Fic: Days Go By Like A Ticking Bomb (7/12)
I will end it by Part 12, for sure! No more adding parts! *headdesk* I need to stop getting all these ideas...
Fic Title: Days Go By Like A Ticking Bomb (7/12)
Pairing: Mark/Eduardo
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~3700 words for Part 7
Summary: The one where Eduardo gets pregnant, and becomes the target of Mark's single-minded focus.
Note: This fic is for elefante_locura's mpreg prompt as part of help_japan. Hearts-in-eyes to economic for beta-ing this part! All mistakes are my own, and please feel free to comment/PM me with corrections if you spot any errors!
Please note that Chris and Dustin are still working with Mark in this verse.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
-Day 140-
Eduardo has never felt like a glutton before in his life. He likes food, but he’s never been fond of snacking or eating more than he should.
But he’s starting to understand the urge to just keep eating all the time. While he had a loss of appetite at the beginning of the pregnancy, he’s just hungry constantly now. He hasn’t eaten in the last six hours - since he is going for a check-up - and he feels like he has been starving for days.
Along with the hunger, he’s horny around the clock and ready for a quickie at almost any time of the day. So, he decides they really should have sex to distract his body from hunger. Just like how he decided to have sex yesterday morning to distract Mark from doing a background check on Eduardo’s neighbors, and to have sex last night as a reason to stop himself from watching Hawaii Five-0. Good reasons all around.
“I want to fuck you,” he whispers to Mark, coming up behind him.
Mark likes fucking Eduardo and Eduardo likes to be fucked, so it all works out. But once in awhile, Eduardo likes to spread Mark out and be the one fucking him through the mattress. Mark’s usually enthusiastic whichever way he gets his rocks off.
“Fuck, okay,” says Mark immediately.
They’re supposed to take a shower and get ready for their appointment, but watching Mark strip for said shower has a certain effect on Eduardo.
Mark scrambles to the side table to pull out the lube, and seeing his smooth pale ass flex as he bends over sends a thrill of arousal through Eduardo. He undoes his pants and pulls out his cock, stroking it while Mark rummages for a condom to reduce the upcoming mess, since they’re in a rush. Mark turns around, a strip of condoms and a bottle of lube in hand, and he licks his lips when he sees Eduardo stroking his hardening cock.
This time, Eduardo doesn’t want Mark undressing him. There’ll be enough of Eduardo undressing in front of people later on. He’s happy to keep most of his clothes on as he touches himself, watching Mark’s eyes dilate at the sight.
“On your hands and knees on the bed,” orders Eduardo, smiling when Mark glares at him before obeying.
It’s ridiculously hot whenever Mark does as he says. It’s even hotter that Mark is naked, but Eduardo is mostly dressed. He presses up against Mark’s ass, just so he feels the rub of Eduardo’s pants against his skin. Mark shivers in response, and it’s enough to get Eduardo hurrying things along.
His slick fingers open Mark up, and he whispers filthy things into Mark’s ear as he twists and curls his fingers. He talks about how he wants to fuck Mark at Facebook one day, watch as Mark stumbles out of the doors on shaky legs once Eduardo is done fucking him on a conference table. He tells Mark how tight he feels since they don’t do it this way often, and Mark needs to relax for him because he knows Mark really wants a cock up his ass right now.
Eduardo pushes into Mark to the beat of his words, groans at the clenching heat around his cock and the way Mark grips the sheets with his white-knuckled hands. He draws a hand down Mark’s sweating back, feels him arch into Eduardo, presses him in place by the small of his back and drives into Mark from behind.
“You’re so open for me,” Eduardo whispers. “Look at you, just taking me all in.”
Mark can be so tightly controlled sometimes, but Eduardo knows his weakness for dirty talk. Especially dirty talk that spills from Eduardo’s lips.
And Mark rewards his efforts with a deep, desperate moan, driving himself back onto Eduardo, and that’s so fucking hot.
“C’mon- Wardo, come on,” gasps Mark, usually crisp words almost slurring.
“You feel amazing, fuck, Mark, you’re so good- I could do this all fucking day,” grunts Eduardo incoherently, and he ups his tempo, thrusting so hard that Mark starts sliding up the mattress.
He doesn’t know how long they go at this, watching his cock slide in and out of Mark as Mark makes the most obscene moans and grunts beneath him. He feels his balls drawing up, and the build-up is suddenly unbearable.
He barely gets a hand around Mark’s almost painfully hard erection before Mark stiffens up completely and comes in jerky thrusts, dragging Eduardo down into his own orgasm with every pulse and clench of his body.
They collapse onto the bed as Mark’s limbs give out on him, and there’s a moment of awkward rolling as Eduardo’s rounded belly slides off his back.
Holding the condom around his softening cock, Eduardo stares up at the ceiling. “Fuck, I want to do that again.”
Mark groans.
# # # # # # # # # #
They’re fifteen minutes late for their appointment.
