Work Text:
When Techno sits down at his workbench, Phil has been pregnant for about two months. The first sign had been pillows and blankets disappearing as Phil built an ever-growing nest in Techno’s house. (One early morning Techno had looked at the pile of pillows and blankets spanning almost the entire floor of the bedroom he’d set aside for Phil before they’d gotten together and had promptly turned around and walked right back out. Coffee would be essential for dealing with this.) And then, once it had been completed to his satisfaction, Phil had started spending more and more time in the nest, usually dragging Techno with him when he walked in the door or going to find him if he thought Techno wasn’t moving fast enough. The nest, and Phil’s desire to drag the few people he was close to into it, had been the first clue last time Phil had been pregnant as well. So, when Ponk confirmed it during a combination Syndicate interview and wellness check, it hadn’t been too much of a surprise.
Techno thinks they had adjusted well. Despite mourning his own comfortable bed upstairs, they’d both started spending their nights and a good portion of their days in the nest. Phil put up with Techno’s instinct-driven impulses to get up every few hours and make a loop of the house to ensure that there were no intruders with only minor grumbling about losing his personal heater, and Techno didn’t say anything when Phil’s hormone-induced nightmares woke them both up at least once a night. Daylight hours in the nest were generally filled with what Techno had mentally dubbed “Sharp Cuddles” due to Phil’s tendency to be more tactile when pregnant and the presence of his untrimmed nails. Phil normally kept his nails trimmed in a futile attempt to appear harmless, but no pregnant avian would deprive themselves of their last line of defense on a server where their enemies still breathed.
Today, however, instead of staying near the commune Phil is out with Niki and Ranboo, wandering through Overworld and Nether markets looking for soft fabrics and warm furs and dried crimson roots (a staple for baby piglins) for the baby. Which means Techno has all day to work on a secret project, since Niki and Ranboo have strict instructions to keep Phil out of the house until dinner. Dinner itself is upstairs, simmering away in a cauldron above the fire. Techno will have to get up every once in a while to give it a good stir but the stew can spend all day cooking slowly with very little intervention from Techno.
Avians leave the important gifts until after the baby has been born; honoring the new parents and the life they brought into the world doesn’t occur until they’re holding the baby in their arms. An expecting piglin, on the other hand, will be almost completely covered in gold by the time they’re ready to give birth. And while Phil is an avian, Techno and the baby are both at least part piglin. Which means lots of gold jewelry.
(He’d refrained, with Wilbur. For all that he and Phil had begun to warily consider each other as more than friends while Phil had been pregnant with Wilbur, neither of them had acted on those feelings until much more recently. Techno had helped Phil with the rites and traditions required by his people and with the requirements set by the Goddess Phil had devoted his life to, but he’s never done this before.)
The only problem now, however, is that Techno can’t decide what he wants to make. He has files and buffs and pliers, engraving tools and bead reamers and a custom jeweler’s loupe, along with several stacks of Nether-gold blocks and two stacks of emeralds ready to be used. All the supplies necessary for working with gold are readily available, he just has too many ideas whirling around in his head.
Techno could make another earring for Phil, or a necklace (Techno’s own earliest memory is of being held in strong arms as his father smiles down at him; his own small hand wrapped around the shiny gold necklace his father always wore), or the traditional golden teething ring for the baby, or the intricate weave of golden chains carved with blessings that’s meant to drape across the stomach while resting. (Phil may kill him for that last though, so maybe he should ask first and save that as something to start another day.) Maybe he can modify the design for the bells that get woven into a piglin’s hair for special occasions and make them clips that will work on feathers? Neither one of them knows if the baby will have wings but it can’t hurt to be prepared. The gold tusk caps that all infant piglins wear aren’t usually crafted until the parents can take the measurements themselves but the molds that are used need to be crafted in advance. Rings and bracelets and earrings for Phil and the baby both; usually the child inherits some of their parents’ jewelry and gets a collection of pieces that were made before they were born or while they were in their infancy once they come of age. Techno has heard of rare pieces that are older than the nether wastes, carefully guarded and passed down from one generation to the next. Even Techno’s father’s necklace had been kept close to the heart by fifteen generations before his father had handed it to him before he left the Nether as a young brute.
