Symbol on the Surface Chapter 4
WC: 2,1k
Relationship: SwissAlps
Tags: Transmasc Swiss, Pregnancy, Food Repulsion, Fluff, Tickling, Panic Attack, Pregnancy Announcement, More Fluff
“Say what?” Mountain asks, confused.
“That you are going to be an amazing father.”
“I am going to be an amazing father.”
Notes: Tysm to @jimothybarnes for beta reading :3
Chapter 1 here or on AO3.
Read chapter 4 under the cut or on AO3.
Swiss and Mountain leave for their cabin in the woods the next morning.
The earth ghoul insists on carrying all of their stuff himself, only letting Swiss drag a lightweight cart with food. He may be barely two months pregnant, but Mountain is not willing to risk putting him in any kind of physical distress.
The cabin is quite deep in the forest, but it’s not a terribly long walk. They’re both still tired so it takes them a little longer than usual, but soon enough they make it.
Mountain makes Swiss lay down and do…well, absolutely nothing for most of the day, claiming that the walk itself was enough physical activity for the day. Swiss giggles at his overprotectiveness, but obliges. In the meantime the earth ghoul cleans up a little and then moves on to making dinner for them when it’s starting to get late.
It smells and looks absolutely delicious, but when Mountain sets the plate before his mate, Swiss’ stomach turns unpleasantly.
“Sorry, my love,” Swiss mumbles, “it looks great, but I just…I can’t eat, I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be sorry,” Mountain smiles softly and comes up to cup his mate’s cheek with his hand. “It’s probably all the stress, it’s okay.”
Swiss leans into his touch and closes his eyes. The earth ghoul crouches down to embrace him fully, but gets a better idea after a second. He worms one of his arms under Swiss’ ass and picks him up; he yelps as Mountain stands up and turns to the bed.
“What about your food?” Swiss whines dramatically, stretching the last word out. Mountain gently puts him on the bed on his back and fluffs up the pile of pillows around him.
“I’ll heat it up later,” he shrugs. For a moment the multi ghoul thinks his mate is trying to eat something else—which he would decline this time, not being in the mood—but Mountain moves further and further down until he’s off the bed entirely, kneeling at the foot of it. He takes the fluffy socks Swiss’ is sporting off, wraps his long fingers around his feet and digs his thumbs in.
“What are you doing?” he giggles as Mountain leans down to kiss the arch of his left foot while massaging it.
“Giving you a foot rub,” he explains bluntly.
“I can see that, but why? I’m not that pregnant yet.”
“Are you telling me I can’t dote on my mate whenever I feel like it?” The earth ghoul looks up at him with one eyebrow raised comically high, making Swiss snort.
“You look ridiculous!” he laughs. “Like that–that one emoji!”
Mountain can’t hold out for longer and bursts out laughing too. He drops his head and the sight of Swiss’ feet right in front of his face gives him an idea. He changes the heavy rubbing of his thumbs to lighter touches that immediately make the multi ghoul start squirming and squealing.
“No, oh my–no, Mountain, don’t–don’t tickle me!” he yells in between breathy giggles, but Mountain knows he isn’t actually asking him to stop. He knows when to do so; it’s when Swiss’ breathing starts to get a little wheezy and his toes curl.
The earth ghoul crawls up the bed, then, to hover over Swiss and only leans down to kiss him on the tip of his nose. He pulls him down and Mountain falls into the plush bedding right next to him.
They’re quiet for a moment, before Swiss speaks again, “My brain just provided me with an image of you playing with our kits like this.”
Mountain’s chest warms.
“I can’t wait,” he sighs.
“Me neither,” Swiss adds.
After five days in the woods, Mountain and Swiss decide they have rested enough and are ready to go back to the Abbey. They make their way back around midday, spend some time in their room, and then move to the kitchen.
Mountain texted the band’s new group chat earlier, saying that he and Swiss are making dinner this evening and that everyone—including Copia—is invited because there is also going to be an important announcement made.
Cooking side by side effectively took the expecting parents’ minds off of the conversation they are going to have soon, and now as they’re eating with their family they both think—unknowingly—about the same thing.
How these kits couldn’t have been sent into a better pack.
Swiss still doesn’t eat much (they have been told by Omega that food repulsion is common at this stage, so they’re not worried), but enjoys the light conversation with Rain on his left. Meanwhile Mountain, sitting on his right, is talking with Dewdrop over something they both seem quite passionate about.
But soon enough the table is cleared and it’s time for the announcement to be made.
“Okay, uh–so…” Swiss starts, clearing his throat, as he stands up. Mountain does, too, and he puts a hand on the multi ghoul’s waist in a protective and supportive gesture. “There’s something important—but not bad—that we need to tell you because, uhm…well, because you all are our family—you too, Papa—and we want you to know first.”
