He hadn’t given up the chase when Ezra had let him between his legs, hadn’t left when the fun was over, hadn’t run when he’d found out Ezra was pregnant.
He’dstayed.
And now the asshole was so sweet, Ezra didn’t think he could shake him if he tried.
When they parted, three little words were on the tip of Ezra’s tongue, but before he could speak them, pain took complete hold over him. It was his worst contraction yet, twisting his insides like a wrung washcloth, and it triggered a sudden and urgent impulse in him that overrode all other thought.
Groaning through it, he clenched Titan’s shirt even more tightly. “I think I need to push.”
“Right. Yes. Of course,” said a wide-eyed Titan, sounding like someone who was trying hard not to sound panicked while being totally super-duper panicked. “Let us rid you of your garments before they impede the laying of our eggs.”
Titan had just maneuvered Ezra onto his back and was working on undoing the tie to his sweatpants when the bedroom door opened a crack and Jude’s head poked through.
“Buttons told me what was happening,” he explained, then scrunched his eyebrows together and amended, “Well, I mean, Buttons told Al what was happening, and I was able to understand it through our bond. How is everything going? Do you need any help?”
“The arrival of our clutch is imminent,” Titan informed Jude over his shoulder, working Ezra’s pants and boxers down his thighs. Ezra was too focused on his labor and rapidly approaching delivery to even think about being embarrassed. Besides, he’d been there for Jude’s delivery. Quid pro quo, or whatever. What was a little horrifically gaping asshole between friends?
Abruptly, the pressure between Ezra’s legs became unbearable. He reached out and wrapped his hand around Titan’s forearm, squeezing a little too hard by accident. “Fuck! They’re coming! I have to push, Ihave to!”
Distantly, he heard Jude say, “I’m… gonna go grab some towels.”
The door closed, and as it did, Titan was right there with him, prying Ezra’s fingers off his forearm so he could hold his hand instead. The pain was excruciating and only got worse as Ezra bore down, screaming as his body threatened to rip open around the egg now forcing its way through him, and there was no escaping it. All he could do was tuck his chin to his chest and push through it, straining so hard, the veins in his temples ached.
“Oh god, I can’t do this,” he groaned when the pain let up enough for him to breathe. “It’s too much. I’m not strong enough.”
“This is incorrect,” Titan whispered into his ear, his voice gentle and kind. “You are very strong—the strongest being I have ever met. You shoulder not only the weight of our governments, but have grown our clutch inside of you through it all, and without having faltered once. But your struggle is nearing its end. You need only be strong for a while longer. Listen to your body, and it will tell you what to do.”
Panting, Ezra nodded weakly. His entire body was sweltering, and his knees were trembling where they were bent and open wide. Even his teeth were chattering with adrenaline, but Titan’s words strengthened his resolve. It was almost over. Hecoulddo this.
Determined, he squeezed Titan’s hand.
What a difference it made knowing he was not in this alone.
When the urge to push next came, he bore down hard, one hand gripping the blankets, the other crushing Titan’s fingers. On the inside, he felt the shift—the sudden, heavy drop of the egg descending—and screamed as it breached the birth canal. The pain crested as the widest part of the egg made its way through, then stalled. It was nearly unbearable. Every ounce of his strength went into his next series of pushes, but it just wouldn’t budge.
“Why won’t it come?” Ezra sobbed, letting his head fall back and panting so hard, he was at risk of hyperventilation.
“It seems we have a stubborn offspring. This can be a useful trait, but I do not find joy in the fact that it is causing you such suffering. Let us see what can be done.” Titan freed his hand from Ezra’s and pushed his knees back, shifting the angle of his pelvis. “Come now, little one, it is time for you to join us.”
It appeared that the abrupt shift in position was exactly what the egg needed to escape Erza’s poor, abused body. Screaming through one last excruciating push, Ezra was finally granted relief—the egg slid the rest of the way out and onto the bedding of the makeshift nest.
Ezra collapsed into the pillows, only peripherally aware that Titan had parted his lips in awe.
“My sweet Ezra,” he said, eyes not straying from the egg. “The egg you have laid is… quite unique.”
“What?” Ezra grimaced and pushed himself up onto his elbows. “What do you mean by ‘unique’? Is there something wrong with it?”
“Not at all.”
Titan held the egg up for him to see, and all at once, the breath left Ezra’s chest.
A rush of all-consuming adoration filled him instead.
“It’s so…” He searched for the words, a thousand adjectives coming to mind, and settled on, “big.”
And it was true. He remembered the day Jude had delivered his clutch—not that he could forget, because he had certainly tried—and recalled that his eggs had been somewhat wide at the base and a good seven or eight inches long.
This egg was not like that.