It's almost kind of daunting, the sheer number of choices he has. He’s made lots of pieces for Phil before, little things like beads and earrings and rings on thin chains that can easily be broken if an opponent tries to use it to their advantage during a fight. But this… this is special. In all Techno’s long centuries, this is his first child, and his first child with Phil. They both raised Wilbur, but Phil never told Techno who the other party was and Techno had respected his privacy on the matter. This will be their first child that’s both of theirs by blood as well as by choice and Phil deserves to be honored to the highest degree Techno can.
Determined, Techno gets up and grabs the sketchbook he uses for armor designs and redstone planning. He has some ideas he needs to get down and then he can get started in earnest.
Hours later Techno sits back and rubs at his eyes. He’s been squinting at some of links for the golden chain for so long it’s a miracle he hasn’t gone blind. Fifteen-minute breaks here and there to stretch and check on the stew are clearly not enough. Among the mess of papers and files and stray bits of gold there are several pieces of finished jewelry. A small stud earring, mostly gold but with a single emerald embedded in it. (One day Techno will make their child an earring to match his and Phil’s own earrings). A necklace with a feather-shaped pendant. A miniature crown that looks like his own, sans gemstones. A rattle made of an emptied blaze rod and dozens of tiny gold beads. A small pile of chain links, waiting to have blessings etched into their surface.
And finally, already nestled in a wooden box, a pair of golden rings, nearly identical save for the words etched on the inner surface of the band.
Not bad for a single day’s work.
Techno stands and stretches before grabbing the box with the rings and heading to the kitchen. Phil should be home soon and then they can eat and Techno can give him the rings in their nest upstairs.
Dinner is almost painful. Phil asks him what he did all day as soon as he walks in the door and he keeps asking despite Techno’s (admittedly awful) attempts at diverting his husband’s attention. Once he does successfully distract Phil by asking him what they found, it takes a considerable amount of effort for Techno to keep himself from pulling the box out of his pocket several times while Phil is regaling him with what they saw in the markets. During one particular story about Ranboo, an entourage of black and white cats, and an infuriated pet seller, Techno finds himself falling in love all over again with Phil’s expressive hands and golden hair and clear blue eyes. By the time they’re done with dinner and have cleaned everything up, the urge to pull Phil into his arms and kiss him is overwhelming.
So he does.
Phil laughs breathlessly after. “What was that about mate?”
“Oh, you know, no reason in particular Phil.” He fumbles in his pocket for a moment before pulling out the box. “Uh, this is for you. Well, kind of for both of us.”
Phil grins. “Aww mate, you didn’t have to do that!” He opens the box, tips the contents out onto his empty hand, and then stops and stares at the wedding bands in his hand. It’s the one thing neither of them has. Their wedding had been small, just the two of them saying their vows to each other and filling out the necessary paperwork for the server’s Hub nexus to recognize the marriage with Niki, Ranboo, and Puffy as their witnesses. They hadn’t had rings to exchange then, and Techno had gone to prison for three months shortly after, so the opportunity hadn’t exactly come up before today. They’re both perfectly sized for the two of them and polished to perfection. The smaller of the two reads “For You The World” and the larger has “To The Gates of Hell.”
“Are these what you were working on today?” Phil breathes.
“Uhhh, yep. Those and a few other pieces for you and the baby.” At the last word Phil’s pupils swallow his irises and Techno suddenly finds himself with an armful of pregnant avian. Phil presses a quick kiss to his lips and then barely pulls away.
“They’re amazing Techno.” He holds out his hand and Techno picks up the smaller ring. He turns it in his hands for a moment and then slides the ring onto Phil’s finger as Phil does the same to him. There’s something light and airy in his chest as he pulls Phil in for a slow deep kiss before carrying him off to the nest.
They get ready for bed, each of them wearing their respective rings. Sleeping in the nest isn’t always comfortable: Phil has to get up every few hours and Techno finds himself waking at the slightest sound in case it’s an intruder. Phil has also told him that his snoring is the absolute worst but at least he’s nice and warm during the cold Arctic nights. They say their goodnights and Techno falls asleep with Phil wrapped up in his arms.