Cedar/Luca ficlet

 Cedar was woken by a gentle shake of his shoulder. At first, he wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep, pretend whatever or whoever was there didn't exist. Unfortunately for him, they persisted, and when they saw him begin to stir began to call his name as well. Burying his face further into his pillow regardless, he managed to grunt out something vaguely resembling a 'what do you want?'.

"Wake uuuuuup!" Prue whined in reply, punctuating her words with a slap to his shoulder.

"Go away, I don't feel well."

"You're always sleeping!" Another hit. He turned onto his back and levelled his little sister with as harsh a glare as he could muster while only just shaking off the dregs of sleep. And oh no, now he was waking up, he really didn't feel well. God, he at least hoped he didn't hurl on the kid. "It's boring and spooky here when you're asleep."

"Look, I'm sorry it's spooky, but I'm tired-"

"You're always tired, you have been for weeks."

Cedar took a deep breath. "When you're a little older you're gonna get this same thing every month just like I do and you'll feel so bad about hitting me awake like this." Cramps were a lot less horrible this time, he mused to himself as he spoke. Normally he chalked up the constant feeling of about to puke to how much pain he was in, but here he was, not that bothered by the stupid light cramps and still feeling sick as a dog. Perhaps it was a sign his body was finally closing down the factory in response to his ongoing terrible health. Not that he was going to miss that particular function.

Prudence huffed and for a moment he thought she was going to leave him be. Then she poked him in the cheek. Hard. "Are we getting lunch today?"

He gave a noncommittal grunt, more in response to his own twisting stomach than to her. She seemed to take it as an affirmative though, because she ran off to tell Gannon just as much. Which in turn meant he would eventually have to get up and find some food for them. He'd already spent all of his last paycheck, so that was a no go. Turns out tutoring one superhero, who Cedar frankly suspected was also homeless, in hand to hand doesn't get you very far. He wondered if they could just turn up at the watch tower Luca worked at uninvited and get a free meal. The other options were theft or dumpster diving, neither of which he felt up to right now.

Well, if nothing else, he hadn't seen his boyfriend in a few weeks anyway. He worked hard at keeping his life as Cedar and his life as The Censor separate, and The Censor was the one bringing in money for the family. Luca was a doctor for a superhero team as well, and more often than not had his hands full. Often times their different, uh, careers, kept them a bit more separate than they'd have liked. With a sigh, he rolled over again, reaching for a change of clothes, close enough to clean to work.

-----

He had, at the very least, apologised for turning up unannounced to, essentially, beg and mooch, but otherwise greeted Luca with a smile and a hug, pretending he wasn't feeling off kilter. He was quickly introduced to the newest resident of the tower, baby Ray. He remembered the team leader had been heavily pregnant when he'd last seen her, and the newborn she held now was adorable. Strange, with the blue skin and the beige glow that admittedly only he could see, but adorable nonetheless.

As tired as he was caring for his own siblings, Cedar had always been fond of children.

According to the baby's father, who definitely wasn't human, the rest of the team were elsewhere. Some doing hero work, one of them on a date apparently, and until he'd brought his hyperactive siblings in, the tower had been quite peaceful.

In time, they'd settled in the living room. Whisper had taken requests for lunch and was stood by the kitchenette in the corner with the children on bar stools at the table. Gannon had taken to spinning around repeatedly. Cedar had already resolved in his head that he was not cleaning it up when he inevitably puked. He and his boyfriend were curled up on one end of the sofa, while the non human hero, Shadow Weaver or Tarquin, sat on the other end with his son.

"You're not eating?" Luca asked after a moment. Cedar offered a soft shrug in response.

"Not right now. Don't feel hungry. It's just...you know..." Another shrug. "Cramps." Again, they weren't really the problem this time around, but it was the easiest way to convey the message.

"Okay. You should still eat something though."

"I know. I will. Later." He tried for a reassuring smile, then reached for the remote. "Can I turn on the sports channel?"

Luca spared a glance to the baby in the room before nodding. "Keep the volume low though."

"Bet." He found the channel he wanted and cuddled in closer. It had been a while since he'd been able to relax and watch some good sports. Back before he'd become The Censor, athletics had been his world, and he had been a prodigy. It was good to go back to that and feel a little more...normal, sometimes. Admittedly, it was a golfing show on at the moment, so not really his thing, he'd always been a boxer. Still, there, held in a gentle embrace with the TV playing and the occasional words between the two, he felt safe and content. And drowsy. It wasn't long at all before he started drifting off again.

Then the chill went down his spine and he didn't feel comfortable any more. A quick glance behind him confirmed his strange feeling, and he felt Luca tighten his grip around him.

"You okay?"

"...Your weird friend has been staring at me since I got here." He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the third man on the sofa, who had the decency to look embarrassed at being caught, but still continued to stare.

Luca raised an eyebrow in question, meeting those eyes himself. Tarquin chewed his own lip for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain himself, before simply giving one word and walking off. 'Fluttering'.

Cedar, ever confused by this, turned back to Luca. "What the f-...udge does that mean?"

Not the easiest thing to explain, but he'd give it a go. "Shadow Weaver has sensory powers, like you do. His are...he can sense life. He told me once that most life feels like a consistent pulse, like a heartbeat, but he can't really tell the difference between different beats. With one exception. Some things aren't a proper pulse, but instead just feel like a weak fluttering sensation. Usually parasites or, um, foetuses."