Lying on the examination table, Eduardo looks like he has swallowed a bowling ball, which is just awkward. He’s had to get a bigger coat, and he rarely takes it off in public. Of course, he’s taken it off for this check up, and he’s revealing his round stomach to the doctor now.
The gel still feels as cold as ever against his skin.
Mark is staring raptly at the ultrasound machine as Doctor Gupta moves the probe around. The fetus’ head and limbs are much more visible now, with little tiny grasping fingers. Watching Mark’s total concentration on the monitor, Eduardo wonders if Mark will look at him like that again when the baby’s out.
Eduardo stifles the thought, because he doesn’t want to be a fucked up parent. He refuses to be jealous of his own kid.
“Eduardo, you’re in perfect health, and the baby’s growth seems to be progressing well,” says Doctor Gupta cheerfully.
He had talked to them earlier about his alpha fetoprotein testing, which confirmed that the fetus is fine.
“Will it affect the baby if we listen to too much pop music?” asks Mark abruptly.
Doctor Gupta looks a little confused. “Fetuses do react to external stimuli, but I’m not sure if there’s been any research on the effects of a genre on a fetus.”
Eduardo rolls his eyes. “Mark, don’t be ridiculous.”
“You do listen to a lot of pop music,” points out Mark with a shrug. “Can pregnancy affect Wardo’s tastes in TV shows? He’s started to watch this vapid TV musical about high school students, and I’m wondering if his brain chemistry is subtly changed by his pregnancy hormones so that he-”
“Mark!”
Doctor Gupta is smart enough to quickly interrupt with, “Would you like to know the sex of your baby?”
It’s a good distraction, because the both of them stare at him with wide eyes for a moment. Then, Mark squints at the monitor like he can figure it out himself by staring at it long enough. He turns to Eduardo with raised eyebrows, but Eduardo feels a little lost. He hasn’t thought about this, whether he wants to know now or later. He can’t really think of any reason to keep this a surprise, so he nods.
“Yeah, you can tell us now,” says Eduardo, trying to keep his voice from wavering.
Is he a bad parent that he didn’t even think about this?
Doctor Gupta smiles. “You’ll have a baby girl.”
Mark slips a hand into Eduardo’s own and squeezes down really hard. It’s alright, because Eduardo needs the pain to ground him, to cling on to through the words ‘a baby girl’.
It’s going to be a baby girl. They’re going to have a daughter.
It’s the first time that Eduardo thinks of the baby as, well, a baby, rather than an alien growth in him.
He squeezes Mark’s hand in return.
Doctor Gupta wipes the gel from his stomach, and says something about preparing the ultrasound images and waiting for them in his office.
Eduardo pulls his T-shirt down in a haze, using one hand since the other is still accosted by Mark’s. Mark stares at him with unreadable blue eyes.
“Did you want a girl?” asks Eduardo.
Mark shrugs. “No preference.”
Eduardo looks down. “That’s not possible. Surely people have a preference about this sort of thing. They want a boy or a girl because of how they want to- to bond or something, and they plan for it, don’t they, people plan for this-”
Mark ducks down so that he can meet Eduardo’s eyes. “You’re freaking out. Wardo, calm down.”
“I haven’t thought about it. I haven’t thought about this- all this, at all,” says Eduardo, the faintest waver in his voice.
“I have,” says Mark. “I’ve thought about whether it’s a girl or a boy. There doesn’t seem to be much difference in the first couple years anyway. Unless we had twins, then there would be less sleep for the both of us.”
Eduardo blinks up at him. “You’ve thought about this.”
“I just said I have,” says Mark with a frown.
“I haven’t. I read the books, and I take the vitamins, but I haven’t really thought about this, and how I need to be a- a parent because- I’m only thinking of her as a baby right this moment. There’s something wrong with me, I don’t think I’m going to be a good dad, Mark,” says Eduardo, eyes darting back to his swollen stomach in a panic.
Mark grabs his shoulders and shakes him a little. “Don’t be stupid, Wardo. You’re going to be an amazing dad.”
He says it with such conviction, like he’s stating a fact in his usual flat tone.
Mark continues, “You’re just- you haven’t processed it yet, but you’re processing it now. I thought you had been taking the pregnancy too calmly when you’re usually a lot more- excitable. It’s alright to start thinking about it now, you don’t have to do all of it before the first six months.”
It constantly surprises Eduardo that Mark might have difficulty reading people in general, but he has his own special insight into Eduardo.
“Yeah. Okay, alright,” says Eduardo inanely, trying to take deep breaths to calm down.
Mark lifts their entwined hands and presses a kiss to Eduardo’s wrist tenderly. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Wardo. There’s never been anything wrong with you.”
Something in Eduardo seems to turn over, and he wonders if it’s the baby or his heart.
“We’re going to have a baby girl,” Eduardo whispers.
