Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three months later

Poppy flits around the house as she and Tora get ready for her doctor’s appointment. “Tora, have you seen my shoes?” “On ya feet Bobby,” he grumbles while trying to stave off a headache. “Ok, now where is my…” she trails off when she realizes her purse is on her shoulder. “Pregnancy brain sucks,” “Tell me about it,” Tora murmurs. Over the past couple of weeks, everything Poppy went through, Tora went through.

She would wake up in the morning sick as a dog and Tora would be right beside her puking in a trash can. Pain would flare in her back and Tora would have to wear a back brace to practices causing his team to endlessly rib him and call him “old man.” “Barely been 4 months and already this kid is kicking our apples.” He heaves himself up from the couch and shuffles to the door with Poppy following behind him. Tora opens the driver’s side door for his wife and a manic gleam enters her eyes at the thought of driving his cherry convertible.

“Guess we’ll have to trade this in for an SUV huh Bobby?” but she’s already gotten into the car and started it while revving the engine. Tora hurries over to the passenger side and automatically reaches up to grab onto the “oh shucks” handle. “Be gentle with my car Poppy. Don’t drive like a hamster on a high.” She flashes him an insane grin and squeals out the driveway onto the street. She pauses to check for traffic and speeds into the turn like her life depends on it. “Sugar, Poppy I want to live to see our child dagnabit!” he shouts.

“Oh quit being so dramatic.” she rolls her eyes and continues, “You know I’m being more careful because of the baby.” She flips her signal on to change lanes and jerks the car onto the exit ramp and almost clips another car in the process. “What the fridge Poppylan?! Why the bells did I let you drive!” The car behind them echoes the sentiment by angrily honking their horn and glaring as they stop by them at the stoplight. Poppy sheepishly waves to them and continues on to the doctor’s office sighing in relief when the man doesn’t follow behind them. There had been many times in the past when a driver would follow after either one of them who both, quite frankly, were reckless drivers.

She turns the car off and gets out to find Tora fiercely scowling at her. She scoffs and locks the car while sashaying through the revolving door to the doctor with Tora glaring at her the whole time. She greets the security guard and waltzes to the elevators just as a flood of people rush out and almost knock her down. Tora quickly steadies her and turns his burning eyes away from Poppy and to the crowd exiting the building. They quickly step into the elevator once it clears and press floor number four. The doors begin to close but Tora reaches out to stop them as a young blonde woman shouts for them to wait.

She reaches them just in time and steps in out of breath. She presses floor six and turns her icy eyes to her reflection so she can fluff her curls. Her eyes latch onto Tora and she turns her demeanor shifting from stiff to languid seduction. “Hey, handsome. What’s your name?” Poppy narrows her eyes at the woman and yanks Tora down to her height to kiss with so much vigor it borders on doing the spicy. “Taken.” Poppy triumphantly grins as they reach their floor leaving the gobsmacked woman behind. “Couldn’t ignore it this time Bobby?” Tora asks as he lopes to the OBGYN. “Guess it’s the hormones talking.” She shrugs her shoulders and Tora snorts as they enter the loud and crowded room his amusement fading into distress.

They reach the desk and the frazzled receptionist shoves a crap ton of papers at Poppy while directing her to fill out all the highlighted parts. He then gestures for them to find a seat and picks one of the three ringing phones as they search the waiting area. Only one is free from a screaming child or exhausted adult so Tora lets Poppy have it as he stands next to her scanning the room. “So do you think it will be a boy or a girl Tora?”

He smiles before saying, “I think it’ll be a girl with balls of steel like her mother.” She punches him in the thigh and retorts, “I think it’ll be a boy who’s hardheaded like his dad.” Tora straightens from his deceptively slouched posture but Poppy thwacks him with the clipboard before he can say anything inappropriate. “I guess we stand on opposite sides here then. You with Cordy and me with Quincey.” At this observation, Tora puckers his lips as if he has eaten a lemon and hurriedly says, “Changed my mind it’ll be a boy who’s just like ya.”

Poppy shakes her head in wonder at his stubbornness and continues to fill out the forms until a nurse bangs open the door to the exam rooms. “Poppylan?! Poppylan Wilkes?!” she screams to be heard over the chaos. Poppy pops up papers in hand and they hurry to the curdled nurse who snatches Poppy’s information before leading them to their room. She throws the papers on a desk at the nurse’s station and briskly performs the preliminary steps when they enter the exam room. “Dr. Gingham will be here shortly.”

The nurse slams the door and Poppy flinches while settling into the chair. Tora grabs a chair from the wall and sets it beside Poppy. He grabs her hand and smooths his thumb over it while they wait. “What if I’m having triplets?” she whispers eyes wide. Tora imagines three little Poppys, not wanting to agree with his brother’s partner out loud, and the thought causes him to beam and hoist Poppy onto his lap for a passionate kiss. But, they are interrupted by a loud knock and the entrance of Dr. Gingham. She walks in a knowing twinkle in her eye and says, “I see we’re doing good today Mr. and Mrs. Wilkes? “Umm yeah.” they both stutter, mortified, with their faces flaming.

