Chapter Text
October
That coveted and famous German player and the Japanese striker, recognized as the best in his country, had married, after several years after having met within Blue Lock. His chemistry had been undeniable, however, his paths separated for several years, as each had his own goals.
When life made their paths cross again, they began their relationship, and after five years together they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives next to each other.
Two years had passed from this event. The younger one was thirty-three years old, and his partner would turn thirty-five in December. The wedding had been ostentatious, since Kaiser had a self-centered personality and attracting attention was his specialty, but on that occasion he wanted his beloved to be the protagonist.
They had decided to live in Germany, the blonde’s home country, as they both played for the same team they had been on sixteen years ago. Of course they had received various offers, however, now they only wanted to play together so as not to have problems with distance or schedules.
Besides that, Isagi was deeply interested in German culture; by this point, he already understood his husband almost perfectly, and vice versa. Because of that, they spoke their respective native languages most of the time, although at times Kaiser would try speaking Japanese, and Isagi would attempt German.
They lived in a beautiful spacious house, too spacious for only two people, and that was because they both wanted to have children at some point. They longed for a place where the little ones could play and run everything they wanted, but despite wanting this, they had been using protection all along.
Isagi was aware that having a baby would make it impossible for him to play football for a season, so they had to plan well the time to look for a pregnancy. However, he knew that his time in his professional career was close to finishing, not that he considered himself old, but certainly a twenty-year-old had a huge physical advantage over him, a man in his thirties.
“I think I’m ready,” the younger one said suddenly while they were watching a movie in the living room. His legs were resting over his partner’s, and his gaze shifted from the screen to the other’s face, who turned and opened his eyes in surprise and evident happiness.
“Are you talking about what I think—he didn’t need to finish the question to get his answer, the opponent pounced on him and kissed him, his cheeks were totally dyed red. Nodding his head and smiling, he touched his abdomen.
—“I’d like to play a little longer after my first pregnancy, so if I want to do that, we need to start right away. Players in their mid-thirties don’t perform the same anymore, so I have to hurry. By the time of the second one, I’ll already be retired, so we won’t need that much planning,” the other’s blue eyes were shining; it was something he longed for with every fiber of his being.
He took his beloved in his arms and squeezed him by rocking him from one side to the other.
"Thank you, I’m so happy I could die! Don’t worry about anything, I’ll treat you like a king, I’ll make sure you’re as comfortable as possible and have the best pregnancy in the world,” he said smiling while tiny drops wanted to escape his eyes.
“So, can we start trying right now?” he asked with a flirtatious smile as he threw himself on top.
“We can ‘practice,’ but it’s not that simple. First I need to stop taking birth control pills, and then we could start trying,” he replied, gently stroking his beloved’s long hair as he played along.
January
The couple had begun the search for their pregnancy about three months ago. The libido of the younger one had increased markedly after leaving the medication, so they did it daily, both thought that making a baby was fun, since there were no limitations.
At the end of the day’s training, the minor decided to move to the convenience store to buy some ingredients to prepare dinner, when passing through one of the aisles he saw the pregnancy tests – Should I buy one? – he asked quietly for himself.
He didn’t have a single symptom, however, he was curious. After all, several months had passed since they had begun this new stage. After a few minutes of uncertainty, he decided to take one and continued his shopping.
When he got home he left the bags in the kitchen and ran to the bathroom on the second floor, Kaiser would arrive in a few minutes, so he thought about having the test before he was at home, since if it was positive he could receive him with a pleasant surprise.
He locked himself in the bathroom and clumsily opened the box. “How is this done?” he muttered, glancing at the instructions, and after watching a tutorial, he put what he had learned into practice. He wanted to do it correctly to avoid any incorrect results.
He covered up the test and waited for the three eternal minutes. His body was shaking, he was nervous, how would he react if the result tested positive? How would it be the best way to tell Kaiser? After the tortuous wait, he took the test and with a slight nervousness posed his eyes on the result, which was negative, of course.
His soul returned to his body and after an exhalation came a mixed feeling between relief and disappointment. He was a little relieved, as he was afraid, although getting pregnant was his goal and his biggest dream, that didn’t mean it didn’t cause anxiety. Thinking about how his body was going to change, how his whole life was going to transform, actually caused him fear.
And on the other hand, there was disappointment—the strongest feeling of all. They were both very healthy men, so why still hadn’t it worked? Maybe he was getting ahead of himself. It was true that many people get pregnant from a moment of carelessness, but that didn’t mean it was something so easy to achieve.