Mark nods, breaking out into a rare, dimpled smile. He leans down and gives Eduardo a chaste kiss.
“Yeah, Wardo. Our baby girl,” he says, resting a hand on Eduardo’s stomach.
# # # # # # # # # #
-Day 158-
The one day Eduardo thinks ‘fuck it’ about his appearances and goes out for an early morning walk around Mark’s backyard in baggy sweatpants and an oversized hoodie is the one day the paparazzi are alerted about his whereabouts. He doesn’t spot any of them, or gets harassed - because he’s not on that level of fame - but his picture does appear on the Gawker the next day.
He tries to drown the horror of looking at his towering, mad hair and his sloppy outfit with a mix of nachos - organic - and dark chocolate - cheap, store-brand variety that is more sugar than cocoa. He doesn’t like either very much, but they seem like a fitting combination to go with his internal pain when he thinks about the world seeing him in such an unkempt state.
Eduardo has a lot of issues, he knows that much, even if he doesn’t like acknowledging them, but he’s not obsessed about his looks. He knows he usually looks fine, and he’s allowed his friends to see him when he was puffy, drippy and disgusting from the flu. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it feels like one right now. He can’t bear to look at the pictures of himself again, and for reasons that aren’t clear but weigh heavily anyway, he feels depressed and unprepared to face the world.
It’s a good thing that the Facebook headquarters stocks all types of unhealthy junk food.
They hadn’t found out about the image until it was lunchtime, when Chris sent Eduardo a panicked message not to check Gawker. Right, like that would work. Eduardo didn’t read the article, only looked at the pictures, and that was enough to cause him to knock over his glass of water and swear. Mark had taken a look at his phone as well but hadn’t really seen what was wrong, because Eduardo looked like Eduardo and he looked fine - which isn’t comforting, because sometimes, Mark has no standards whatsoever.
“Look, you think it’s fine, but you also think flip-flops and a six year old North Face hoodie is fine for a press release. Your opinion is invalid,” Eduardo had explained through clenched teeth. “I don’t like to be seen as a bum by the general public just because they caught me on a bad morning, okay?”
Apparently, that had been enough for Mark to concede that his expertise didn’t lie in personal appearance or grooming, though he had muttered that Eduardo still looked stupidly attractive on his bad mornings, which was flattering and did assuage some of Eduardo’s unhappiness. But Mark hadn’t been pleased about the location of the photos, and wanted to go back to the office to deal with it.
They had cut their lunch short and headed back to Facebook. Eduardo didn’t have any meetings for the rest of the day, so he hadn’t minded being dragged to Facebook with Mark. Apparently, Mark is reluctant to let Eduardo out of his sight when Eduardo’s being ‘emotional’, according to him.
Then Mark reads the rest of the article on Gawker, and he reaches apocalyptical levels of ‘emotional’.
“I will sue you,” he’s snarling into the phone.
Dustin is staring wide-eyed at him, and trying to make motions to Mark to get off the phone.
Mark carries on with frightening intensity. “I will sue your company for every last cent. No, I’ll buy your company and fire every single one of you useless hacks that pretend to be journalists over there.”
Dustin looks at Eduardo with pleading eyes, trying to get him to step in and stop Mark from raining terror down on Gawker’s editor.
Except Eduardo is too busy moping over how fat he had looked in the sweatpants, and how his face had that one small pimple on his nose when he’s usually blemish-free. Damn these crazy hormones, fucking up with his flawless complexion. He’s fat, he’s pimply, he’s useless, and the world hates him.
He slouches further down the couch and rummages among his snacks.
“I wish I could drink wine,” bemoans Eduardo. “Or alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.”
“Who wrote that article? Because I’ll make sure he never works anywhere ever again,” says Mark, anger thrumming beneath the surface of his factual tone.
Dustin wisely skitters out of the office, probably to fetch Chris. Eduardo stuffs a cheap, chalky piece of chocolate into his mouth and relishes the utter wrongness of what he’s doing. His phone rings, and he answers it desultorily.
“Being pregnant doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep up your appearance. Presentation is essential in the business world,” snaps out his father’s voice from the phone.
Eduardo glares at it. “It’s hard to be presentable when you feel like a beached whale flailing around in front of an audience all the time, being forced into uncomfortable fat man suits and not being able to drink anything stronger than orange juice!”
He ends the call, knowing he’ll get Hell for it later but not caring. For added measure, he throws his phone vengefully against the wall, where it bounces off harmlessly. He can’t even work up the energy to really use his arm strength, but the phone could have at least cracked satisfyingly or made some loud sound on impact. Damn iPhones and their protective casings. He’s going to go buy a phone with an Android platform just for that, no matter how much Mark hates Google.
Chris runs into Mark’s office with Dustin, just as Mark is gaining unstoppable momentum. “Yes, I’m serious. What gave you the impression that I’m not serious? What part of this conversation led you to believe that I’m not serious about assholes printing bullshit about my- Wardo. Are you really that stupid to think that I would joke about these things?”
