“Everything seems to be going well so far. You just relax
and lemme do all the work, OK?”
Phora nodded as he laid back on the couch, flipping through
the channels and munched on a bowl of sunflower seeds, occasionally caressing
his belly absentmindedly. Adrian smiled and kissed his forehead before heading
off to do the laundry.
Adrian and Phora had been buddies since they could remember.
Adrian first met Phora when the latter moved into the neighbourhood. Phora was
sitting at the curb and Adrian lured him to his side of the fence and they and
they were buds ever since. They did almost everything together: swimming,
fishing, chasing after the ice-cream truck, reading Adrian’s secret stash of
porn, etc. They were like peas in a pod, and it almost came naturally that
their relationship became more than just friends.
There was only one tiny glitch in their relationship: Phora
suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Phora was, like most Neo-Earth children, born and bred in
his home planet in a regular Neo-Mummy and Neo-Daddy home. Only his mother
wasn’t exactly what you would call ‘regular’. In fact, ‘regular’ doesn’t even
describe her the least.
She became an alcoholic and a chain smoker ever since she
lost her six-figure salary job to the recession and often beat Phora’s father
when she was in one of her moods. His father barely managed to even carry Phora
to term despite the abuse and things went even more south from there. Aside
from the beating, she would abuse Phora sexually since he was old enough to
talk, and that went on for almost half a decade before Phora’s father finally
had the guts to report her to the authorities. They hauled her ass off to jail
and Phora and his father moved to Earth to start over.
Since then, Phora had a morbid fear of women, regardless if
they were Neo or Earthian, and if Adrian hadn’t come along, he would’ve had a
hard time making real friends, what with them hanging around with girls and
all.
At certain points in time, whenever he’s highly stressed or
just totally wigged out, he would become very violent and would attack anyone
with whatever his hand could grab onto, which is pretty dangerous especially if
he was holding something sharp and/or bulky. He had to take anti-psychotic meds
for his outburst, but so far, only Adrian and Phora’s father were the only ones
able to hold him back and calm him down before he does real damage.
Because they were so close, it was a no-brainer that they
ended up dating and eventually married. Adrian was the only person next to his
father Phora could ever trust, and Adrian wouldn’t have it any other way
either. Their first night as husband and wife was a little challenging though,
because due to the sexual abuse, Phora also had a fear of intimacy. They’ve
never gotten further than kissing when they were dating, so sex was a little
out of the question.
Thankfully Adrian was a patient man. He helped Phora eased
into sexual pleasures bit by bit, starting with gentle touches and kisses
before advancing into more and more intimacy. Within a couple of months, he was
finally able to convince Phora to take the final step, though during the deed,
he had to keep consoling him and reminding him that it was his husband and not
his mother. But it all paid off after that and Phora, while still occasionally
hesitant, no longer express any fear or hatred towards sex.
When Phora got pregnant, he had to be off his meds so as not
to damage the fetus, but during his first check-up, the doctor decided that
Phora’s state of mind was too dangerous to be carrying a child and recommended
termination and adoption instead. Phora did not take it very well and would’ve
almost skewered the doctor with a letter opener if Adrian wasn’t there to stop
him. That stunt almost had the doctor wanting to issue a court order to abort
their baby, but Adrian begged him not to, saying that he knew the risks and
would take full responsibility over Phora and the baby’s wellbeing.
True to his word, Adrian treated Phora like a princess, only
allowing him minimum amount of chores and tried to keep him out of stress.
Whenever he had one of his outbursts no thanks to onset mood swings, Adrian
would hold Phora down as hard as he was allowed to and calm him down,
whispering sweet nothings in his ears and kissed his tears away. Whenever he
had cravings, even though it was 3 in the morning, he would try his best to
fulfill it. Whenever his body needed “attention”, he would give it as much as
he could. There had been instances where Adrian almost tired himself to death,
but he would still try his best to please Phora.
Phora didn’t completely ignore Adrian and let him do all the
work and take him for granted though. When Adrian came home tired and hungry
after a long day at work, he would cook up a storm and prepare a nice hot bath
for him. When Adrian had aches and pains from doing most of the work for him,
he would help him give massages to ease the cricks and sores. When Adrian
needed to rest and relax, his lap was always available for him. When Adrian
fell asleep tending to his needs, while he couldn’t carry him to bed at times,
he would make sure he had a blanket on to keep warm and stay by his side till he
wakes. Now here he was, buns ready to pop out of the oven, though he was a
little bit overdue, but he tried not to let that worry him too much since it’s
pretty common for firstborns to be overdue.
