Chapter Text
The morning started rather interestingly. First of all, Blade woke up to two feet of snow outside their house, which was a bit surprising but not unwelcome. And then, while doing his morning stretches, he heard rapid steps on the wooden floor, the bathroom door slam and someone throw up. Well… That would be about it for a calm, winter morning. Blade just sighed and got up to go check on whoever got sick.
Somehow it didn’t surprise him that it was Dusty. But he didn’t mention it and just went to fetch him a glass of water. He checked on Nick while he was at it, and the other was still out cold, buried in the soft sheets of their bed. Well, at least one of Blade’s partners was fine. He could deal with Dusty alone for now, he didn’t need to involve Nick.
“It sucks to get a stomach bug on Christmas Eve, huh?” Blade brushed Dusty’s hair away from his forehead and then touched the top of his hand to it, to check for a fever. But Dusty didn’t feel overly warm, if anything he looked like he was cold, shivering a bit where he was sitting on the bathroom floor.
“I don’t think it’s a stomach bug…” Dusty mumbled, looking like he was solving a logic puzzle. “Uh, I… Can you leave? I- I have to pee.” he asked all of a sudden, looking a bit startled.
“Yeah, I’ll… Ask Nick to make you some ginger tea.” Blade nodded but couldn’t help feeling suspicious at the sudden alarm on Dusty’s face. But well, who was Blade to interrogate Dusty over getting sick.
Dusty jumped to the door to lock it after Blade left and hurried to the sink cabinet. He started roaming through it, and then moved to the mirror cabinet when he didn’t find what he was looking for. He could swear he had it somewhere in the bathroom. He dug through a stash of various painkillers and meds for an upset stomach, ADHD, anxiety, migraines and hypertension and finally found a small box shoved to the very back of the shelf. He snatched it and practically ripped it open with shaky hands.
“Fuck, please, don’t let that be it…” he mumbled, taking a pregnancy test out of the mangled box. He’d been feeling off and ill for the past week, but he really hoped it seriously was just a stomach bug.
Meanwhile, Blade went to wake up Nick. He didn’t want to burn the house down while trying to make tea for poor Dusty, so he had to ask for some assistance from Nick. The younger man was not happy about getting shaken out of sleep, and it took some huffing and puffing from him to finally fully awake.
“What do you want, it’s Christmas…” Nick groaned, pulling a pillow over his head.
“Dusty’s sick, he was throwing up some time ago, I promised to get him ginger tea.” Blade explained, feeling really stupid all of a sudden.
“Mhm, and you want me to make it?” Nick raised his brow after pulling the pillow off of his face.
“I don’t want to burn the house down.” Blade admitted.
“Yeah, go figure… Okay… He better not have some stomach virus or we’re gonna have the worst Christmas ever.” Nick mumbled, slowly crawling out of bed. He was pretty happy to see the snow in their backyard, and finally ended up being in a pretty good mood. He made the tea while Blade hugged him from the back, arms wrapped around him, face buried in his neck, occasionally placing a kiss or two on the soft skin. They barely noticed Dusty wandering into the kitchen, but finally Blade saw the redhead take his place on the kitchen counter, like he usually did when Nick was cooking.
“How’re ya feelin’ now, Champ?” Blade asked, and Dusty just gently swung his legs back and forth, looking like a beaten puppy. He held his hands in his lap, fingers intertwined with each other. Blade took a few steps in his direction, and reached out to grab his hand. But Dusty didn’t move, just looked away. “Okay, talk to me, Dusty. What’s wrong? Does anything hurt?”
“N-no, I just…” Dusty mumbled, his voice going quiet mid sentence. Blade furrowed his brow and just stepped forward to hug the redhead and kiss his forehead. He smelled toothpaste on him, so he decided to not shy away from a chaste kiss on the lips too.
“You can tell me, don’t worry.” Blade said, his warm breath brushing against Dusty’s face, icy blue eyes staring deep into azure ones. Dusty once again looked away, his eyes glittering slightly. He blinked away the tears, biting hard on his lip, and then just took a deep breath.
“I… Well, I’m… I’m pregnant.” he mumbled quietly, fidgeting with his hands. Blade just blinked, and Nick stopped stirring the pot of ginger tea on the stove.
“Come again..?” Blade wasn’t sure he heard that right, and was willing to blame heli pilot related hearing issues on it.
“I’m… Pregnant…” Dusty said, slowly and quietly, then he grabbed Blade’s hand and shoved something into it. He just looked down and noticed a pregnancy test in his palm. A positive pregnancy test.
“Shit.” he muttered, staring down at the two clear lines.