Some mutters of ‘we appreciate it’ and ‘we’re honored’ can be heard around the table, as well as some content chirps and trills. Swiss opens his mouth again to finally let the words tumble out, but they…don’t.
He looks up at Mountain with pleading eyes and his mate nods, understanding. He takes a deep breath before turning back to his pack and speaking for them both, “Swiss is pregnant, we are going to have kits.”
Jaws drop and it’s dead silent for a moment.
But then it explodes.
Everyone is asking questions, someone is already congratulating them, someone is squealing and then there’s a hand on Swiss’ shoulder and he–he can’t.
Suddenly painfully overwhelmed, he turns with a whine and hides against Mountain’s chest, hands over his ears. His mate wraps his arms around him and growls loud enough to make the whole room shut up.
“Sorry,” Aurora is the one to speak up and apologize for them all.
“One at a time, please,” Mountain asks them before sitting back down with Swiss in his lap. He’s already calming down from the initial panic and he just realizes how…skittish he’s been lately. Probably another pregnant ghoul instinct thing.
Nobody speaks, though, until Papa raises his hand. It’s a little silly, but both Mountain and Swiss appreciate it.
“How far along are you?” Copia asks.
“Around eleven, maybe twelve, weeks,” Swiss answers and the human nods with a light smile.
Rain goes next, “You said kits, as in…multiple?”
“Yeah, there’s three cooking in there,” the multi ghoul chuckles, poking his stomach.
“Woah,” Dewdrop and Sunshine whisper in unison, making a few others laugh.
“When are they gonna come out?” Aeon asks with a curious tilt of his head.
“Omega thinks sometime in February,” Mountain is the one to answer this time.
Cirrus perks up next. “Do you know their elements already?”
“No,” Swiss says, “with a mixture like us two we’re not going to know until they’re born.”
“Will you let me make some cute clothes for them?” Cumulus all but pleads, already so excited at the prospect of making teeny tiny kit clothes.
“Duh,” the multi ghoul laughs. There’s more questions and congratulations and promises of support. A specific one makes the room fall silent again.
“Omega said it’s, uhm…that it’s possible they won’t live,” Swiss admits despite wishing he wouldn’t have to say such a thing.
“That’s why we are only telling you for now,” Mountain adds, “and we don’t want anyone else to know yet.”
The pack nods and promises to keep it between them.
The atmosphere is nice, but a little overwhelming, so Swiss and Mountain decide to say their goodbyes and go to bed early—both exhausted. They skip the shower and jump straight into their nest to curl around each other and fall asleep while purring loudly.
Some time after he’s fallen asleep, Mountain’s eyes snap open.
He sees nothing but darkness.
He looks around frantically and blindly slaps around his bedside table, hoping to light his phone up. It does; it’s three in the morning.
The earth ghoul uses its gentle light to look over at his mate sleeping beside him—curled up a little with his arms around his stomach; a protective position a pregnant ghoul would usually take in the Pit. It’s actually amazing how their hellish instincts surface in moments like these.
Mountain wants to smile, but instead something unpleasant makes his stomach turn and suddenly he remembers why he woke up. It was some strange dream, he doesn’t remember any details, but it left him shaking with anxiety.
He feels a panic attack incoming and crawls out of bed not to disturb Swiss. The earth ghoul leaves their bedroom and makes his way to the common room to get some cold water.
Mountain doesn’t even bother to turn on the light, operating on autopilot until he’s leaning against the counter with a glass of water in hand. He sips it slowly and breathes deeply in between, trying to push away the panic that’s beginning to swallow him whole. The earth ghoul slides down to sit on the ground and puts his head in between his knees, still breathing in and out.
“Mount?”
The earth ghoul jumps, dropping his glass on the floor. Thankfully it’s empty already and the distance from his hand to the ground isn’t especially big. “Lucifer, you scared me!”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to,” Aether chuckles. He must be coming back or leaving for his infirmary shift—Mountain isn’t sure which. “What are you even doing here at this hour, are you okay?”
“Woke up and needed to get some water,” the earth ghoul shrugs, but his thoughts do not stop spiraling. Aether will sense that soon enough. “Had a…uh, a dream.”
“Not a good one, I assume?”
Mountain shakes his head. “I–this is so scary, I’m–I’m not cut out to be a–a father. A father, Aether!”
“But you always wanted to have kits,” the quintessence ghoul reminds him, “and I’ve known you for long enough—and have seen you interact with the Siblings’ children—to be absolutely sure you will be a great dad.”
Mountain grimaces and drops his head between his knees again. “But what if I won’t? What about Swiss, then? What about the kits? There’s going to be three.”
