Chapter Text
They did this at the beginning of every year ‘cause it felt reassuring to get a professional stranger to examine your body and say everything looked normal, and nothing life-threatening was happening behind the scenes. It was a bit of a sanity check before the semester possibly ate them alive.
Caitlyn appeared from the hallway, dressed in a dark turtleneck tucked into high-waisted pants.
“Have you seen the intake forms I printed?” she asked.
Vi looked up from her phone, then down at the mess of papers strewn across the coffee table.
“I think so,” Vi said, picking up a couple and flipping them over.
Caitlyn stepped closer, scanned the table once, then reached into the mess and pulled out the correct page, setting it on top of the others with zero hesitation.
“There…” she said.
She leaned in and kissed Vi’s cheek automatically, then straightened. Her hand lingered on Vi’s shoulder for a moment, rubbing gently.
“You okay?” Caitlyn asked.
Vi shrugged. “Yeah.”
Caitlyn didn’t accept that right away. She rarely did with Vi. Vi’s body had never really been a question mark. It was strong, and if something ached, she worked around it. If she was tired, she pushed through. But lately something had been… off.
“You’ve been weird,” Caitlyn said, then paused. She added, “Weird like… you’re not you.”
Vi snorted. “I’m always me.” It came out with her usual whatever I’m fine don’t worry about it tone, but this time there was a small flare of anxiety underneath. She tried her best to ignore it and push it away, since Caitlyn would smell it on her before Vi even finished pretending she wasn’t feeling it.
She leaned back against the chair and rolled her shoulder. “Maybe I’m just getting old. I don’t know. Feels like something’s eating me from the inside.”
Caitlyn’s mouth tightened, worry showing for a second, possibly feeling Vi’s brief anxiety before she shoved it away.
“Okay. Then we’ll see what they say.”
They grabbed their things and headed out. At the clinic, Caitlyn went first.
Vi sat in the waiting room with her leg bouncing absentmindedly. She watched Caitlyn disappear down the hallway and come back a bit later with a bandage on her arm and a folder tucked under it. Her expression was neutral, which said there was nothing of interest to note.
Caitlyn dropped into the seat beside her and nudged Vi’s arm with her own.
“You’re next.”
“Yeah,” Vi said, standing when the nurse called her name.
They started by taking her vitals, which were normal and boring. Then came the run-of-the-mill questions, and Vi answered them easily.
Exercise? Yeah, every day. Sleep? Eh, could be a bit better. Stress? Not really, no. Sexually active? Oh, yeah. Suppressants? Yes.
They took her blood and urine sample next, and then left her alone in the exam room while the lab ran their tests. She sat on the edge of the seat, swinging her feet and listening to the soft crinkle of paper underneath her every time she shifted.
When the doctor finally came in, she scrolled through the results, asked a few basic follow-up questions, explained some biomarkers, and then paused at the screen. Her face shifted into a little smile.
“Well, congratulations.”
Vi blinked, thrown off immediately by the word choice. “Uh… for what?”
“You’re pregnant.”
It took a couple of seconds for the sentence to really register.
“Uhh… that doesn’t…” Vi started, then abruptly cut herself off, because she realized she was about to argue with a lab result. “But we’re on suppressants.”
“Yes,” the doctor said, unbothered. “They’re very effective. Not perfect. Even one missed dose can matter, depending on timing.”
Vi opened her mouth again, then closed it. Her brain was already running a timeline in the background.
Her mind jumped back to the trip they’d taken last month.
Vi remembered waking up tangled with Caitlyn in a nice, fluffy hotel bed. When she eventually dragged herself upright and went to the bathroom, she spotted their monthly pill packs on the counter where they’d tossed them.
The packs were the organized type with the days printed across them. Vi stared at them, then realized that yesterday’s pill was still there.
Vi picked up Caitlyn’s pack next, and same thing.
Caitlyn had wandered in behind her, hair a mess, eyes barely open, and leaned against the doorframe while Vi held both packs up between them.
“...We didn’t take them,” Caitlyn said, voice rough with sleep.
“Nope.”
“Okay,” Caitlyn said, decisively. “We’ll take both today. At the correct time.”
