Red Roses, Aster, and Peonies

8

Alfred grumbled to himself, rolling over. He could hear something... a cat wanted something or something he wasn't sure-

"Ow!" he exclaimed, holding his ear and glaring at Thunder, who glared right back.

'Hero's giving birth.'

"That's fun," he muttered, putting his head back on the pillow, "it will be a few hours before the kits join the surface world."

"No, the first one was just born."

"Oh shit," he said, jumping out of bed as Ivan groaned, rolling over and going back to sleep while Alfred looked around the room, Thunder flying into the bathroom.

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner," he hissed to the bird, cooing encouragement to the cat, who was only making low squeaky noises while eating the placenta, the baby mewling beside her. It was alive.

'I tried! You sleep like a rock! Both of you, actually,' Thunder replied, looking over from his position on the shower curtain over to the bed before looking back at Alfred.

"You okay Hero?" Alfred asked, ignoring Thunder, who squawked.

'Yeah,' she replied slowly, looking at her kitten for a few seconds before starting to clean it.

"I'll be here to make sure everything goes smoothly, okay?"

'Okay.'

It did, mostly. Four little kittens were sucking on her by the time it was over, Lampushka jumping up from where he was hiding and licking the nearest kit a few times as it mewled.

"Three girls and a boy," Alfred said, going off of patterning. He left the two alone for a second, grabbing his tablet out of the bag he'd thrown to the ground while Ivan snored.

He smiled for a second, going back into the bathroom and looking the kittens over for a few seconds, thinking of names.

"The grey one will be Yasen (-Russian- Ash), the Calico is Juniper, the grey and white one is Cinder, and the white and gold is Marigold."

Hero purred, 'My babies...'

Alfred gave a small smile, petting her behind the ears before walking over to the bed, rubbing his eyes as the adrenaline finally passed. He looked over to the clock, groaning as he realized it was four a.m.

"Why are you already awake..." Ivan muttered, looking over with hardly open eyes, "no cutting."

"I'm not," he said as cheerfully as he could manage, passing a glimpse to the darkness out of the window, "Hero had her kittens."

"...Cho... er, chto? (Wha... er, what?)" Ivan asked, yawning.

"Nothing, go to sleep," Alfred replied, rolling his eyes playfully with a smirk as Ivan looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

Alfred laid down beside him as Ivan twisted so the two were facing.

"Hero had her kittens?"

"Yes," Alfred replied, shaking his head and kissing Ivan on the forehead. Ivan smiled lightly, cupping his cheek as Alfred kissed his palm, nuzzling into his hand.

Ivan hummed, his eyes closing for a second as he fell back to sleep. Alfred smiled for a second, moving Ivan's hand and laying his head back down on the pillow, his eyes closing as it faded to black.

He woke up when it hurt to breathe. Ivan was hovering over him, purple eyes glistening in the fading moonlight.

"Ivan," he croaked, choking as he reached up to grab onto Ivan's wrists, not yet ready to use his strength or his claws, "what are you doing."