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“He's what?!”
“Jamil's pregnant,” Leona repeated patiently, much more calm than Ruggie expected him to be delivering that piece of information. He shook out his ears.
“Jamil is pregnant?” Ruggie repeated slowly, eyeing Leona closely, trying to find the joke on his face as he said the words.
“‘S what I said. Did you go deaf from all your fans cheerin’ or somethin’?” Leona drawled, the corners of his mouth turning up as he spoke.
Ruggie still didn't know what to do about Leona's badly concealed pride, so he chose to ignore it.
“Wuh… uh– Congrats. Sorry? Is Jamil okay? Are you okay? Did you break up?”
Leona rolled his eyes, ”we didn't break up, Jamil is okay, and yes ‘congrats’. It was planned.”
Planned? Those two? Ruggie hadn't been in contact with Leona as much as he'd wanted to since he was drafted for Sunset Savanna’s national team, but surely this was still the guy who could barely take care of himself on the best of days?
…and why was he feeling so queasy all of a sudden?
“...Why?” Ruggie said before he could stop himself, wincing in mortification as it left his mouth.
“Why to us not breaking up, or to us having kids?” Leona asked, seemingly unbothered by Ruggie's absolute dickish response to the news of him becoming a father.
Thank the seven– or Jamil– for this character development; Ruggie was out of practice in the sucking up department it seemed, and he really didn't want to go on a refresher course.
In fact… now that Ruggie thought about it, Leona was uncharacteristically calm for the situation. No, not just calm, Ruggie noted as he studied Leona more closely. Happy.
Aw man.
“S’rry, s'rry, I'm bein’ rude,” Ruggie said, scratching awkwardly behind his ear in apology. “I'm happy for ya. Honest.”
Leona's mouth curled up into a content smile, before it morphed into something much more devious.
“Glad to hear it,” Leona said, amusement seeping into his voice. “I would say not to worry about it, but… I'm sure you would feel much better if you could make up for it… by helping me take care of Jamil during his pregnancy, right?”
…Seriously?!
“Man, you haven't changed a bit, have you?” Ruggie signed, shaking his head in exasperation. But as images of Jamil being subjected to Leona's household skills flooded his mind, Ruggie’ weird sense of nausea grew.
“...Fine, but you better believe that my hourly fees have increased, bud. Hope it's worth outpayin’ the national team.”
“Oh trust me. I have no doubt that it will be.”
—
“Jamil… could you please sit down, for one second?”
“I'm barely doing anything,” Jamil huffed in annoyance as he was currently trying to balance his growing stomach and a– in Ruggie's humble opinion– dangerous amount of books.
Why books, you ask? According to Jamil Viper-Kingscholar, it was suddenly of the utmost importance that their spare study be cleaned and emptied out for the arrival of their newborn, and not a single day later. By him, personally.
Ruggie glared at Leona, who was leaning against the wall casually, watching his husband zip across the room as if he wasn't highly pregnant.
Why was he the one stressed out? He wasn't even the father!
“Well? Do something about this!” Ruggie all but screeched to Leona.
“What d'you want me to do about it?” Leona shrugged uselessly, and Ruggie wished for the thousandth time that he had asked for ten times his salary instead of the measly two. “I tried. He says I don't put them in the right order.”
“And you don't,” Jamil piped up beside them, only slightly out of breath. To Ruggie's relief he had at least put down the stack of books. “I would have to redo it again.”
“Or, hear me out,” Ruggie said, very slowly, so that everyone in this room could understand him. “You don't do it at all?”
Jamil scoffed, “and have no room for the baby? Absolutely not.”
Ruggie must've looked really pathetic right then and there, because before he could even say anything in response Leona let out an amused chuckle before pushing himself off the wall.
“Alright, alright,” he walked up to pacify Jamil with a kiss to his temple. “If I find someone strong who is capable of listening to your very specific demands without any complaints, will you promise to rest?”
“...I guess.”
—
“Ruggie? What are you doing here? Isn't this Leona's place?”
Jack Howl was standing in the doorway with a gigantic basket filled to the brim with fruits, and bottles, and… magazines?
His tail swished behind him curiously as he tried to peer behind Ruggie into the hallway, no doubt trying to spot Leona.
“It's Leona's place,” Ruggie answered simply. “‘Course I'm here. What about you?”