Vi nodded, agreeing. “We’ll be responsible.”
Then the day started happening.
They went out and about, wandering around and doing ridiculously touristy things.
Noon passed, then the afternoon. Their “correct time” sailed right by while they were busy being alive, sharing laughter, and throwing back drinks, not thinking about the dang suppressants at all.
When they came back to their room later, a little buzzed, cheeks warm from the day and the drinks, the door had barely clicked shut before Vi had Caitlyn pressed against it, her body flush against hers, trapping her with the solid weight of her frame. Caitlyn’s back hit the wood with a soft thud, and Vi’s hands were already impatiently sliding under Caitlyn’s shirt.
Caitlyn laughed as her hands threaded in Vi’s hair, tugging at the strands as their mouths crashed together in a messy kiss.
Vi kissed her harder, one hand cupping the back of Caitlyn’s neck while the other wrapped possessively around her waist. “I know.”
“What do you know?”
“That I’m obsessed with you,” Vi said, and Caitlyn made a small sound that might’ve been laughter if it wasn’t also a needy whimper, her body arching into Vi’s touch as fingers found the clasp of her belt and snapped it open with practiced ease.
They stumbled to the bed, giggling like teenagers. Caitlyn’s jacket hit the floor first, followed by her shirt. Vi paused just long enough to admire her before pushing Caitlyn down onto the mattress and climbing over her.
Caitlyn’s hands were everywhere, roaming Vi’s back, tracing the muscles of her abdomen before dipping lower, between Vi’s thighs.
“Need you,” Vi panted, hands fumbling to stroke Caitlyn before guiding her inside.
Vi rode her with rolling hips while Caitlyn’s hands gripped Vi’s ass as she thrust up to meet her. Vi came first, and Caitlyn followed soon after, slamming hard as she spilled deep inside, a contented moan escaping her.
Later, Vi remembered lying next to Caitlyn, feeling absurdly peaceful. Then Caitlyn shifted, and something in her face changed just a fraction, like she’d remembered something inconvenient.
She looked at Vi.
“We didn’t,” Caitlyn said.
Vi didn’t need her to clarify.
She swallowed, that weird mix of oh shit, right, and it’s probably fine rising up automatically because it had always been fine.
And right then, in the cozy sheets with Caitlyn warm against her side, it didn’t feel like there was anything to guard against or worry about.
They’d stopped using condoms ages ago, sometime after dating had turned into this is my person, and we have a place together, and I know your weird little quirks, and I love you, anyways.
Somewhere along the line, protection had started being a distant concept, filed away with other things that belonged to earlier versions of them.
Vi remembered thinking that missing a day or two didn’t mean anything. That they weren’t the kind of people who got punished for one tiny slip.
“...and based on the timeline…”
Vi blinked a couple of times. The doctor was still talking, explaining timelines and options and next steps. Vi nodded when she was supposed to nod, asked one question that sounded normal, signed a form, and accepted the folder without really looking at it.
When she walked back out to the waiting area, Caitlyn stood immediately, as if she’d been physically holding herself back.
“There you are,” Caitlyn said. Then more carefully “Vi…?”
“Can we go home?”
“Of course,” Caitlyn said immediately.
In the car, Caitlyn talked a little at first, filling the silence, asking if Vi wanted food. She mentioned that she might need to eat more meat, after all. Vi half-smiled and murmured something like I told you so, but she wasn’t really listening.
Pregnant.
She and Caitlyn had talked about it before, in a it’s a future problem way. Half-serious conversations about names. Casual wondering about whether they’d want a son or a daughter, whether they’d take time off, how they’d make it work.
Vi had assumed it would happen after certain milestones, like after they were mated and married, probably. Not that she had a problem with having kids before that.
She wondered if the timing was wrong. If she was even ready at all. Her mind jumped ahead to the reality of it: eight months of her body changing, growing a whole ass human being inside her that she’d eventually have to push out or be cut open for. The whole thing sounded exhausting and, honestly, terrible for her gym routine.
