[worm moon, some unspecified point in the timeline. cw mpreg, egg mention]
“So,” says Vash, looking over to the windowsill where Zazie is perched, their legs dangling over the side and kicking gently. If he looks at Zazie out of the corner of his eye, he can just barely see the gossamer of wings.
Zazie doesn’t bring them out often, preferring the ones attached to their mask for getting around. It takes effort to keep them away though. Just another thing only Vash is allowed to see, another way Zazie tells him he’s precious. It makes resolve burn brighter than the fear.
“What’s up?” Zazie asks, turning their head slightly.
Vash takes a breath. Bite the bullet, Stampede. “I’ve got news.”
“You don’t like the news.” Zazie swings their legs over the windowsill to face him, their curious gaze pinning Vash to the wall. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Vash squeaks. “It’s just. Well. Okay. I might be, uh.”
Zazie raises an eyebrow.
“Pregnant,” Vash finishes lamely. “I think I’m pregnant.”
Zazie blinks at him.
Vash blinks right back.
“Did you get nasty with a human when I was away?” Zazie asks. “It’ll be kind of difficult dodging the law with a child, you know.”
“No!” Vash cries. “I haven’t done anything with anyone—“
“If you’re worried I’m jealous,” says Zazie, still staring at him with a perplexed expression, “I’m really not. Worms have no concept of human monogamy. Besides—what we have can’t be replicated. There’s nothing for me to get jealous about.”
Vash buries his head in his hands. This was not how he’d expected this to go.
“I really didn’t,” he moans. “I’m pretty sure the kid’s yours.”
Zazie blinks again. “I think I would’ve remembered laying eggs in you.”
Vash clutches his face harder. “When we did it the human way,” he says, near wailing. “You didn’t—you didn’t pull out.”
“Of course I didn’t,” says Zazie. “Terminals can’t get people pregnant, much less Plants.”
But they hop off the windowsill anyway and walk over to Vash, footsteps light as ever, with a curious glint in their eyes. They move to push aside Vash’s jacket, and Vash lets them. Zazie lays a hand on his stomach—then their ear.
Vash can catch the barest edge of the ultrasonic frequencies worms use, and the familiar hum fills the air. It soothes his nerves like few other things can.
“Oh,” says Zazie then, struck speechless for the first time since he’s met them. “Oh.”
“I told you,” Vash groans, as Zazie makes a strange face. “What’re we going to do now? You’re right, I can’t run from the law when I’ve got a kid, much less dodge bullets pregnant.”
“This is why I was planning to carry,” Zazie mutters.
“What?”
“Nothing. Just—lie low for a few days. I need to get things ready.”
“You’re leaving?” Vash asks, the fear rising high in his throat. “You’re—“
“Shh,” says Zazie, brow furrowed and gaze far away. “Not for long. And I’m never really away from you, remember?”
“I know,” says Vash, reaching for them. “But still…”
Zazie wraps skinny arms around his middle and presses a featherlight kiss to his stomach. “I’ll be back,” they say, with a fierceness Vash has never heard from them before. “I’ll be back, I promise. Wait for me, Vash?”
“Okay,” says Vash, feeling a little pathetic. Zazie ruffles his hair before striding over to the window.
“I love you,“ says Zazie softly, in that language only Plants and Worms can hear. “Don’t be afraid.”
Vash nods once, already crying, and watches Zazie zip out into the night.