“¡Joder!, we don’t even know which one of us is the dad!” Nick called out, looking at Blade.
“Like that’s the most important thing right now, Nick!” Dusty snarled, tears filling his eyes yet again.
“Lo siento, pero… Y’know, it’s just… A bit sudden.”
“Hm, yeah, sure, maybe I should’ve somehow announced that I’m gonna get randomly pregnant with one of you even tho I haven’t had a period in years!” Dusty threw his hands up in the air so hard he almost smacked Blade right in the face.
“I didn’t say that, amor, I just– I’m surprised!”
“And you think I’m not..?! Don’t “amor” me, Nick!”
“Guys, please, there’s no need to–” Blade tried to deescalate the argument that was rising in their kitchen.
“Shut up!” both Nick and Dusty yelled at him at the same time, and he just shrunk.
“I’m literally terrified and all you are concerned about is which one of you fertilized me! Read the fucking room, cabrón!”
“Ay, no tienes ni idea how heavy that word is, you little shit!”
“Both of you, enough!! Jesus Chirst, are you both pregnant?! Quit arguing for fuck’s sake and talk like adults!” Blade yelled, but Dusty just pushed him away, jumped off the kitchen counter and ran to their bedroom, bursting into tears halfway there. “What the hell has gotten into you, Nick..?!” Blade snarled, turning to the brunette.
“Blade, look, I just– I freaked out, this is like a– A sitcom episode, this isn’t happening..! It’s like… Fuck, I don’t even know! I didn’t know he could get pregnant! How are you so calm about it..?!”
“Well… It’s not definite yet. He has choices, and depending on what he chooses, we need to help him with different things, which we’re going to do because we’re his partners.” Blade explained. "And he's very emotional right now, yelling at him is not the way to go and you know it, Nick. He just found out he's pregnant, for God's sake, you can't just cuss at him like that." Nick sighed, feeling horrible for how he treated poor Dusty. He had to somehow make it up to him…
"Yeah, you're right... Ugh, fuck..." he rubbed his face angrily. "I'll go talk to him." he grabbed a mug and poured the steaming hot tea into it.
Dusty was buried in the sheets, crying quietly. This was way too much for him. It was really sudden and he was just… Still in shock. Things happened, yes, but the three of them were always trying to be careful and use protection, and well, Dusty was on HRT for years which probably greatly limited his chance of having a baby. But it clearly wasn’t zero… Just… Why did it have to be now..? Things with Blade and Nick were still a bit new to him, and he was afraid that would make them leave him. They were the ones to offer a relationship, yes, but they were also married, and they probably didn’t need a baby to stir it up for them. Especially since Nick seemed to almost panic when he heard the news. And well... It was awkward as hell that they had no idea which one of them was the dad.
Maybe they didn't even want kids in the first place? Dusty wouldn't be surprised, honestly. He himself wasn't sure how he felt about raising children, let alone being pregnant and giving birth. He had relatively little dysphoria related to his body, since he'd always been a pretty small, skinny person with small chest and hips. He had top surgery so at least he wouldn't have to breastfeed if he ended up keeping the baby, but he was afraid of the other ways his body would change. And well, pregnancy wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, he knew how his mom struggled with both him and his sister. Fuck, he still felt nauseous and he didn't like it, and that was just morning sickness.
Maybe it was a false positive? Maybe he seriously just had some stomach virus..? But he's been feeling off for the past two weeks, and remembered how he struggled with getting ready for Christmas beause all of a sudden cooking and eating food didn't feel as appealing as they did previously. Random things made him nauseous. He was sore and cranky, dare he say moody at times. And he had those weird cramps, almost resembling period pains. He had a feeling something was going on with his body for a longer time, too long to just be some regular illness. He felt like he had to just accept that possibility, but he didn't like it. Especially since he wasn't sure where Blade and Nick stood with all that.
When Dusty heard steps getting closer to the bedroom, he just curled up tighter, knees against his chest, head buried under the blanket. He wiped away his tears, but more of them just came, when he remided himself how Nick reacted to him saying he's pregnant. Nick seemed almost angry. Dusty was scared of asking him about it. He felt super emotional, he was confused and he just didn't know what to do next. He didn't know how to talk with Blade and Nick about this situation. So he just remained hidden in bed, under a blanket, trying to not sob as he heard someone push down on the door handle.
“Hey.” Nick smiled warmly, walking into the room with a cup of ginger tea. “Here’s your tea.” he said, setting a steaming cup on the nightstand and sat down on the bed. Dusty just rolled over under the blankets and remained silent. “Okay, you’re angry at me, I get it. I didn’t really… Do the best of a job reacting to the pregnancy news… But look, it’s just as shocking to us as it is to you. You’re right tho, it doesn’t matter who the dad is, we’re both going to help you. How are ya feeling now? Any better?”