But when she imagined not keeping it, her chest went cold, followed by a twinge of guilt. When she imagined keeping it, she felt fear, absolutely, but the happiness settled in hard when she pictured it: her and Caitlyn, fumbling and figuring things out as they went, raising their little nugget they’d made together.
Vi glanced over at Caitlyn in the driver’s seat, the completely unknowing sire to said nugget. One hand was steady on the wheel. The other wasn’t doing anything useful, fingers flexing and tightening around nothing, a habit that Caitlyn probably didn’t realize she had.
Vi wondered how she’d take the news. She didn’t have much more time to think about that because the driveway appeared faster than she expected.
“So,” Caitlyn said, turning toward her once they were inside. “What did they say?”
Vi leaned back against the wall, folded her arms, and hesitated for a moment before just letting it out.
“I’m pregnant.”
Caitlyn froze.
Her expression shifted in quick steps, from confusion to a flash of relief, followed by a delayed onset of panic.
She moved before she spoke, sitting on the edge of the armrest of the couch instead of the very usable cushion next to it. One leg stretched out, the other bent. Her hands came together, thumbs brushing as she worked through it. She closed her eyes and let out a breath.
“I thought you were sick,” Caitlyn said. “Like, actually sick. You’ve been off and I…” She cut herself off, then looked back up at Vi. “So I’m relieved. And also, I’m panicking. I’m doing both.”
She rubbed her hands together once, then stilled them, like she was reining herself in. “Okay… I’m okay. I mean, I will be. What do you want to do?”
Vi blinked. “That’s… a real question.”
“Yes,” Caitlyn said immediately. “I’m not assuming. I’m not panicking in a way that decides things for you.” She paused, then added delicately, “This is your choice.”
Vi huffed a breath that turned into a small laugh, then her voice dropped. “I think… I want to keep it.”
Caitlyn didn’t respond right away; she couldn’t. The panic was definitely still there as she thought about being unprepared. She thought about Vi, about her having to carry something that would change her body in ways Caitlyn couldn’t control.
But underneath lay something like pride and a hint of awe, the dumb primal part of her brain that was already convinced this was something incredible.
“I’m terrified,” Caitlyn said first, because she needed to put that on the table before anything else. “And,” she continued, “I’m also… happy.”
Vi laughed, and then Caitlyn laughed too, hers cracking a little in the middle, both of them staring at each other like they were materializing the words we’re becoming parents for real now.
“Shit,” Vi said.
“Shit,” Caitlyn agreed.
Caitlyn stood abruptly and closed the distance between them like she couldn’t stand being apart for another second. She grabbed Vi by the front of her shirt and kissed her hard. Vi made a small sound and kissed her back just as fiercely, hands coming up to pull Caitlyn even closer.
And somewhere deep inside Vi’s body, the thing “eating her from the inside” kept on doing its tiny, miraculous work.
Later, when they were stretched out together in the sheets, Caitlyn’s arm curved around Vi’s waist, her hand finding its place against Vi’s stomach.
There was nothing to feel quite yet. And still. Mine, a treacherous little voice supplied.
The thought popped into her head involuntarily, some kind of instinctual noise. She didn’t even notice right away that her thumb started moving in slow circles over the same spot.
“Well,” Vi murmured, eyes still closed. Her mouth curved in amusement, “This is new.”
Caitlyn’s face went hot, and she started to pull her hand away, but Vi’s fingers came down over hers before she could retreat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Vi cracked one eye open, “Hey. I’m not complaining.” Her fingers curled farther around Caitlyn’s hand. Just didn’t realize you’d go all starry-eyed this fast.”
“I am not starry-eyed,” Caitlyn protested weakly. Her eyes turned away even though Vi couldn’t see her.
She exhaled through her nose and let her head sink deeper into the pillow, retracting her hand to rub at the spot just below her ear instead.
“I—We should tell my parents soon.”
Vi hummed in agreement, “Yeah. And Vander, and Powder.” She huffed a small laugh, “They’ll be excited as hell, and also pains in the ass about it.”
Caitlyn laughed quietly. “My parents will be thrilled, of course.” Here was the part that she was trying to skirt around. “But, they’ll likely expect us to formalize things. ”
“Cait,” Vi said, shifting and turning towards her, “are you proposing to mate me right now, or should I wait for a dramatic speech?”