“Ah… Leona told me– he–,” Jack paused abruptly, a flush appeared on his face as he no doubt realised he got played by Leona. Again.
Not that Ruggie had any leg to stand on, considering he too was here, at Leona's house, played like a fool.
“He said he needed help,” Jack settled on as an acceptable summary after his internal war.
“Yeah? Wow, he must really trust you, huh. With Jamil and the baby and all,” Ruggie grinned. He knew exactly how Leona would've gotten Jack to help him out. “Quite the honour.”
Jack grunted reluctantly, scratching the back of his head.
Ruggie snickered and stepped aside, gesturing for Jack to join the madhouse.
“Soooo… that basket, ‘s there somethin’ in there for me? There's a toll fee, ya know.”
“Uh… it was meant for Jamil,” Jack looked down at the basket, considering it. It seemed like he hadn't changed a bit, Ruggie did always almost feel bad for taking advantage of that innocence. Almost.
“But my mother added in the yoga magazines with instructions, and she said it was good for someone to aid him in some of the positions. Good idea, Ruggie.”
“Wait, what? Huh,” Ruggie spluttered. What was happening?
Jack gave him a toothy grin, “we should use the magazines to hold a private yoga class. Please use these, Ruggie!”
Ruggie groaned, these next few months were going to be hell.
—
“Why do I need to join this nonsense?”
“Because, Leona, according to Jack and ‘Supermom Magazine’, it’s important for the baby daddy to be involved in every activity together to promote a healthy family bond,” Ruggie snickered, highly amused at Leona’s open disgust at the yoga mats kindly provided by Jack’s mother on the floor in front of him.
“And also because if you don’t,” Ruggie continued casually. “I will tell Falena he’s going to be an uncle.”
“You wouldn’t,” Leona growled, but his flat ears betrayed his fear towards the threat. It was like Ruggie thought; there was a reason why Leona had reached out to his old, very busy, classmates to help him out instead of using the vast amount of palace resources like a normal prince who is expecting to be a father would. He hadn’t told his family.
“I would,” Ruggie pressed, delighted to finally have the upper hand again. If his nerves were going to be shot for the duration of this pregnancy, he was going to make sure that Leona joined him in this hell. It was tradition at this point. “And you know why? Because if Jack sees that you’re not actually tryin’ your best for Jamil and the baby, and he decides that he doesn’t want to compensate for your lack of romance, Jamil is going to go back to his nonsense, and my stress levels will go up. I am not letting you ruin the only time Jack has ever gotten along with Jamil so you can pretend to be a deadbeat dad who doesn’t care!”
Leona blinked a few times, eyes wide, letting Ruggie’s words wash over him. Ruggie took a deep breath, and straightened himself. Okay. So he got a little carried away, it was normal to be stressed when your friend was expecting. No biggie. He swallowed down the wave of nausea.
“...Sorry.”
Leona snorted, eyeing Ruggie carefully, “message received. I’ll sit on the damn mat.”
“What is all that yelling about?” Jamil’s voice pierced through the tension, his head poking through the doorway with a curious tilt. No Jack in sight, he was probably still slaving away at Jamil’s demands in the study room.
Leona gave Ruggie a long unreadable look before he melted back into his casual slouch.
“Yoga time, babe,” Leona drawled. “Ruggie’s decided you’ve been resting for too long now.”
Jamil’s face fell into a deadpan stare. “Really? Can you make up your mind?”
“That’s not what I–” Ruggie protested. He shot a glare at Leona, who was deeply enjoying himself. “Just yoga, okay? Leona is joining.”
“He is?” Jamil’s eyebrows shot up, looking at Leona who just gave him a reluctant shrug in confirmation.
“Well alright,” he said, sounding deeply impressed. “Let me go change. Leona, I’ll bring you your sweatpants.”
“Wonderful. Thanks,” Leona grunted. Then, before Jamil could turn around, he added, “could you bring some of my clothes for Ruggie? He wanted to join, but forgot to bring his own.”
“Oh, sure,” Jamil smiled, sizing him up. “I’m sure I can find you something you won’t trip over.”
“Yeah, thanks Jamil,” Ruggie said dully, feeling weary beyond his years. Ah… feels like high school.
—
“Deeper stretch, Jamil, you need to maintain an angle of 90 degrees. That’s it. No, that’s too far. Try to hold your core tight.”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I’m trying!” Jamil snapped, practically upside down as he was trying to hold one of the yoga poses from the magazine.