Looking at the time, Phora set aside the bowl of sunflower
seeds and got off the couch he was sitting on. Turning off the TV, he poked his
head down the hallway to call Adrian.
“Honey, I’m gonna go take a bath, OK?”
“OK~!” Adrian hollered back from the laundry room
downstairs. “Be careful, I just cleaned the bathroom yesterday! It’s a little
slippery!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll put the bathroom slippers on!”
“OK~!”
Phora nodded to himself as he made his way to the bathroom.
After stripping down to his maternity boxers, he slipped on the bathroom
slippers as promised and started filling the tub. Testing the waters and
satisfied with the temperature, he finally stripped down to his birthday suit
and entered the tub, exhaling in relief as the warmth and buoyancy of the water
eased his backache, which he had to admit had been increasing a little as of
late.
After 10 minutes of soaking, Phora felt like his backache
started acting up again and hadn’t really let up since. In fact, not just his
back, but his midsection and hips started to feel the strain too. He tried to
shift his position to ease the pain, but it wasn’t really doing much good
either.
Suddenly he felt a sort of wave hit him from the inside out
as he let out a groan. Another one came 5 minutes later and he saw the water
around him in the tub starting to tint pink. He opened his eyes to see that the
source was coming from between his legs as he felt something gushing out, hints
of blood specks coming out along with it, followed by a really strong pressure
and a sudden urge to push.
His face paled at the realization: he was going into labour,
and fast.
“Phora? You alright in there?” Adrian’s voice just so happen
to call out from behind the bathroom door. “Enjoying your bath? Mind if I join
you?”
“A…Ad…Adrian…!!” Phora could barely call out before a loud
groan choked his words back as another contraction hit him.
“Phora? Phora, you OK?!”
Adrian tried the door, thankful that it wasn’t locked and
barged in, seeing Phora gripping onto the side of the tub and trying to breathe
through the contraction.
“It’s…It’s time…!!” Phora cried as soon as he could feel the
contraction leave him.
“Oh god, we better get you to the hospital now!” Adrian said
in panic as he tried to help Phora out of the tub, but Phora resisted his pull.
“No…! No, there’s no time…!! I…I can feel it coming down…real
fast…!! It’s coming! Please don’t leave me, please…!!”
“Oh god…Oh god, oh god, oh god, umm…” Adrian paced blindly
for a bit before he decided to enter the tub with Phora, not caring whether he
was fully clothed or not. “Umm…Umm, OK, just…just do like what the books say:
Spread your legs, hands under your thighs and sit up as much as possible.”
Phora whimpered as he did as he was told, but instead of
holding under his thighs, he reached out to grip Adrian’s shoulder sleeves,
letting out a scream as he felt another contraction wrack through him.
“I think you were supposed to push when that happens,”
Adrian noted as he helped to hold up Phora’s thighs instead. “Alright, umm,
just breathe and push when you feel the urges, sweetie, and keep your chin against
your chest when you do. I’m right here with you.”
No sooner he said that than another contraction hit. Phora
gave in to the urge to push and gripped Adrian’s sleeves hard as he did so.
“That’s it, that’s it, sweetie, you’re doing really good!”
Adrian cheered as he continued holding up Phora’s thighs. “Keep going!”
Phora whimpered as he felt the urge again. Gritting his
teeth, he pushed down as hard as he could, groans and grunts escaping his
throat. He kept at it until he could feel the fabled ‘ring of fire’ between his
legs before he started screaming.
“No, no, no, NO!! Please, no, it hurts!! IT HURTS!! I CAN’T
DO IT!! I CAN’T DO IT, MAKE IT STOP!!!”
“You’re almost there, sweetie, you can do this,” Adrian
encouraged him as he released his hold on Phora’s thighs to cradle his
perineum, trying to support the baby’s exiting head.
“I CAN’T!! I CAN’T, PLEASE, I CAN’T!! IT HURTS!! SOMETHING’S
WRONG WITH THE BABY, I KNOW IT!!”
“Nothing’s wrong with the baby. It’s just crowning. C’mon,
sweetie…”
“NO! SOMETHING’S WRONG!! I KNOW IT!! I’M A NUT JOB, AND I’LL
TURN OUR BABY INTO ONE, OH GOD!! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!”