—“Well, oh well. It’s not like I really thought I was pregnant anyway. I’ll hurry and throw all of this away—don’t want Mihya to find out and get his hopes up for nothing,” he said, taking the test and putting it back into its box. He quickly left the bathroom with the intention of disposing of it in the outdoor trash bin to avoid leaving any evidence inside the house.
However, he wasn’t fast enough and ran into his husband while hurrying down the stairs. The blond had just reached the entrance, taking off his winter clothes. “Oh! Yoichi, what’s wrong?” the other asked, finding his behavior a little strange.
Isagi didn’t need to hide anything from him, but he truly didn’t want to give him false hope. He wished he could soon give him the news of a positive result. He hid the box behind his back, being completely obvious about it. The German slipped off his shoes and quickly approached him, intent on seeing what he was hiding.
“N-no, it’s nothing!” the younger one said, but in his nervousness he dropped the evidence of his actions. Both pairs of eyes turned to the floor—the test had slipped out of its box. The blond’s heart raced, and he looked back at his partner. “Are you pregnant already?” he asked hopefully, almost on the verge of tears, exactly what Isagi had wanted to avoid.
The shorter one quickly rushed to pick it up, though there was no longer any urgency in doing so. “No. Sorry, but it’s negative. I didn’t want you to see it and misunderstand things. I didn’t even have any symptoms—I just did it out of curiosity,” he replied, puffing out his cheeks slightly like a child.
The other one bent down to his level, gently cupped his face, and kissed him. After all, nothing bad had happened, and Kaiser wanted him to understand that. The other’s cheeks warmed slightly; even after seven years together, that kind of tenderness still made him nervous.
May
Seven months—that was how long they had been trying to conceive. The match season was about to begin, and Isagi had no intention of stopping training until he got a positive result, nor of stopping their attempts until it happened, even if it meant pausing his career at a moment that hadn’t exactly been planned.
Every so often, as a routine, he would take a test; however, he still hadn’t experienced even a single symptom. Frustration and doubt began to grow inside him. “What if I’m infertile?” he wondered one day during a training break.
After all, something like that was possible, although in reality it was still too early to consider that option, and thinking about it so much would lead him nowhere. So he shook his head and slapped his face with his palms to cheer himself up, then continued training.
January
The couple had been trying to have a baby for a little over a year. They had tried all kinds of positions and recommended “methods,” yet nothing had worked.
“Chi… Yoichi, hey—Yoichi!” the German called out to his husband, who was drifting deep in thought. By the time he came back to reality, he realized they had already arrived at the clinic.
They had an appointment to undergo tests and find out if there was anything behind the fact that they had been trying for over a year without any success. The younger one was very scared; he feared the diagnosis would be discouraging, but it was the only way to find out what was going on.
“Don’t worry, I’m here with you. Whatever the result is, we’ll be fine—don’t stress too much. There’s absolutely no way we can’t become parents, I promise you,” he said in a tone that inspired complete confidence. Slowly, Isagi felt his body begin to calm down.
Once inside the clinic, they could see many pregnant people, mostly women, since they had double the chances of conceiving. In contrast, pregnancy in men was generally a bit harder to achieve, although there were still quite a few pregnant men in everyday life.
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After waiting a while for the test results, the couple was called in again. The nerves were even worse than the last time, but at least they would be getting a weight off their shoulders.
“Yoichi? Mr. Yoichi?” the doctor asked, signaling that it was his turn to enter the consultation room.
Kaiser took his partner’s hand; he was nervous too, even if it didn’t show. They entered the doctor’s office and took their seats. After a long explanation filled with medical terms that were practically incomprehensible to both of them, the long-feared diagnosis finally came.
“So, as I explained, Mr. Michael shows no health issues related to fertility. But on the other hand, you—” he said, looking at Isagi, “have a low quantity and quality of eggs. Simply put, you don’t have many left, and the ones you do have are not developing the ability to be properly fertilized. This is due to various factors, but if you had tried to conceive when you were younger, it’s possible you would have had a much easier time. This is because eggs are limited, and each person produces a certain amount for their entire life. Some people produce more, others less. Moreover, their quality decreases as you age,” the doctor explained, not in the gentlest manner; after all, Germans tended to be rather cold about such matters.
Isagi wasn’t sure he was fully understanding. It wasn’t his first language, after all—maybe he was misinterpreting the words—so he looked at his partner for clarification and was surprised. Kaiser had a somewhat sad expression. It seemed that, unfortunately, his German was already advanced enough for him to fully understand the doctor’s explanation.
“So, in short… we can’t have children?” he asked, raising his eyebrows in pain.