“Fuck,” Chris swears.
He can’t stop Mark without prying his mobile phone out of his hands, and Eduardo suspects that Chris would prefer to avoid resorting to physical violence in Mark’s office that is made entirely of glass walls. Eduardo watches with fascination to see how Chris and Dustin will try to stop Mark. He chews on a piece of nacho as Chris rounds the table and tries to reason with Mark even as Mark continues talking with steady, rapid-fire venom into the phone. Dustin goes around the desk as well and tries to grab Mark’s hand, to no avail as Mark hunkers down against his chair. This is starting to look like the beginning of a Three Stooges routine.
Eduardo feels a strong push inside his belly. He’s starting to get used to this feeling, smiling to himself sometimes when he registers the baby moving about in his stomach. He imagines her getting comfortable in him, shifting into her favorite positions. He’s not smiling now, but he wonders if she registers the raised voices in the room and wants to know what’s going on. Eduardo rolls his eyes at his own overactive imagination. She’s probably just waking up or something. He places a hand on his stomach, feeling her move about and wincing at her strong motions.
He blinks and stares down at his hand on his rounded stomach. Did he feel-?
Tentatively, he pulls his large shirt out of his pants and lifts it up a little. He stares as a little bump appears and disappears on the surface of his skin. Fuck, that looks freaky. He knows he’s getting a little wild-eyed.
“Mark,” he says, voice uncertain.
But Mark is too busy reaming someone else out. “Not having enough brains or talent to write an interesting story isn’t a reason to make up shit about us. You’re going to print an apology, you’re going to retract your speculation about Eduardo living like a hobo now that he’s suffering an unwanted pregnancy, and if any of your fucking photographers ever take a picture of Eduardo or myself on our private property with whatever telescopic lens you have, I will expose every single one of your dirty, disgusting secrets, and have you committed to an asylum for your pure insanity and stupidity-”
“Mark!” Eduardo raises his voice.
Mark snaps out of his rage, head turning to Eduardo so quickly that he might have given himself whiplash.
Eduardo’s eyes must be huge and panicked. “This is strange.”
Mark comes over immediately, practically sprinting over with his eyes on Eduardo’s exposed belly. Chris manages to snatch the phone out of Mark’s hand, and smoothly takes over the conversation.
Chris says in a calming tone, “I’m Chris Hughes, Mark’s PR Executive. Mark is understandably upset by the falsities published in your magazine, and I’m sure we can reach a compromise about this.”
But Eduardo’s tuning him out by now. Mark is staring between Eduardo’s face and his belly with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Mark asks in agitation.
Eduardo nods. “I’m- I’m okay. But Mark-”
He doesn’t know what to say and just pulls Mark’s hand over on top of his belly. The baby’s been moving constantly for the past few minutes, and she doesn’t stop now. Mark visibly freezes as he obviously feels her movement.
“It’s the baby,” he says, voice tinged with awe.
Eduardo nods. “Yeah. And look, just- look.”
They stare at his stomach, and after a few seconds, they see a small bump bounce under Eduardo’s skin.
“Holy shit,” whispers Mark.
Eduardo grabs the wrist of Mark’s hand that’s still pressed against his belly. He grips on tightly.
“Mark, this is kinda freaky right?” asks Eduardo, feeling a little freaked out and like a bad parent for freaking out.
He can’t help it though. It looks like there should be quiet creepy music in the background before something bursts out of his belly.
“Totally freaky,” says Mark, looking a little shocked as well.
“Absolutely freaky,” chimes in Dustin.
Eduardo looks up. “Dustin, you fucking stop filming now, or I’m going to kick you in the nuts.”
“Jeez, those hormones are really out of whack,” says Dustin, lowering his iPhone.
Eduardo flips him off.
Mark hasn’t taken his eyes off Eduardo’s belly. “The books, they mentioned something about this. It’s more visible because you’re thin, so the movement of the baby is closer to the skin, and you’ve no fat to obscure the movement.”
They stare and watch as another little movement is visible across his stomach.
“Still freaky,” says Eduardo.
“Seconded,” says Dustin.
“Thirded.” Mark stares some more. “Um, it only gets more obvious as the baby grows.”
“I know,” says Eduardo, biting his lower lip.
They’re quiet for a moment, with Chris providing background noise as he quietly and verbally twists the balls of the editor and extracts his reluctant cooperation.
“It’s freaky,” says Mark. “But kind of cool, right?”
Eduardo shifts his hand to overlap Mark’s a little. He feels the baby’s movement from inside his belly, and through their hands as well.
“Yeah, okay. Maybe,” he concedes.
Dustin secretly continues filming, and Eduardo doesn’t have the heart to threaten him again.