It wasn’t how Caitlyn envisioned a proposal going. There would be more flowers, probably, for one. Something a little more flashy but not too flashy, since they were both the type who preferred things lowkey. Actually, in an ideal world, there would be no surprise pup in the equation.
Before she could chase the thought any further, Caitlyn just went with it. “Yes,” she said, simply.
She pushed herself up slightly, bracing on one arm so she could look at Vi’s face properly. Her other hand came up to brush a strand of hair back from Vi’s forehead. “Violet, will you marry me? I mean—Will you allow me to mate you, to claim you as mine forever, physically?”
Vi stared at her for half a second before she reached up, cupped the back of Caitlyn’s neck, and pulled her down closer until their mouths met.
“Yeah,” Vi added against her lips. “I’ll marry you.”
Caitlyn nodded, her forehead dropping to rest against Vi's shoulder for a moment, her hand still tangled in Vi's hair, fingers combing through it slowly. "I'm good. Just... didn't expect to ask like this." She let out a small huff of a laugh, dry and self-aware. “But it feels right anyway."
Maddie sat in a row far from the front but not all the way in the back, perfect for not being overly disruptive while still allowing herself to ogle her professor. The one-sided crush had now been going on for two years.
Professor Kiramman stood at the lectern, setting up her laptop. She wore a fitted custom button-up with deep blue accents that matched her hair, tucked neatly beneath a cropped blazer. Her hair was tied back, exposing her sharp jawline and cheekbones, and a pair of thin-rimmed glasses completed her hot professor look.
“Fine shite,” Maddie muttered while covering her mouth with her hand.
Sarah, sitting next to her, side-eyed her. “I think you forgot to take your suppressants this morning,” she jabbed dryly.
Sky, who was sitting on her left, pulled up the lecture slides on her tablet, actually trying to pay attention and take notes.
Professor Kiramman finished up her setup, projecting the introduction slides for the day’s lecture. She turned her attention to the 50ish students in the room, clearing her throat to get them to focus.
“Good morning,” Professor Kiramman said, with a sexy British accent. “Welcome to AME 301: Dynamics. You can expect this course to start to ramp up in difficulty fairly quickly. A solid foundation is crucial, so we’ll begin with a review of Statics, your prerequisite course, for this first week.”
“I don’t think I remember anything from Statics,” Sarah whispered.
Maddie, ignoring her, murmured, “She sounds so hot. I missed her.” Sarah groaned quietly.
“My office hours are listed on the syllabus,” Professor Kiramman went on, already moving to the next slide. “The syllabus also contains grading criteria, course policies, and TA office hours. Powder will be the TA for this course.”
And that was it, no personal introduction or lore, absolutely no crumbs.
Maddie had been in three of her courses now and still knew almost nothing about her personal life aside from the fact that she was a Kiramman, which probably meant she was loaded. But beyond that, they didn’t know if she had a partner. There was no ring, and her Instagram was unfortunately private.
Lecture wrapped up at 9:50 sharp as per usual. Professor Kiramman powered down the projector, “We’ll resume on Wednesday. Don’t forget, your first lab section is this afternoon.”
The lecture room erupted into its usual post-lecture noisiness: desks flipping back down, people chattering, zippers opening and closing.
Maddie watched Professor Kiramman gather her belongings, and even just unplugging her laptop, she was stupidly attractive.
Sarah nudged her with an elbow, smirking. “Come on, Mads, just go confess already. Walk up, blurt it out, get rejected, orrr you could get her number. We might finally find out if she’s taken.”
“I would literally rather die than face rejection,” Maddie said flatly.
Sky sighed thoughtfully. “She’s attractive, definitely rich… she’s got to be married! If she’s not cuffed, then where’s the hope for us?”
Maddie let out a long sigh full of one-sided yearning and followed them into the crowd, leaving the lecture hall.
Caitlyn was in her office alone, uploading materials to Canvas, when the door swung open abruptly.
“Yellooooo,” Powder sang.
