For all of her involvement in designing and commissioning the waistcoats, there was absolutely nothing that mandated Elesa drop them off in person, so of course that was precisely what she did.

As soon as the door to the apartment swung shut, she cast an arm out to catch Ingo by the far shoulder and leaned back into a spontaneous dip, trusting him to catch her. When he did, she grinned at him, “I brought presents.”

Briefly, she cast an upside-down look over the living room and the grin dropped into a pout, “Where’s Thing Two?”

“Taking a call,” Ingo said, hoisting her back upright, “I’m sure he’ll be out momentarily. Your day has gone well thus far, I hope?”

Elesa rocked her head back and forth in a non-answer as she crossed the room, collapsing onto the couch where Haxorus immediately materialized, presenting her chin to be scratched, “We had a Salazzling challenger come through, but the kid nearly fainted getting off the last roller coaster. Colette twisted an ankle catching her before she could fall over.”

A low hiss of disapproval sounded, “Perhaps it’s time for that remodel? You’ve mentioned close calls in the past-- the roller coaster is a stunning centerpiece, but a bit more literally than you intended, it seems.”

She groaned and tossed her head back against the cushions, flinging her cargo to the side to devote both hands to Haxorus. “It’s been vetted! And not just by you guys, by actual safety inspectors! How can people get hurt walking out of a classic fair ride, but not getting blasted out of a cannon?”

“The less said about that, the better.” Which was probably for the best. All transportation rivalries aside, Elesa was relatively certain the twins could fill the better portion of a day citing their issues with Skyla’s setup, “Challengers are prepared for battle, and it’s not uncommon for an unfamiliar environment to trip them up instead of their Pokemon; we see the same thing on the battle lines. Have you considered installing grab rails?”

Elesa stopped scratching and pointed his way. “Get him.” She told Haxorus, who didn’t understand why, but happily shuffled over to her trainer. As if she hadn’t just sicced a vicious dragon on him, she followed it with, “How about you? Fabrics treating you any better?”

In the safety of his own home, Ingo had abandoned his binder entirely, opting for loose, casual alternatives to what he would normally wear at this point in the day. It painted a picture, and that picture used its thousand words to say ‘no’.

“Unfortunately, I’ve seen very little change in terms of sensitivity, so it’s a relief that your suggested route is open to travel,” He tilted his head, a grimace tugging at his already down-turned lips, and conceded, “None too soon, I’d say. My usual clothes are beginning to feel quite tight.”

“Aw, hon,” Elesa crooned and scooted the parcel to the far end of the couch, opening an arm to invite him over. Sidestepping Haxorus, he accepted it, and appreciatively settled in next to her. “If it makes you feel any better, there’s no visible difference at all.”

“That is generally how identical twins work.” Emmet chimed in from down the hall, Archeops trailing at his heels.

She tilted her head back ineffectually, “Ohoho, look who finally showed up.”

Unhurried, he stopped to jot something down on their household calendar before bothering to address her any further, and Elesa pulled a face at his back. Archeops was the only one to notice. It cocked its head. “No, no you’re fine. Don’t hurry on my account. I’ve just been socializing with the grateful brother.”

He turned to look at them only once he’d concluded his task. “I am sorry for the delay. I am not sorry for causing the delay.”

“Whatever it was is that worthwhile, huh?”

“I am getting spayed.” He announced, to the reception of one baffled silence and one long-suffering sigh.

“Please find another way to express that sentiment.”

“Why? I like this one.”

“You...” Elesa took a deep breath and then, defeated, blew it out, “Would, wouldn’t you?”

Preferred terminology aside, she could plainly see the logic in it. With one brother serving as a fantastical cautionary tale, it only made sense that they’d want to protect the other from a similar fate. Medication and IUDs were both temporary and could be circumvented, but a surgery would eliminate the potential for conception all together.

More curious than was perhaps socially polite, she asked, “Did they make you argue your case, or does being a guy change that?”

Emmet seemed entirely unbothered by it, and hoisted Archeops up to scamper across the back of the couch-- which it promptly did, interrogating their guest with a series of nasal snuffles. With the bird taken care of, he picked up the package she’d cast aside to join them on the couch.

“There is a waiting period. In the event that it passes and I still want to be sterilized, I may continue.” He rolled his eyes.

“Figures.” Elesa grumbled, and then stretched out the arm resting over Ingo’s shoulders to grab at the bundle. “Here, hand it over. The design checked out, but I didn’t get a chance to look at the end result before I came over. I need to make sure it’ll actually work the way I want before letting you get attached.”

