectly fine to keep England around for as long as possible, right?
Except… it wasn't like England was the only one who would be taken advantage of. America pressed his hand against his stomach, allowing himself to feel for the first time. If he pushed gently he could feel his womb, already round and firm even if there wasn't any difference in his appearance. All this time he'd been thinking of the baby as nothing but a burden, a mere thing that was going to hold him back and force him to do a whole bunch of things he didn't want to do. Until now he hadn't thought of it as a person. Was it even fair to call it a person when it was so little? Even if it wasn't one now, it would end up as one, wouldn't it?
God, he'd been thinking of just using it as an anchor for England and swapping it out for another when it had outlived its usefulness. By the time it was twenty it would have its own dreams and aspirations and maybe even a family of its own. The thought was mind-boggling to America. He was carrying a person, a real person- and he'd wanted to kill it!
He began sobbing openly into England's shift. All the things he might have lost to his own damn selfishness! He pictured his little baby, all soft and pudgy with big blue eyes and stubby fingers and toes and-
"A-America?" England asked, "What's wrong?"
"I almost killed the baby!"
"Ssh, no you didn't, love, hush, the baby's fine."
"But I almost did, England! I hated it! I wanted it to die!"
"Oh, America," England said softly, holding him close, "There, there. It's alright. Your emotions are all in a tizzy right now. It'll be fine, just try to calm down."
"You're saying I've overreacting! I'm not overreacting! I almost killed the baby!"
"You didn't almost kill the baby," England said softly, running his fingers through America's hair. "Unless at some point you held a gun to your stomach and then threw it away you were nowhere near harming it. Did you want a way out? Yes. Did you think it was too soon? Yes, but you wouldn't have hurt it, even if that would have ended everything."
"You don't know that. I hated it, England. I hated it!"
"I know, love, I know. You already said that. But please let me finish."
"Fine," America huffed.
"You didn't want to take a life, America. I know you wouldn't do that, especially to your own child. Once you realized what it is this really promises," He placed his hand on America's stomach to make it clear what exactly he was talking about, "You'd react this same way."
"But what if I didn't think of that?"
"As soon as I realized you were actually thinking about it I would have made you think of it. Besides, what could have been doesn't matter. All that matters is everything's alright. You're here safe and sound and nothing's going to hurt you, alright?"
America sniffled, "Alright."
England rubbed soothing circles on his cheek. Suddenly, he looked out the window, "Oh, bollocks! What time is it?"
"Not so late that we can't stay a little longer." America said, taking England's hand, "I mean I just got here."
England smiled, "Well, I suppose I can stay a tad longer for you."
"Thanks," America said, turning around so that England could pull him even closer.
England's hands settled on top of America's lower belly and America set his hands on top of England's.
"Hey," He said quietly after a moment.
"Yes?"
"I-I just wanted to say that I don't hate the baby now."
He felt England smile against his neck, "I'm glad."
Chapter 7