Aether doesn’t reply—he only sighs and comes over to sit next to the other.
“If they even survive…” the earth ghoul adds in a quiet voice.
“Hey, no,” Aether stops him right away, “don’t go there. They’ll be fine. You will be fine. I can only imagine how scary that is, but I know that this is a dream come true for you, Mount.”
“Well…yeah,” he admits, “it is.”
“Exactly! Stress is valid, but you can’t doubt yourself or your mate right now. I’ve already told you, you are going to be amazing parents.”
Mountain lets out a shaky breath and nods, acknowledging Aether’s words. He’s right and it’s not only a dream come true, but also a quite literal miracle. A miracle granted just to Swiss and Mountain.
“Okay,” he says after a moment. “Okay, I’m–I’m good. Thank you, Aether.”
The other pats him on the back before standing up and extending a hand to hoist him up, too. “Anytime. And I mean it. We’re a pack and you are definitely going to need all the help you can get once these three little demons pop out of Swiss.”
Mountain chuckles despite the…slightly worrying implication, “Yeah, we will.”
“Alright, now, go back to your mate,” Aether tells him. “Don’t let him doubt your decision.”
“I won’t.” The earth ghoul puts away his glass and turns to the door.
“Now say it for me.”
“Say what?” he asks, confused.
“That you are going to be an amazing father.” Aether grins.
Mountain shakes his head with a light laugh, “I am going to be an amazing father.”
“Atta boy,” Aether praises and leaves. The other switches off the light, that he hasn’t even noticed was on now, and follows, albeit in a different direction.
As he gets back to their room and snuggles against Swiss again, he mutters the words to himself one more time “I am going to be an amazing father.”
Taglist: @arkeusruin @skele-bunny @everybodyshusband @ratsummer @jazz-bazz @mac-and-thefox @karmicbias @wine-irytatus
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Ok have we never thought about the fact that since lbh exists and is canotically able to have kids with both demons and humans, that demons and humans are the same species?
Ok hi, someone who is unironically interested in reproductive biology in the scientific way not as an innuendo, am going to explain how with the information available to me, I believe that modern day scientists would classify demons as the same species as humans
We all know that different species emerge through evolution, and that occurs through genetic isolation and natural selection and all that jazz, NOT through breeding between species
Now, how does a successful breeding work? There are a few steps that have to be taken in order to create life through sexual reproduction
First, obviously, sex. The actual act has to be possible for the species. A worm can’t reproduce with a cow simply because it’s sperm wouldn’t be able to even reach any zones where it could have an effect and they reproduce so differently that it doesn’t matter
Now say a cat and a similarly sized dog try to reproduce. Ok, the sperm might make it into the hole, but does it survive to make it to the egg? Not likely. Each species has specific and delicate environments to house specific and delicate sperm and if even one little chemical is too much or too little, all of the sperm may die before making it to any eggs
Now we get to the part we learn about in highschool biology where mitosis makes my toes and meiosis makes me or whatever saying y’all learned to memorize that but in case you forgot, the whole evolutionary point of sexual reproduction was genetic variety, so being able to swap chromosomes during meiosis is essential to actually making the baby. Different species of animals have different traits, so they have different numbers of chromosomes. So even if a baby is made, it would not necessarily have all of the traits it needs to survive to adulthood.
There are cases like mules where the act of sex is successful, the reproductive biome is just close enough that sperm can successfully fertilize, and the number of chromosomes is just one off from the necessary number to the point where these animals can successfully and relatively healthily survive to adulthood.
The thing is, since the parent species are not the same, they don’t have the same chromosomes. Meaning the mule cannot reproduce with either of its respective species due to not having sufficient chromosomes. Therefore it is not a separate species and is considered a hybrid.
With Luo Binghe, it is stated that in pidw he is able to reproduce with both demons and humans successfully. This means that a) sex works (but we know that already) b) sperm can survive both species bodies and c) he has the correct number and type of chromosomes for both humans and demons
The only thing this means is that humans and demons have the same genetic makeup
It could be similar to how dog breeds work where they have vastly different features but are still able to interbreed with each other and are considered the same species
One might say oh but what about the southern demons most of them are basically animals- DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ZZL!?!?
He is half snake demon half heavenly demon and although he doesn’t have any kids, it is never once implied that he is sterile and that the complications between his parents was more of a cultural difference than a worry about intermingling species
Which also implies that humans can reproduce with the more animalistic demons as well
I hesitate to compare demons vs humans with human ethnicities on earth since it goes a little further than skin tone and hair texture but I think the dog breeds is a good comparison
Tldr demons and humans can have kids that are fertile therefore lbh is a dog breed mix
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