# # # # # # # # # #
Continue to Part 8
End note: I actually looked up Youtube videos to see the earliest you could see baby movement on the surface of the mom’s stomach. WHAT IS THIS LIFE. /o\
Fic Title: Days Go By Like A Ticking Bomb (7/12)
Pairing: Mark/Eduardo
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~3700 words for Part 7
Summary: The one where Eduardo gets pregnant, and becomes the target of Mark's single-minded focus.
Note: This fic is for elefante_locura's mpreg prompt as part of help_japan. Hearts-in-eyes to economic for beta-ing this part! All mistakes are my own, and please feel free to comment/PM me with corrections if you spot any errors!
Please note that Chris and Dustin are still working with Mark in this verse.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
-Day 140-
Eduardo has never felt like a glutton before in his life. He likes food, but he’s never been fond of snacking or eating more than he should.
But he’s starting to understand the urge to just keep eating all the time. While he had a loss of appetite at the beginning of the pregnancy, he’s just hungry constantly now. He hasn’t eaten in the last six hours - since he is going for a check-up - and he feels like he has been starving for days.
Along with the hunger, he’s horny around the clock and ready for a quickie at almost any time of the day. So, he decides they really should have sex to distract his body from hunger. Just like how he decided to have sex yesterday morning to distract Mark from doing a background check on Eduardo’s neighbors, and to have sex last night as a reason to stop himself from watching Hawaii Five-0. Good reasons all around.
“I want to fuck you,” he whispers to Mark, coming up behind him.
Mark likes fucking Eduardo and Eduardo likes to be fucked, so it all works out. But once in awhile, Eduardo likes to spread Mark out and be the one fucking him through the mattress. Mark’s usually enthusiastic whichever way he gets his rocks off.
“Fuck, okay,” says Mark immediately.
They’re supposed to take a shower and get ready for their appointment, but watching Mark strip for said shower has a certain effect on Eduardo.
Mark scrambles to the side table to pull out the lube, and seeing his smooth pale ass flex as he bends over sends a thrill of arousal through Eduardo. He undoes his pants and pulls out his cock, stroking it while Mark rummages for a condom to reduce the upcoming mess, since they’re in a rush. Mark turns around, a strip of condoms and a bottle of lube in hand, and he licks his lips when he sees Eduardo stroking his hardening cock.
This time, Eduardo doesn’t want Mark undressing him. There’ll be enough of Eduardo undressing in front of people later on. He’s happy to keep most of his clothes on as he touches himself, watching Mark’s eyes dilate at the sight.
“On your hands and knees on the bed,” orders Eduardo, smiling when Mark glares at him before obeying.
It’s ridiculously hot whenever Mark does as he says. It’s even hotter that Mark is naked, but Eduardo is mostly dressed. He presses up against Mark’s ass, just so he feels the rub of Eduardo’s pants against his skin. Mark shivers in response, and it’s enough to get Eduardo hurrying things along.
His slick fingers open Mark up, and he whispers filthy things into Mark’s ear as he twists and curls his fingers. He talks about how he wants to fuck Mark at Facebook one day, watch as Mark stumbles out of the doors on shaky legs once Eduardo is done fucking him on a conference table. He tells Mark how tight he feels since they don’t do it this way often, and Mark needs to relax for him because he knows Mark really wants a cock up his ass right now.
Eduardo pushes into Mark to the beat of his words, groans at the clenching heat around his cock and the way Mark grips the sheets with his white-knuckled hands. He draws a hand down Mark’s sweating back, feels him arch into Eduardo, presses him in place by the small of his back and drives into Mark from behind.
“You’re so open for me,” Eduardo whispers. “Look at you, just taking me all in.”
Mark can be so tightly controlled sometimes, but Eduardo knows his weakness for dirty talk. Especially dirty talk that spills from Eduardo’s lips.
And Mark rewards his efforts with a deep, desperate moan, driving himself back onto Eduardo, and that’s so fucking hot.
“C’mon- Wardo, come on,” gasps Mark, usually crisp words almost slurring.
“You feel amazing, fuck, Mark, you’re so good- I could do this all fucking day,” grunts Eduardo incoherently, and he ups his tempo, thrusting so hard that Mark starts sliding up the mattress.
He doesn’t know how long they go at this, watching his cock slide in and out of Mark as Mark makes the most obscene moans and grunts beneath him. He feels his balls drawing up, and the build-up is suddenly unbearable.
He barely gets a hand around Mark’s almost painfully hard erection before Mark stiffens up completely and comes in jerky thrusts, dragging Eduardo down into his own orgasm with every pulse and clench of his body.
They collapse onto the bed as Mark’s limbs give out on him, and there’s a moment of awkward rolling as Eduardo’s rounded belly slides off his back.
Holding the condom around his softening cock, Eduardo stares up at the ceiling. “Fuck, I want to do that again.”
Mark groans.
# # # # # # # # # #
They’re fifteen minutes late for their appointment.