Ruggie tried his best not to snicker at Jack awkwardly hovering over Jamil, unsure on how to handle his sudden outburst. A snort beside him told him that Leona wasn’t as successful in his attempt. When Ruggie glanced over Leona was lying on his back, cracking a smile with his eyes closed, one leg balancing on his knee. He wasn’t even trying to pretend he was holding a pose. Ruggie rolled his eyes. He guessed getting Leona on a yoga mat at all was victory enough.
“I-I know that you’re trying, but it’s very important that your form is right or you won’t train the right muscles,” Jack tried, his hands hovering near Jamil’s sides just in case he might tip over.
“What are you expecting me to do, exactly?! Run a triathlon?” Jamil whined in frustration. “How is this better than carrying books?”
“Well carrying heavy things around is bad for the spine, and studies have shown–”
“Yes, okay. Thank you, Jack,” Jamil interrupted him, his voice jumping up an octave out of desperation. “Form. Got it.”
When Jack shot Ruggie a look pleading for help, Ruggie quickly straightened back into his pose, fully expecting to be scolded, except instead, Jack’s eyes drifted next to him. He frowned, “...is Leona sleeping?”
“He’s what?!” Jamil shrieked in outrage, and to Ruggie’s distress, he lost his balance briefly. Within the span of 1 second, all three of them jumped up in an attempt to catch him. Leona’s reflexes kicked in as he rolled over to catch Jamil as he was tumbling down, just in time for Jack to steady him from behind.
“Woah, easy,” Jack stammered.
Ruggie stood next to them in shock for a few seconds, breathing heavily. His heart hammered in his chest.
Leona gave him a strange look before helping Jamil get up on his feet. “Alright, that’s probably enough exercise for now. How ‘bout we go eat some grub? I’m starvin’."
“Ruggie?” Leona said, as he put his hand on Ruggie’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “Can you whip something up?”
“Dude…” Ruggie said, shaking off his nerves and Leona’s hand. “This is your household. Do it yourself.”
He still ended up making them all sandwiches.
—
Time passed by way too fast for Ruggie’s liking; Jamil’s due date climbed closer and closer, and as Jamil’s stomach grew, so did Ruggie’s nerves.
With Jack's help they had remodelled the study into a baby room. Somehow Jamil and Jack had started getting along scarily well; maybe it was something about the struggles of childbirth that had Jack warm up to Jamil enough to like him.
Regardless of what it was, Jack had gone out of his way for him. The walls were beautifully painted into a mixed scenery of Sunset Savanna and the Scalding Sands, each wall decorated with little lion symbols, magic lamps, and other significant details. He had even snuck in a hyena and a wolf into the mix.
Jamil had been in awe when he was finally allowed into the room; he had been banned from that part of the house for days to avoid all the paint fumes.
Ruggie had never seen such wonder on Jamil's face until that moment. He would probably always remember it. He would also remember the look on Jack's face as he bashfully tried to accept the compliments on his painting skills, if only to tease him for it later.
Jamil had then proceeded to ruin the moment by asking Jack whether he could add the Sorcerer of the Sands.
After a firm veto from both Jack and Leona they settled on a bright star on the ceiling for Najma.
And as Leona embraced Jamil softly from behind to comfort his now emotional pregnant spouse, for the first time since Leona had called him up to bring him the news, Ruggie felt a warm feeling suppress the constant hum of stress in his veins.
Ah, maybe this was ‘why’.
—
“Oh good, Ruggie. You're here. I need your help,” Leona said as he opened the door for him, leaving Ruggie in the doorway as he rushed through the hallway with a duffelbag.
Ruggie frowned. Leona seemed on edge, distracted, haphazardly throwing a pair of Jamil's slippers in the bag.
“Help with what? Where's Jamil?” Ruggie asked warily. His anxiety spiked. Was it time already? He thought Jamil wasn't due for another two weeks.
“At the hospital, there were some complications,” Leona said, looking through a drawer for more of Jamil's stuff.
Complications. Complications. Complications.
The words echoed in his mind as his vision blurred. His breathing grew more erratic. Complications. His ears were ringing, his heart was pounding, and he was still not getting enough air, and Jamil was going to–
“–ggie… Ruggie. Ruggie.” Leona’s worried face swam into focus, his hands squeezing into his shoulders to an almost pain degree. Ruggie looked at him in a daze.