Phora’s hysterical cries and sobs were making him
incoherent, and Adrian could tell he was starting to have one of his outbursts.
Finally, Adrian took hold of Phora’s cheeks and pressed his forehead against
his own.
“Phora, Phora, shh shh sshh~ Phora, ssshhh~ Listen to
me…Listen to me!”
Phora’s screaming stopped instantly at Adrian’s raising of
his voice, only letting out hiccupping whimpers and whining in between sobs.
“Just breathe. Breathe long and hard, and pant through the
next contraction. Can you do that for me? Please?”
Phora whined as he nodded, shutting his tear-filled eyes
tight as he tried to breathe along with Adrian as his guide. When the next
contraction came, bringing back the burning sensation between his legs, he
tried his best to pant through it and fight the urge to push, although he
couldn’t help reaching up to grip Adrian’s wrist in a tight vice, not that
Adrian minded.
“Very good, very good, the head is fully out now,” Adrian
said as he coaxed Phora to let his hands go so he could catch the baby’s head.
“You did good. Let’s hope you didn’t tear there.”
“W…Won’t our baby drown in there?” Phora asked worriedly
when he could see the head emerged from his womb. “Oh, it’s got so much hair.”
“Just like yours,” Adrian smiled. “Don’t worry. I read
somewhere that it instinctively knows how to hold its breath under water.
C’mon, you can start pushing whenever you’re ready. Our baby is so close now.”
Fueled with excitement and a bit of relief from the loss of
the burning pressure, Phora waited for the next contraction and pushed when it
came. He could feel the baby shifted to let its shoulders out but he couldn’t
stop now. He was almost there.
“Almost there, sweetie,” Adrian cheered, echoing his
thoughts. “Give it one last big push!”
Phora couldn’t hold back his body as he lunged forward to
grab Adrian, burying his sweaty teary face against his husband’s shoulder as he
screamed out his last push, finally freeing the baby out of his womb.
“There ya go!” Adrian cried proudly, his voice welling with
happiness. “It’s our baby! It’s…It’s a girl! An Earthian girl!”
“A…A girl…?” Phora panted as he laid back, his teary eyes
showing a mix of emotions.
“I…I know you’re scared of girls,” Adrian said, trying to be
supportive as he held their little daughter in front of him, who was wailing
out her first breaths, “but it’s OUR little girl. It’s our baby. She won’t hurt
you. Please…?”
Phora was a little hesitant at first, as his phobia of woman
hadn’t really subsided much since the years they’ve been together, but hearing
the squalls of his baby—the baby he had carried full-term throughout all the
trying times and trials and tribulation—right there, finally out in the world,
he couldn’t help reaching out his arms for her.
Giving an encouraging smile, Adrian put their little girl in
his hands. The baby stopped crying the moment she made skin contact with Phora
and instinctively started rooting for Phora’s nipple. The overwhelming feeling
of motherhood bonding soon washed over Phora, trumping his phobia, as he let
her nurse, chuckling through his tears of joy.
“I…I guess…girls aren’t so bad after all,” Phora whispered
as he watched their daughter suckling hungrily, having her very first meal of
the day. “Oh…She…She’s so beautiful…”
“She looks just like you, Phora,” Adrian said as he stroke
Phora’s hair and kissed his cheek. “You did so well, sweetie. You did a great
job. I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Phora kissed Adrian back and kissed their
baby’s forehead. “Mommy loves you too. Welcome to the world, baby.”
“Got a name for her?”
Phora thought for a while.
“Danielle. I want her named after my dad, Daniel.”
“Danielle,” Adrian nodded at how well the name rolled off
his tongue. “Yes, it’s perfect. Hi, Danielle. Mommy and Daddy are so happy to
see you.”
“I think you better call the midwife, or the hospital,”
Phora suggested. “She’s gonna need to be checked, just in case.”
“Right. I’m on it,” Adrian said as he got out of the tub and
help drained the water. “You gonna be OK in there for a while?”
“We’ll be fine.”
As Adrian stripped out of his wet clothes and left to make
the phone call, Phora gently pushed out the afterbirth, dropped it out of the
tub and laid back to relax with his nursing baby.
“I think…we’re gonna get along just fine…my little
princess,” Phora whispered before slowly succumbing to fatigue and slept.