She closed the door and flopped into the chair across from Caitlyn’s desk and started spinning on it. “I did the lab sweep. Materials are good to go, instructions are uploaded…”
Caitlyn nodded, still typing away. “Good.” Then she paused and spoke more quietly, “I wanted to thank you. For taking on more of the lab responsibilities. Especially this term.”
“Oh,” Powder said, suddenly attentive. “You’re welcome. Obviously. Also, if I hadn’t volunteered, you would’ve burned out.”
Caitlyn finally looked up and nudged her glasses up a bit with a finger. Powder’s expression had shifted into something almost sincere, which always felt a little alarming…
“It helps, Caitlyn admitted. “With… everything.”
Powder nodded solemnly and pressed her palms together in front of her face. “Stress and kids do not mix for real.” Then she raised a finger like she was declaring something, “I am doing this for my future nibling.”
“Your… what?”
“And my sister, I guess,” Powder added, waving a hand in the air like that part was optional. “Nibling,” she repeated. “My niece or nephew. My little bestie. It’s inclusive, keep up.”
“Hmm, alright.”
“Sooo,” Powder started, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hands. “You guys mated yet?”
Caitlyn’s fingers faltered over the keyboard. “Soon.”
“Oh my god.” Powder clasped both hands over her mouth. “When.”
Caitlyn leaned back and exhaled. Her parents had lightly suggested they get engaged and mated as soon as possible, for “insurance.” There wasn’t really a point in waiting anymore, now that a pup was on the way. Still, something about it felt faintly antiquated. Like alphas were meant to claim and omegas were meant to be claimed, and that was that.
“We agreed on this weekend.”
Powder let out a girlish giggle. “Heh, Vi’s wanted your bite since, like, forever.”
Caitlyn smiled a little bit at that, the corner of her mouth twitching up.
But Powder wasn’t nearly done bothering her. “Your poor, thirsty students are going to be devastated when they find out.”
Caitlyn’s head snapped up so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash. “Sorry?”
Powder squinted at her, “You’ve never checked Rate My Professors?”
“No,” Caitlyn said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. “I just read the end-of-term surveys.”
“No one is honest there. That’s where they go to be polite and say things like ‘sometimes the pacing was fast’ instead of ‘I cried in the library for 8 hours.’ Or, you know, the real feral stuff.”
Powder pulled out her phone and started tapping, and after a moment, she turned her screen toward Caitlyn.
At first, it was… normal.
AME101 Quality: 4.0 Difficulty: 4.0
“Good balance between theoretical concepts like particle kinematics and rigid body problems. Start the hw early and do the extra practice problems for the exams since theyre 40% of your grade. Overall challenging but fair, you get what you put in and her clear explanations in lecture help a ton.”
Helpful: 👍4 👎0
AME101 Quality: 4.0 Difficulty: 5.0
“The second homework on angular momentum traumatized me a bit but everything else is pretty manageable if you do the homework and go to office hours.”
Helpful: 👍2 👎0
“This seems fairly normal,” Caitlyn murmured, scanning the screen.
Powder leaned closer, her finger hovering over the scroll. “Keep reading. It gets better.”
AME301 Quality: 5.0 Difficulty: 5.0
“SO BRITISH HER BODY IS TEA.”
Helpful: 👍10 👎0
AME301 Quality: 5.0 Difficulty: 1.0
“SMASH.”
Helpful: 👍12 👎0
AME301 Quality: 5.0 Difficulty: 2.0
“She can use my vaginal canal as an echo chamber for her British lectures.”
Helpful: 👍7 👎3
Caitlyn paused mid-scroll, her eyes widening before she blinked it away, because really, was that what ran through her students’ heads during lecture when she was just explaining force vectors and coordinate systems? “This is a little disturbing…”
Powder nodded sympathetically. “Yeah…” Then she smiled again, because she was evil. “But also… kind of funny.”
Caitlyn reached up and rubbed at one eye under her glasses. “Wait, what about Vi’s reviews? Does she have these, too?”
Powder snatched the phone back quicker than necessary, her fingers gripping it tight. “For your own good, you shouldn’t read them. Trust me, they make yours look tame.”