How did they end up on the floor?
“Hey. Breathe,” Leona said, his voice calm and steady.
Oh, breathing. He swallowed down his shallow gasps and tried to take a deep breath, and then another, and then another.
Seemingly satisfied with Ruggie's ability to perform a basic body function, Leona sat down on the floor in front of him.
“...So, I am going on a wild limb here, but you're not really good with the whole baby thing, are you?”
What did that mean? Of course he was, he was happy for them. It was just the nerves getting to him, and Jamil was–
Ah.
“...No,” Ruggie muttered. “I don't think so.”
“Care to tell me why that is?” Leona asked, in a voice so gentle Ruggie realised he must've really made him worry.
“My mom…” Ruggie could barely get out the words before his throat choked up. “...I killed her.”
“I killed her,” He repeated, louder now. His eyes swimming with tears. “She died because of me, and now Jamil–”
“–Will be fine,” Leona said, his face set in a deep frown. “He's fine, Ruggie. They're just keeping him for observation.”
“Oh…” Ruggie said dully, “Okay. That's good.”
A silence fell between them, Ruggie’s heavy breathing the only thing breaking it.
“You didn't kill her.”
Ruggie closed his eyes, dropping his head back against the wall. “I did, man, don't patronise me. If I wasn't there, she would've still been around to dump my useless deadbeat father and live happily ever after. That's just life, okay?”
“Alright,” Leona sighed. “Would you blame her?”
“Who, my mom?” Ruggie opened his eyes in annoyance. What was his deal?
“No, our daughter. If Jamil had died. Would you have blamed her?”
Ruggie's eyes widened, a deep protective feeling rose in his chest. The same one he felt after they finished the baby room, and many moments before it. He had finally understood then, he had understood, and at the same time he felt so angry now that he did.
How could his father have left them, how had he not felt like this?
He swallowed heavily, “No, never.”
Leona's mouth curled into a smile, nodding. He got up and offered his hand to Ruggie. “Got it figured out, then?”
“I–”
Ruggie let Leona pull him back to his feet. For a moment he looked at his best friend, soon to be father, and smiled.
“Yeah. You're gonna be a pretty good dad, aren't ya?”
“Hope to be,” Leona said, scratching the back of his head and looking a little bashful.
A comfortable silence fell between them, Ruggie's breathing was finally back to normal. What a day…
“Okay, but seriously, how are you not scared?”
Leona chuckled, “Oh I'm terrified, why do you think I asked you to be here?”
“Aw gee, old man, you're turnin’ sentimental already. Save that for when the baby's here,” Ruggie snickered, a warm glow spreading across his chest again. “And don't forget, three times the pay!”
Ruggie was definitely upping the price after today, his little hyena heart could only handle so much stress.
“Yeah, yeah, alright.” Leona rolled his eyes. He tossed Ruggie the bag he had been packing before. “Well start workin’ for it and pack Jamil’s stuff. He's going to kill us if we're even more late.”
“You got it, boss,” Ruggie said with a mock salute, and rushed into the couple's bedroom.
—
“Leona, where were you? The nurses were starting to think I was the father…It was really hard trying to explain I was just an ex-schoolmate…” Jack said as they reached Jamil’s room, looking deeply flustered as a couple of nurses gave him the judgemental side-eye.
“Got held up,” Leona said casually. “Had a little soon-to-be dad panic situation going on, you know how it goes.”
Jack raised his eyebrows briefly in surprise at Leona’s admission before easing up, sympathy oozing off his shoulders. “I understand,” he said, looking at Leona with an air of admiration. Then he winced, scratching the back of his head, “but uh… just so you know, Jamil is not happy about it.”
“‘Course not,” Leona sighed, looking into the room where Jamil was sitting in his hospital bed. Ruggie leaned in to do the same from under Leona. He had his arms crossed, his face set in his trademarked deadpan stare, lips pressed together in a fine line… yeah he was pissed, alright.
Leona nudged Ruggie forward. “You first.”
“Man, you’re the worst,” Ruggie grumbled before opening the door, before cracking a big smile as he opened the door. “Haha, heeey Jamil, we got you your stuff. Boy, you wouldn’t believe the traffic.”
’Fake it till you make it’ had never failed him before, and if there was anything Ruggie was good at it was sucking up.