“Just a bit nauseous.” Dusty piped up.
“I’m sorry, hun. I really am. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Nick sounded genuinely remorseful. He sounded like he felt bad for the way he reacted, like he genuinely regretted the way he treated Dusty.
“Well, you were a little funny when you screamed that we don’t know who the dad is.” there was an audible smile in Dusy’s voice, and then he finally kicked off the blankets. “Like in a sitcom episode.”
“I said the same thing to Blade just a few minutes ago, haha.” Nick laughed, reaching out to hug Dusty, who just buried his face in his shoulder. “Do you… Want to keep the baby..?” he asked quietly.
“I don’t… Really know.”
“That’s okay. But we gotta get you to the doctor, you know? To make sure everything is okay in there.” Nick told him, and Dusty just nodded, reaching for the tea Nick brought him.
“You make the best ginger tea ever. I’m sorry I called you an asshole.” he said after taking a generous sip.
“Well, I’m proud of you learning Spanish from me, I just wish it wasn’t all swearwords.”
“They’re the easiest to remember tho.” Dusty smiled innocently, fluttering his eyelids. Nick just leaned in to give him a kiss on the forehead.
"I'm really, really sorry. I didn't consider how you may feel with all that. I forgot that this is about you and your body first and foremost, not my feelings related to this." he said and Dusty took a shaky breath, wiping away new tears.
"I-it's fine, you have the right to be just as shocked as I am. Y-you know, it just... It just made me feel like the most important thing to you was... Knowing which one of you is the dad and not... Trying to figure out what to do about... The pregnancy..." he explained, looking away from Nick, scared that he was going to cry again. Nick just reached out to grab his hand, and gently rubbed his palm with his thumb.
"I know. You were right calling me an asshole. I acted like a complete dickhead, you know?"
"Happens to the best of us. We're gonna figure it out somehow, yeah? I'll... I suppose I can try taking another test to make sure it wasn't a false positive and then... Call my doctor, get an appointment..." the redhead took a deep breath, and Nick leaned in to hug him again, sensing that Dusty seriously needed his support right now. "I'm getting a little hungry now, honestly." he mumbled into Nick's neck, enjoying his body heat and the gentle pressure of the other's arms around him.
"I'm glad you're feeling better. Finish your tea, and I'll get you some food."
Dusty stayed in the bedroom, while Nick went to make them all some breakfast. He called Blade in, because Dusty wanted cuddles, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to leave making breakfast to Blade, especially when it involved cooking anything. He just accepted his fate and ended up laying in bed, with Dusty tucked safely against him, just talking a bit about unrelated things.
“If I… Keep the baby…” Dusty started quietly at some point. “You won’t dump me, right..?” he mumbled, tears filling his eyes.
“Champ, of course not. We love ya.” Blade nuzzled the back of his neck and kissed the pale skin, nose buried in ginger curls. “Actually… If you kept the baby, that would be… The best Christmas gift ever.” he said shyly, and Dusty just swallowed nervously. “But I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m puttin’ pressure on ya.”
“So you… Want children?” Dusty laid his hand on Blade’s wrist where his arms were wrapped around him from the back.
“I always did. Nick mostly too. We just… Y’know. Adoption is tricky. And we weren’t sure if our job’s very compatible with raising a kid. So we just… Decided maybe it’s better not to have one. But now… A-and please don’t take that as being used as a surrogate for us, that’s not my intention. I want to have that baby with you and raise them together with you and Nick. We’re a family, huh?”
“Even if… It’s not your kid..?”
“Well, it’s either mine or Nick’s from what I know, so… Our kid regardless.” Blade nuzzled his cheek, and Dusty just nodded with a nervous sigh. “You seriously don’t have to keep it tho. I know better than to force someone to give birth. You don’t have to want children just ‘cause we do either.”
“I… I do want kids, I just… I was just worried this might be… Too much for you guys. That, you know, it’s… Complicated.”
“Life is complicated, Champ.” Blade smiled, looking at him. “You don’t have to choose now. We’re gonna go to the doctor and see.” he offered.
“I’m sorry for… Messing up Christmas.” Dusty mumbled, still a little unsure.
“Don’t worry. You just made it a bit… Interesting.” Blade rolled his eyes playfully, and then both of them started laughing quietly.
“Breakfast’s ready!” Nick called out, and both of them got up, Blade helping Dusty get out of bed while holding his hand. They went to the kitchen, holding hands and decided to discuss what they were going to do next.