"So your friend is saying I'm either pregnant or have a tapeworm?"

Luca gave a slight laugh at that. "Something like that."

"I don't think either of those apply to me right now." Cedar replied dryly.

"You sure? He's not normally wrong."

"Well I-...uh..." Well, lately he had felt sick, and tired, and sore, and hadn't wanted to eat anything...and if this had been down to monthlies, it was pretty damn late, and putting on his binder that morning he was sure his chest was bigger and more sensitive..."Fuck, I might be pregnant." He quickly looked back to check the others weren't paying them any attention before pulling away a little and sitting up straighter, a silent permission for Luca to use his powers, check there wasn't anything more sinister.

"You're pregnant." He confirmed after a moment, reaching for his boyfriend's hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.

"Fuck." Cedar echoed quietly, pulling away. "I can't have a baby...not as a broke ass bitch in a squat filled with drug addicts, anyway."

"You could always move here-"

"I don't-! I don't want to bring the full force of the Rainbow Brigade or whoever else back here, and I don't want to be a burden or-"

"You're not a burden. You're my boyfriend, and you and your siblings? You're my family, and you're our family, and we'd all be happy to have you here."

'Not if you knew who else I was', Cedar thought but didn't dare say. He must have been quiet a little too long, because Luca chose to fill the silence.

"If you...don't want to have the baby, or really can't-"

"I want the baby!" His voice came in a frantic squeak which really made him mad at himself. Cedar shook his head and took a deep breath. He was aware of more eyes on him, which he really didn't like. "No...no, what I mean is...I like kids, you know I like kids, but I'm struggling enough with just my siblings. When I was little, I really, really wanted to someday have a kid of my own, y'know? I remember thinking I'd be fine carrying a baby even...even if dysphoria kicked my ass. But, uh, after a lifetime of no friends, then no home, I just sort of thought babies were gonna be things that happened to other people, and I'd get my full parenthood experience just being the big brother. And I was okay with that. You manage with the cards you're dealt. I mean, I also wanted to become an Olympic boxer and that's not ever happening." He smiled and shrugged. "Do you want a baby?"

Luca hesitated, but answered with a nod. "I'm...nowhere near as good with kids as you are, and that's a fact, and it's hard to imagine myself as a father, but I...I would like that. I know what you mean, about a lifetime of loneliness, about feeling like you can't get what you really want and always feeling like you have to settle. There was a lot I accepted as just my life, no getting around it, and it's hard to change that way of thinking, to tell yourself good things can happen and to let them happen."

"I want good things to happen to you. No, scratch that, you deserve good things to happen to you." He glanced back at the others, who tried to look like they hadn't been watching and listening since the squeak-yell, and dropped his voice to a gentle whisper. "You are the best person I've ever met. You're so genuinely nice it's sometimes hard to believe you're real, like that nice, and that smart, and that good looking, and right here and now? It's perfect, and you don't deserve anything bad."

Luca took a moment to reply, feeling emotion swell in his chest. "You flatterer."

"I mean it."

"I know. I love you." He gave Cedar a quick peck on the cheek.

"Love you too. But I'm going somewhere with this. Like...you have good things in your life, right?"

He pretended to think about it, then counted off on his fingers. "There's you, your siblings, my friends, this tower, the food Hex and Shard make, because that really is amazing, that cool shirt with the frogs on it...I have good things."

"And would an unexpected baby right now be a good thing?"

"...If it makes you happy, absolutely."

"Sap." Cedar snorted, taking one of Luca's hands and giving it a squeeze. "Look, I'll be happy as long as we can be safe. Which means not at the squat hole."

"You realise you're always safe here, right? Safer than anywhere else."

"Luca, the last two times I stayed here overnight, y'all got attacked by members of the Rainbow Brigade."

"We've...updated security and done some research on them. We know all Greenfield and Ballad's powers, and the others appear to be either deceased or inactive. If something does happen, I mean, this team stopped a demon taking over and burning the entire planet, they can handle those guys."

"An actual demon?"

"Yup."

"Wow. Wish I'd seen that."

Luca laughed. "So do I. That was before I joined up with them. I've heard a lot of stories and I'm assured they're all true."

"You have to tell me those stories."

"Oh, I will, that's a promise." He gave Cedar's hand a reassuring squeeze. "The long and short of it, though, is we can keep you safe here. I promise that, too."

"So...are we having a baby?"

Luca raised an eyebrow, watching Cedar expectantly. Cedar answered with a sigh.

"Let me guess, it's up to me because I'm the pregnant one?"

"Duh."

Like a very mature adult, Cedar stuck his tongue out. When he next spoke, it was with a decisive finality. "We're having a baby."

With the matter decided, he wrapped himself around Luca in a warm hug. He hugged back and the two stayed that way for a while, talking quietly as the world moved around them. They stayed like this until Cedar dozed off, head on Luca's shoulder. When he awoke it would be to the feeling of fingers running through his hair, the smell of something baking, the soft voices of people speaking low so as not to wake him. Sensations which would remind him of his old home, with his mother and stepfather, where he had been safe and very much loved. For once, though, this thought wouldn't make him sad, because now he had a new home. A home with Luca and his friends, and in less than a year, their baby as well. A home where he was safe, and very much loved.

((Whisper and the kids when Cedar shouts about wanting a baby: ??????
Tarquin: Oh yeah I think Luca got his boyfriend pregnant somehow.
Whisper: Aight...))