Lying on the examination table, Eduardo looks like he has swallowed a bowling ball, which is just awkward. He’s had to get a bigger coat, and he rarely takes it off in public. Of course, he’s taken it off for this check up, and he’s revealing his round stomach to the doctor now.
The gel still feels as cold as ever against his skin.
Mark is staring raptly at the ultrasound machine as Doctor Gupta moves the probe around. The fetus’ head and limbs are much more visible now, with little tiny grasping fingers. Watching Mark’s total concentration on the monitor, Eduardo wonders if Mark will look at him like that again when the baby’s out.
Eduardo stifles the thought, because he doesn’t want to be a fucked up parent. He refuses to be jealous of his own kid.
“Eduardo, you’re in perfect health, and the baby’s growth seems to be progressing well,” says Doctor Gupta cheerfully.
He had talked to them earlier about his alpha fetoprotein testing, which confirmed that the fetus is fine.
“Will it affect the baby if we listen to too much pop music?” asks Mark abruptly.
Doctor Gupta looks a little confused. “Fetuses do react to external stimuli, but I’m not sure if there’s been any research on the effects of a genre on a fetus.”
Eduardo rolls his eyes. “Mark, don’t be ridiculous.”
“You do listen to a lot of pop music,” points out Mark with a shrug. “Can pregnancy affect Wardo’s tastes in TV shows? He’s started to watch this vapid TV musical about high school students, and I’m wondering if his brain chemistry is subtly changed by his pregnancy hormones so that he-”
“Mark!”
Doctor Gupta is smart enough to quickly interrupt with, “Would you like to know the sex of your baby?”
It’s a good distraction, because the both of them stare at him with wide eyes for a moment. Then, Mark squints at the monitor like he can figure it out himself by staring at it long enough. He turns to Eduardo with raised eyebrows, but Eduardo feels a little lost. He hasn’t thought about this, whether he wants to know now or later. He can’t really think of any reason to keep this a surprise, so he nods.
“Yeah, you can tell us now,” says Eduardo, trying to keep his voice from wavering.
Is he a bad parent that he didn’t even think about this?
Doctor Gupta smiles. “You’ll have a baby girl.”
Mark slips a hand into Eduardo’s own and squeezes down really hard. It’s alright, because Eduardo needs the pain to ground him, to cling on to through the words ‘a baby girl’.
It’s going to be a baby girl. They’re going to have a daughter.
It’s the first time that Eduardo thinks of the baby as, well, a baby, rather than an alien growth in him.
He squeezes Mark’s hand in return.
Doctor Gupta wipes the gel from his stomach, and says something about preparing the ultrasound images and waiting for them in his office.
Eduardo pulls his T-shirt down in a haze, using one hand since the other is still accosted by Mark’s. Mark stares at him with unreadable blue eyes.
“Did you want a girl?” asks Eduardo.
Mark shrugs. “No preference.”
Eduardo looks down. “That’s not possible. Surely people have a preference about this sort of thing. They want a boy or a girl because of how they want to- to bond or something, and they plan for it, don’t they, people plan for this-”
Mark ducks down so that he can meet Eduardo’s eyes. “You’re freaking out. Wardo, calm down.”
“I haven’t thought about it. I haven’t thought about this- all this, at all,” says Eduardo, the faintest waver in his voice.
“I have,” says Mark. “I’ve thought about whether it’s a girl or a boy. There doesn’t seem to be much difference in the first couple years anyway. Unless we had twins, then there would be less sleep for the both of us.”
Eduardo blinks up at him. “You’ve thought about this.”
“I just said I have,” says Mark with a frown.
“I haven’t. I read the books, and I take the vitamins, but I haven’t really thought about this, and how I need to be a- a parent because- I’m only thinking of her as a baby right this moment. There’s something wrong with me, I don’t think I’m going to be a good dad, Mark,” says Eduardo, eyes darting back to his swollen stomach in a panic.
Mark grabs his shoulders and shakes him a little. “Don’t be stupid, Wardo. You’re going to be an amazing dad.”
He says it with such conviction, like he’s stating a fact in his usual flat tone.
Mark continues, “You’re just- you haven’t processed it yet, but you’re processing it now. I thought you had been taking the pregnancy too calmly when you’re usually a lot more- excitable. It’s alright to start thinking about it now, you don’t have to do all of it before the first six months.”
It constantly surprises Eduardo that Mark might have difficulty reading people in general, but he has his own special insight into Eduardo.
“Yeah. Okay, alright,” says Eduardo inanely, trying to take deep breaths to calm down.
Mark lifts their entwined hands and presses a kiss to Eduardo’s wrist tenderly. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Wardo. There’s never been anything wrong with you.”
Something in Eduardo seems to turn over, and he wonders if it’s the baby or his heart.
“We’re going to have a baby girl,” Eduardo whispers.
Mark nods, breaking out into a rare, dimpled smile. He leans down and gives Eduardo a chaste kiss.
