Hmm… Magic soulmates universe where you conceive the moment you meet your soulmate, and give birth when you get together.
Pairs that hit it off and instantly know the other is “the one” will go through rapid pregnancies. They might sit down at the beginning of a date feeling normal, then suddenly get a little nauseous from the smell of the restaurant and begin to feel tenderness in the chest. A game of chicken starts, each realizing what’s happening to themselves but waiting to see the other’s silhouette begin to round before they say anything. Electric energy builds as they linger over the half-eaten entrees that wouldn’t fit in their suddenly very full bellies anyway, knowing that if they act on their desire to fall into bed together, they might not have time to finish before they have to push.
Maybe there’s a “straight” guy who has a years-long pregnancy, mistaking it for average gradual weight gain until he starts to feel small kicks within. He tries to think of anyone new he’s met recently, but can’t come up with anything. Then the next time he hangs out with his best bro, he notices bro’s shirt is clinging to his belly, and he’s so puffy in the chest that his areola show through his shirt, to say nothing of his thickened nipples. But his soulmate can’t be his bro… that’s gay! He continues to deny it, even as his body grows weary and slow from years of carrying. It’s only the weeks of active labor that finally bring them together, clutching each others’ hands tightly and sharing shaky first kisses between pushes.
There are people who reject the idea of soul mates, and choose to be with someone else. The decision doesn’t seem so drastic at first, even when they start to show. These pregnancies progress so slowly and the symptoms are so mild that it might seem like there are no consequences for their departure from the customs… until they’re well into middle-age and realizing that they’re going to spend the rest of their life in the third trimester of pregnancy. Elderly people with a backs bent by past-due bellies might be seen as admirably principled, or too stubborn, or even as romantic, if they‘ve spent their years with someone who isn’t their soul mate.
A woman might worry that the person she’s attracted to is meant for someone else since they have a big pregnant belly and she’s flat as a board. She decides to be there for them even if it hurts, and attributes her own cramping stomach to the emotional turmoil of her unrequited love. She doesn’t understand why the pain is getting so bad until her body starts sending her strange signals, and she finds herself squatting down and pushing alongside her love.
Of course, soul mates aren’t as simple as one for each person, either. Most people have more than one soul mate!
For a polyamorous person, the births become more complicated. One pregnancy might start or end on top of another, such as a person carrying multiple steadily growing babies in their belly while they foster slower-burning connections, then meeting someone who moves faster and suddenly ballooning up with an additional baby. It’s exhausting to give birth to a 10lb singleton while second-trimester triplets remain unmoved in their womb, but luckily, they have many hands to help.
In monogamous relationships, multiple soulmates aren’t so easy to digest. A happy marriage can be ruined by one person’s belly slowly beginning to round out. This can be especially complicated in cases of infidelity. Many a cheating partner has struggled to conceal their pregnancy or pass it off as weight gain, only to be shamefully discovered with their new lover’s child halfway out of them.
A fraught will-they-won’t-they relationship might be the most unpleasant of all, the troubled couples’ bellies swelling to full term within days or weeks, only for birth to elude them. They might go into labor more than once, or endure prolonged, useless labors, groaning with contractions even as they play emotional games. An unsure lover can inhibit delivery even up to the final moments, with denied feelings or cold feet leaving someone’s poor hole stuck at a quivering crown.
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