Dr. Gingham slides into the rolling chair and she intensely works on the computer for a bit before enthusiastically turning back to Poppy and snapping on gloves. “Ready to find out what you’re having?” The couple simultaneously looks down at their intertwined hands as Tora clears his throat trying not to cry before even seeing the baby. “Aww.” the doctor swivels to prepare the equipment.

“Guess the first baby jitters are already here.” Poppy sniffs a bit and nods her head as she rolls up her shirt so Dr. Gingham can spread the gel over her abdomen. “This will be a little cold,” she warns. Once the gel is on the doctor picks up the wand and waves it around slowly until the image shows up on the screen. She grins at what she sees and bubbly announces, “In about 5 months you guys will be the parents of twins!” “A boy, she points to the top right of the screen, “and a girl.” as she points to the bottom left. Tears overflow from Poppy’s eyes and Tora croaks his eyes soft with mist. He reaches to hug Poppy but the doctor stops him to wipe off the gel and she leaves the room to give them some privacy.

“We’re going to have twins Tora. A boy AND a girl. Wonder who’s going to win Qunicey and Cordy’s bet.” His laugh fans across her face as they hold each other close soaking in the moment. The doctor peeks in and Tora scrubs his face not wanting her to see his tears. She hands Poppy an envelope containing the sonograms of the twins and Poppy holds it to her chest before passing it to Tora who stuffs it in her purse before the dam of tears breaks again. They gather their stuff and walk to the checkout Dr. Gingham following behind to give them further information. But, she shakes her head when she realizes how dazed they are and she pushes them out the door once the receptionist finishes with them. They float all the way back down to the car and they sit in silence for a moment when they get into the car.

“Poppy?” “Yes?” “I had a hard time imagining one kid but two is gonna be somethin’ else.” “Right! I barely processed pushing out one baby but now I’ll have to birth two!” He snaps his head around to face her, “What the flower do ya mean push?” Poppy turns to confusion in her eyes, “How else did ya think they would come out? I either have to push or they’ll most likely do a C-section.” “Cut you open?” he asks his voice quiet but sharp. Poppy looks away from his flaming eyes and down to her lap, “Yes, that’s right.” His eyes flare with anguish at the thought and Poppy reaches over to soothe him before his thoughts spiral out of control.

“We won’t die Tora. The likely hood of me and/or the twins dying is very low.” “But it’s not impossible,” he grumbles disturbed. She grabs his chin mentally forcing him to look her in the eyes before saying, “We will survive.” “You don’t know that.” “Yes I do,” she says with all the confidence and conviction he doesn’t feel. However, his wife’s optimism is relentless so he chooses to at least hope he’ll never how to figure out how to live without these vital parts of his life. “I love ya, Bobby.” She smiles and starts the car, “I love you too.” She carefully backs them out of the space, the full reality of their situation sinking in, and drives them back home with no incident.

Chapter Text

Once they enter the house, they wash their hands and raid the kitchen to grab some snacks, and crash into the living room. Tora grabs the remote to turn on his video game and the sounds of his game and their munching fill the air until Poppy falls asleep. Not wanting to disturb her, Tora turns off the game, and soon he is startled awake by the buzzing of his phone. Once he sees the caller is unknown, he ignores it and settles into the couch to resume his nap. But he is once again interrupted by the buzz of his phone which displays the same unidentified number.

“What the fountain do ya want?”, he answers “Dang, hello to ya too Big Bro.” Goliath drawls on the other end of the phone. Poppy immediately bolts up and snatches Tora’s phone away, ending the call as soon as she hears his voice. She cradles Tora’s face in her hands, her disapproval evident. “What did we say about going back to toxic people?” He grunts and says what he always says to defend his little brother, “He needs me.”

Her brows furrow deeper and she opens her mouth to further admonish him but she pauses when his text alert dings. She grabs his phone before he can read it and indignantly squeaks when she reads the message. “Let me see.” He plucks the phone from her hand and lifts herself from her burrow on the couch to sit in his lap.

G: bro ya need to put a muzzle on ya girl got ya by the balls and its messin with ya rep lol🤣

Tora scoffs and hands the phone to Poppy for her to block and delete the number just as another message comes through.

G: I was callin to offer congrats on the baby heard some whispers around town bout it Looks like ya finally made it out Tora.

The older man’s eyes narrow in surprised suspicion when the meaning of the message sinks in. Poppy sighs in resignation as he dials the number but she frowns when the phone lady says the number he has dialed is no longer in service. He tries it again and almost throws his phone across the room when he gets the same message. “That little punk.” “At least he wasn’t bothering you with his mess again.” He grunts in agreement while looking out the window noting the sun has set.