As he accepted the item from his brother and passed it down the line, Ingo said, “It’s… clothing. I wasn’t aware it had functionality beyond what was advertised.”

Oh. Had she not brought up the paternity alterations? It didn’t really matter at this point-- they’d get to that in a minute. Coaxing Archeops into splitting the tape with its talons-- and therefore saving her nails the strain-- she unfolded the first article in the parcel, which also happened to be the cover story; she still checked the white waistcoat over before passing it off, but it wasn’t the one she was concerned about.

“Okay.” She said after a moment to consider its darker counterpart, and moved the piece to show off what she’d meant. Where the white vest had a continuous flat panel making up its back, the dark one had a wider piece of fabric that could cinch closed, letting the fabric out as needed to accommodate a growing abdomen. “It didn’t make sense to Combeession something that you wouldn’t be able to use in a month, but I wasn’t sure it would turn out quite right without letting the Purrloin out of the bag. C’mon,” She said, and stood herself, half-pulling her friend up after her, “Let’s see if it fits properly.”

“Ah, I’m not--” He cut off abruptly, clearly trying to find a delicate way to say ‘wearing a bra’ in the way his arms raised to fold directly over his chest. It was a gesture she’d seen off and on in the past, but she had to tamp down on the twitch of an eyebrow as she realized the proportions were already visibly different than what she was used to.

It wouldn’t be a problem-- it was one of the areas the waistcoat was meant to camouflage-- but it was the first physical indication she’d seen that this wasn’t some weird misunderstanding. That he really was pregnant.

She gave her head a tiny shake, dispelling the thought. “It doesn’t really matter-- it might not line up perfectly, but it’ll still tell us whether or not it needs to be redone.”

At that, Ingo relented, accepting the vest and making sure it laid properly before buttoning it. With a brusque nod, Elesa slowly circled him. She heard Archeops honk in question, but didn’t afford it a look just yet.

As she’d expected, it was a tiny bit loose and misaligned, but from the way it sat, it would work with the rest of the uniform’s underpinning. Once she’d made a full circuit without finding any glaring issues, she scrutinized the fastening. “I’m going to tighten it. Let me know if it’s too much.”

He nodded, and, as promised, raised a hand for her to stop before she bound it to its full extent.

Not bad, she thought. That left plenty of room to work with. Just to be thorough, she did another circuit, and this time found herself joined by a raptor, its footfalls joyously tap-tap-tapping as it immediately lapped her and went in to really drive its victory home.

“Looks good to me,” Elesa said, trying to keep a straight face as she felt feathers brush her calf. “Give it a shot with the rest of your uniform when you get the chance, and let me know if it pinches or doesn’t feel right. I can handle any small alterations at home, but anything too big might mean a redesign.”

“We’ll put them into rotation post-haste.” Ingo said, reaching back to feel for the clasp-- and Elesa wondered for a moment if he hadn’t let her pull it too tight after all. It seemed to be idle curiosity, because he didn’t move to release it.

A brief lull passed over the living room, its only disruption the lap-running raptor, which held their unanimous attention for several seconds.

“Hey Emmet,” Elesa said, trying harder than before not to crack a smile. He tilted his head, mildly surprised at having been addressed seemingly apropos nothing. “Can Archeops outrun a Liepard?”

He cocked his head. “It depends on the Liepard’s nature. And items. And--”

“You bet Jurassit-can!” She burst out, beaming.

A tense silence fell between the two of them as they stared one another down, neither one willing to break it off. Both of them ended up faltering at the same time, as the dark waistcoat was draped over the couch’s arm and Ingo stalked toward the hallway.

Genuinely surprised-- though confident she wasn’t the root cause for whatever was going on-- Elesa said, “Okay, wow. Message received, no more fossil humor.”

“It was fine.” He bit out without stopping or looking back, “I’m afraid I just need a moment to vomit or murder something.”

“That’s also how I feel about your puns.” Emmet told her, and then got up on his knees, one arm hanging over the couch to call to his brother’s back, “Can I convince you toward murder?”

Several steps into the darkened hall, Ingo called back, “I could be persuaded to revise that to an ‘and’ statement.”

“Hey! No! Nobody’s killing god until neither of you is pregnant!”

“Counterpoint.” Attention swerving unerringly toward Elesa, Emmet continued on unhesitatingly, “That is the best time to kill it. It will never see it coming.”

“Of course it will. It’s a god.”

There was a snort and the sound of a door falling shut down the hall.

Elesa looked to Emmet, who looked back at her, all of the faux animosity between them forgotten.

It was going to be a long thirty weeks.