“Yeah, Wardo. Our baby girl,” he says, resting a hand on Eduardo’s stomach.
# # # # # # # # # #
-Day 158-
The one day Eduardo thinks ‘fuck it’ about his appearances and goes out for an early morning walk around Mark’s backyard in baggy sweatpants and an oversized hoodie is the one day the paparazzi are alerted about his whereabouts. He doesn’t spot any of them, or gets harassed - because he’s not on that level of fame - but his picture does appear on the Gawker the next day.
He tries to drown the horror of looking at his towering, mad hair and his sloppy outfit with a mix of nachos - organic - and dark chocolate - cheap, store-brand variety that is more sugar than cocoa. He doesn’t like either very much, but they seem like a fitting combination to go with his internal pain when he thinks about the world seeing him in such an unkempt state.
Eduardo has a lot of issues, he knows that much, even if he doesn’t like acknowledging them, but he’s not obsessed about his looks. He knows he usually looks fine, and he’s allowed his friends to see him when he was puffy, drippy and disgusting from the flu. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it feels like one right now. He can’t bear to look at the pictures of himself again, and for reasons that aren’t clear but weigh heavily anyway, he feels depressed and unprepared to face the world.
It’s a good thing that the Facebook headquarters stocks all types of unhealthy junk food.
They hadn’t found out about the image until it was lunchtime, when Chris sent Eduardo a panicked message not to check Gawker. Right, like that would work. Eduardo didn’t read the article, only looked at the pictures, and that was enough to cause him to knock over his glass of water and swear. Mark had taken a look at his phone as well but hadn’t really seen what was wrong, because Eduardo looked like Eduardo and he looked fine - which isn’t comforting, because sometimes, Mark has no standards whatsoever.
“Look, you think it’s fine, but you also think flip-flops and a six year old North Face hoodie is fine for a press release. Your opinion is invalid,” Eduardo had explained through clenched teeth. “I don’t like to be seen as a bum by the general public just because they caught me on a bad morning, okay?”
Apparently, that had been enough for Mark to concede that his expertise didn’t lie in personal appearance or grooming, though he had muttered that Eduardo still looked stupidly attractive on his bad mornings, which was flattering and did assuage some of Eduardo’s unhappiness. But Mark hadn’t been pleased about the location of the photos, and wanted to go back to the office to deal with it.
They had cut their lunch short and headed back to Facebook. Eduardo didn’t have any meetings for the rest of the day, so he hadn’t minded being dragged to Facebook with Mark. Apparently, Mark is reluctant to let Eduardo out of his sight when Eduardo’s being ‘emotional’, according to him.
Then Mark reads the rest of the article on Gawker, and he reaches apocalyptical levels of ‘emotional’.
“I will sue you,” he’s snarling into the phone.
Dustin is staring wide-eyed at him, and trying to make motions to Mark to get off the phone.
Mark carries on with frightening intensity. “I will sue your company for every last cent. No, I’ll buy your company and fire every single one of you useless hacks that pretend to be journalists over there.”
Dustin looks at Eduardo with pleading eyes, trying to get him to step in and stop Mark from raining terror down on Gawker’s editor.
Except Eduardo is too busy moping over how fat he had looked in the sweatpants, and how his face had that one small pimple on his nose when he’s usually blemish-free. Damn these crazy hormones, fucking up with his flawless complexion. He’s fat, he’s pimply, he’s useless, and the world hates him.
He slouches further down the couch and rummages among his snacks.
“I wish I could drink wine,” bemoans Eduardo. “Or alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.”
“Who wrote that article? Because I’ll make sure he never works anywhere ever again,” says Mark, anger thrumming beneath the surface of his factual tone.
Dustin wisely skitters out of the office, probably to fetch Chris. Eduardo stuffs a cheap, chalky piece of chocolate into his mouth and relishes the utter wrongness of what he’s doing. His phone rings, and he answers it desultorily.
“Being pregnant doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep up your appearance. Presentation is essential in the business world,” snaps out his father’s voice from the phone.
Eduardo glares at it. “It’s hard to be presentable when you feel like a beached whale flailing around in front of an audience all the time, being forced into uncomfortable fat man suits and not being able to drink anything stronger than orange juice!”
He ends the call, knowing he’ll get Hell for it later but not caring. For added measure, he throws his phone vengefully against the wall, where it bounces off harmlessly. He can’t even work up the energy to really use his arm strength, but the phone could have at least cracked satisfyingly or made some loud sound on impact. Damn iPhones and their protective casings. He’s going to go buy a phone with an Android platform just for that, no matter how much Mark hates Google.
Chris runs into Mark’s office with Dustin, just as Mark is gaining unstoppable momentum. “Yes, I’m serious. What gave you the impression that I’m not serious? What part of this conversation led you to believe that I’m not serious about assholes printing bullshit about my- Wardo. Are you really that stupid to think that I would joke about these things?”