Jamil squinted at him, his eyes locking onto Leona behind him immediately. Diversion failed it seemed.
“Really, Leona? How long does it take to pack clothes?”
Ruggie stepped aside for Leona. You’re on your own, king, Ruggie thought before sneaking away to raid the fruit bowl in the window sill.
“You know me,” Leona grinned, walking up to Jamil to give him a kiss on his temple in an attempt to pacify him. “Luckily, Ruggie was there to help me out.”
Jamil let out a sigh, annoyance melting off his face. Ruggie took a large bite out of the apple he’d grabbed, deeply impressed with how fast Leona had managed to defuse him. It’s like he had it down to a science. That, or Jamil must really, really like the guy. Well, he guessed that was kind of a requirement for the whole baby thing, Ruggie supposed. Or at least, it should be.
Before Ruggie could linger on that thought Jack settled next to him, leaning against the window sill. “Can you believe it? Our housewarden, starting a new family.”
Ruggie took another bite, watching the soon-to-be parents banter back and forth. Leona gave Ruggie a look when Jamil went into one of his stress induced planning sessions for the coming two weeks to be ‘prepared for anything’, and Ruggie couldn’t help but smile.
“Not a new one, just a bigger one.”
— Epilogue —
“Unca Ruggie!!!”
Ruggie grinned from ear to ear as a tiny little lioness attacked him in the doorway.
“Heyyy, little sunset warrior, how ya been? Up to no good I hope, shi shi shi,” he said as she ran into his arms, shrieking when he threw her up into the air.
“Nila, don't run in the hallway,” Jamil's deadpan voice rang behind her. “I swear, I don't know who she got all that energy from, certainly not Leona. Hi Ruggie.”
Ruggie settled Nila into his arms, grinning as he watched Jamil walk down the hall. “Heya, Jamil. Long time no see, did‘ya gain weight?”
Jamil gave him a deeply unamused look as he crossed his arms, unable to hide his growing stomach. “Be nice, or you won't get the party leftovers.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Ruggie snickered, letting Nila play with his ears, “but seriously? Another one? I'm surprised.”
Jamil gave him a wry smile as he leaned against the side wall. “A hard fought fight, believe it or not.”
“Huh? Why's that?” Ruggie said in confusion, swallowing anxiously. Some fears never went away, no matter how hard he tried. “No complications I hope?”
Jamil's eyes widened. Leona must have told him at some point, what happened 3 years ago in this very hallway.
“Oh no, nothing like that. Don't worry. It's just…” Jamil said, glancing at Nila who was thankfully too amused by Ruggie's ear movements to sense the shift in tone. He gave Ruggie a meaningful look. “A second one was a bit of a hard sell.”
“Ah,” Ruggie hummed. Looks like Leona hadn’t quite gotten over his second child trauma either. “How’d you convince him?”
“Oh you know,” Jamil stared at his nails briefly before he gave Ruggie a sly smile he hadn't seen since the masquerade, “I made him explain it to Najma.”
“...That's evil.”
“I would call it resourceful,” Jamil grinned. “He taught me shamelessness was a strength after all.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” Ruggie grinned, giving Nila a fond look. “Well, I can’t complain about one more of these little gremlins.”
Nila wasn’t so happy with the boring adult talk it seemed, as she gave Jamil a stunningly familiar deadpan look. She may have gotten Leona’s looks, but it seemed like the Viper stare was very deeply rooted in their genes…
“Baba, no more talking! I wanna show unca Ruggie my presents…”
Jamil snorted and raised his hands up in mock surrender, “alright, alright. So sorry, Mister Ruggie, if you could please entertain the little miss until dinner. Her royal highness requires your full attention.”
He stepped aside for Ruggie to move past him. “Nine months in the womb only for her to turn into a daddy and an uncle’s girl. I must be out of my mind…” He muttered, petting his stomach, “please be more like me this time.”
Ruggie snickered loudly as he carried Nila into the hallway. He wasn’t going to argue, but he was pretty sure Nila took after Jamil quite a bit more than he realised. “C’mon Nila, let’s see what your uncles have brought you. I’ll teach you a great lesson in value.”
“Please don’t,” Jamil muttered behind them, but Nila had already tuned him out.
“What’s value, unca Ruggie?”
“Oh, Nila. Let uncle Ruggie show you the important things in life.”
After all, she’d shown him too.