He turns to ask Poppy if she’s hungry but gets his answer when her stomach angrily roars. “Take out or cook?” She grins and claps excitedly, “Let’s cook to celebrate our twins.” She skips to the kitchen and Tora lags behind hoping she’ll make something easy. They wash their hands and Poppy sets out the ingredients for Bacon and Egg Mazeren and brownies. “Wow sweetheart, dessert too? Wonder if I’ll get even luckier after they’re born,” he says as he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

She sighs and looks above for help with her man but she just slides him the vegetables that he needs to wash and start cutting. She starts to cook the bacon on the stove and suddenly her head jerks up when she remembers, “Oh, you need to call Quincy and Cordy to share the news. We should have called earlier but it slipped my mind.” “Why do I have to call? I don’t even know how to work the stupid app,” he grumbles while chopping celery. She affectionately pats his cheek and walks back to the living room to get his phone just as a Frugal Trio call comes through.

Poppy grins at the coincidence before passing it to Tora as she goes to the sink to get water for the noodles. Tora grudgingly answers and before he can say a word his brother screeches, “Honey, you guys promised to call right when y’all got home! It’s dark now and I have some money to win!” “Shut it Blondie so you can give me my $50,” Cordelia says from beside him both of them anxiously curled towards the screen. Tora rolls his eyes in annoyance but says, “It’s twins. A boy and a girl.” Tora, Poppy, and Cordelia all brace for the shrill excitement they all expect from him but the author remains unusually somber. “Guess we both won pumpkin.” he softly says with tears pooling in his eyes. “Wait, Quincy what’s wrong? What’s happening?” Cordelia questions slightly panicked.

“Sorry, guys it’s just that I never thought me and Tora would make it to having kids. I mean, I might have but with Tora, the odds were even slimmer.” he continues to babble as his tears become hysterical causing Poppy to start crying and even Tora and Cordelia tear up. “Gosh, when the twins are born I’m going to spoil them rotten and cry even harder!” Tora wipes his face and snuggles Poppy to his side as their sobs subside. He perks up a bit and sniffs the air zoning in on the bacon that is now burning. He darts over to turn it off and air out the room and Poppy heaves a sigh at what will now be changed dinner plans. “Dang Blondie you’re gonna have me bawling if this is how you react just at the announcement. We haven’t even met them yet!”

“Hush Cordy,” he says while playfully punching her in the arm. She then wraps her arm around his shoulder and pulls him in for a tender kiss that gets a bit more heated until Tora clears his throat as he settles back by Poppy’s side. “Crisis averted?” Quincy chirps his face a deep shade of red. Tora nods his assent and Quincy launches back into the conversation as if he didn’t just go through a roller coaster of emotions.

“In honor of your guys having not one but TWO babies, we absolutely must go to this heavenly sushi place I and Cordy visited last week.” At the mention of sushi, both Tora and Poppy pale as Poppy races to the trash can to expel a demon in the form of regurgitated food. Tora ends the call when he releases a loud belch and dry heaves into the sink. In between heaves, they both release a long string of expletives that puts even the most foul-mouthed pirate to shame.

Tora’s phone starts to chime with a flurry of texts from Quincy but he ignores it to limp to the medicine cabinet downing 2 Downlow Bismuth tablets dry. He then grabs some for Poppy and a glass of water as she sits on the floor by the trash can in a fetal position. As she rocks, she chants, “5 more months. 5 more months.” “Yeah, 5 more months sweetheart, and this will all be over.” He sighs and then goes to answer Quincy’s texts.

Q: What the blue bell is going on? Did you guys get involved in some type of curse to get pregnant?🧐

Q: Oh, I and Cordy just looked it up and pregnancy is weird. I had no idea men could experience the same symptoms too. Guess you better get ready for a beer belly.😙

Q: Are y’all ok? The phone shows when you’ve read the messages boo boo.😏

T: Fine now. Fridgin kids.

Q: Bet that’ll be your motto for the rest of your days! Meanwhile, I and pumpkin will continue to be the cool aunt and uncle😎

T: Shove off Quince.

Q: Whatever. We’re still going out later so don’t think you’ve gotten out of it.😤

He turns back to Poppy who still looks a bit unhinged. He walks toward her again and she claws his arm, “I feel so horrible right now.” “It’s ok Bobby, just calm down and we’ll order some pizza or something.” With those few words, Tora denoted a bomb he did not know was lit. It subjected him to a 30-minute lecture that vividly described the changes one’s body goes through when pregnant.

The Tiger of Ares was thoroughly shooketh and resolved that the twins would be the only children they had together. He voiced this thought and momentarily softened Poppy until he asked what she wanted for dinner which set her ablaze once again. She stomps to their room and slams the door leaving a confuzzled Tora to order pizza. “Hopefully I won’t have to go back to trash until we go out with Quincy. I actually like cooking with Bobby.” he thinks while waiting for the pizza.