“Fuck,” Chris swears.
He can’t stop Mark without prying his mobile phone out of his hands, and Eduardo suspects that Chris would prefer to avoid resorting to physical violence in Mark’s office that is made entirely of glass walls. Eduardo watches with fascination to see how Chris and Dustin will try to stop Mark. He chews on a piece of nacho as Chris rounds the table and tries to reason with Mark even as Mark continues talking with steady, rapid-fire venom into the phone. Dustin goes around the desk as well and tries to grab Mark’s hand, to no avail as Mark hunkers down against his chair. This is starting to look like the beginning of a Three Stooges routine.
Eduardo feels a strong push inside his belly. He’s starting to get used to this feeling, smiling to himself sometimes when he registers the baby moving about in his stomach. He imagines her getting comfortable in him, shifting into her favorite positions. He’s not smiling now, but he wonders if she registers the raised voices in the room and wants to know what’s going on. Eduardo rolls his eyes at his own overactive imagination. She’s probably just waking up or something. He places a hand on his stomach, feeling her move about and wincing at her strong motions.
He blinks and stares down at his hand on his rounded stomach. Did he feel-?
Tentatively, he pulls his large shirt out of his pants and lifts it up a little. He stares as a little bump appears and disappears on the surface of his skin. Fuck, that looks freaky. He knows he’s getting a little wild-eyed.
“Mark,” he says, voice uncertain.
But Mark is too busy reaming someone else out. “Not having enough brains or talent to write an interesting story isn’t a reason to make up shit about us. You’re going to print an apology, you’re going to retract your speculation about Eduardo living like a hobo now that he’s suffering an unwanted pregnancy, and if any of your fucking photographers ever take a picture of Eduardo or myself on our private property with whatever telescopic lens you have, I will expose every single one of your dirty, disgusting secrets, and have you committed to an asylum for your pure insanity and stupidity-”
“Mark!” Eduardo raises his voice.
Mark snaps out of his rage, head turning to Eduardo so quickly that he might have given himself whiplash.
Eduardo’s eyes must be huge and panicked. “This is strange.”
Mark comes over immediately, practically sprinting over with his eyes on Eduardo’s exposed belly. Chris manages to snatch the phone out of Mark’s hand, and smoothly takes over the conversation.
Chris says in a calming tone, “I’m Chris Hughes, Mark’s PR Executive. Mark is understandably upset by the falsities published in your magazine, and I’m sure we can reach a compromise about this.”
But Eduardo’s tuning him out by now. Mark is staring between Eduardo’s face and his belly with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Mark asks in agitation.
Eduardo nods. “I’m- I’m okay. But Mark-”
He doesn’t know what to say and just pulls Mark’s hand over on top of his belly. The baby’s been moving constantly for the past few minutes, and she doesn’t stop now. Mark visibly freezes as he obviously feels her movement.
“It’s the baby,” he says, voice tinged with awe.
Eduardo nods. “Yeah. And look, just- look.”
They stare at his stomach, and after a few seconds, they see a small bump bounce under Eduardo’s skin.
“Holy shit,” whispers Mark.
Eduardo grabs the wrist of Mark’s hand that’s still pressed against his belly. He grips on tightly.
“Mark, this is kinda freaky right?” asks Eduardo, feeling a little freaked out and like a bad parent for freaking out.
He can’t help it though. It looks like there should be quiet creepy music in the background before something bursts out of his belly.
“Totally freaky,” says Mark, looking a little shocked as well.
“Absolutely freaky,” chimes in Dustin.
Eduardo looks up. “Dustin, you fucking stop filming now, or I’m going to kick you in the nuts.”
“Jeez, those hormones are really out of whack,” says Dustin, lowering his iPhone.
Eduardo flips him off.
Mark hasn’t taken his eyes off Eduardo’s belly. “The books, they mentioned something about this. It’s more visible because you’re thin, so the movement of the baby is closer to the skin, and you’ve no fat to obscure the movement.”
They stare and watch as another little movement is visible across his stomach.
“Still freaky,” says Eduardo.
“Seconded,” says Dustin.
“Thirded.” Mark stares some more. “Um, it only gets more obvious as the baby grows.”
“I know,” says Eduardo, biting his lower lip.
They’re quiet for a moment, with Chris providing background noise as he quietly and verbally twists the balls of the editor and extracts his reluctant cooperation.
“It’s freaky,” says Mark. “But kind of cool, right?”
Eduardo shifts his hand to overlap Mark’s a little. He feels the baby’s movement from inside his belly, and through their hands as well.
“Yeah, okay. Maybe,” he concedes.
Dustin secretly continues filming, and Eduardo doesn’t have the heart to threaten him again.
# # # # # # # # # #
Continue to Part 8
End note: I actually looked up Youtube videos to see the earliest you could see baby movement on the surface of the mom’s stomach. WHAT IS THIS LIFE. /o\