for the last two months ollie had been around josh, he didn't call him 'daddy' or 'baba' or anything to acknowledge the fact he was his father.

"hi, ollie!" josh exclaimed with a smile, waking his son up from his afternoon nap as he always did.

"ha!" oliver yelled.

josh smiled and picked him up, sighing as he remembered when oliver's 'hi' would be followed by 'baba.' but, tyler wasn't encouraging oliver to call josh daddy or not.

he left it up to ollie to decide if he was going to call josh his dad.

"where baba?" oliver asked, looking over josh's shoulder in search for tyler.

"daddy's gone grocery shopping, honey. he'll be back soon," josh said, carrying his son downstairs and sitting on the couch with him.

tonight was the first night tyler had left josh alone with oliver, and joshua was not going to blow his chance to prove himself.

"let's get you in a bath, yeah?" he said, carrying oliver to the bathroom.

"OK!" ollie yelled, excited for bath time as usual.

"we've gotta he all nice and fresh for when baba gets home, right?" josh said as he set ollie in the bath tub.

"YAH!"

josh smiled and set the rubber ducky his son loved oh so much in the bubble bath, ollie screaming excitedly and hugging mr. ducky tightly.

he washed oliver's hair, giggling and splashing around with him for a few minutes before eventually getting the boy out of the tub and drying him off, putting on his onesie that said 'daddy's boy' since ollie really was tyler's mini-me.

they were both the kindest boys in the world, both loved feeling loved and they enjoyed making others feel loved as well. and, they loved getting hugs.

tyler arrived home and josh heard the door open, so he grabbed ollie and immediately rushed downstairs.

"hi, honey," josh smiled, kissing tyler's cheek before he ran out to the car to carry in the rest of the groceries.

he was helpful.

very helpful.

ollie just held a box of goldfish with a wide smile as josh carried him back and forth to and from the car getting the groceries.

"hi," tyler said, smiling shyly and blushing at the kiss. "hi, bubba!" tyler grinned, taking ollie into his arms and bouncing him up and down slightly.

"ha baba!" ollie grinned, hugging tyler tightly and kissing his cheek.

josh missed the days he could pick his husband up and hug him and kiss him all over.

but he made a mistake.

and now, he was suffering the consequences.

"what sounds good for dinner?" josh asked, trying to get his mind off missing the old days.

"oh, i um... i thought maybe i would cook something tonight," tyler said shyly. "f-for you."

joshua had been cooking all the meals from the first day he returned, seeing it as the least he could do to help out. he smiled widely and nodded. "i'd love that, tyler. thank you."

"you wanna go with jishjish, bubba?" tyler asked, handing ollie to josh.

oliver quickly shook his head.

"aww, ollie. you'll have fun with him," tyler promised, kissing oliver's forehead.

ollie still had a rough time being alone with josh while he knew tyler was around. he was fine if he and josh were alone or if it was them three together, but, if it was josh and oliver in a room alone while tyler was in the next, it wasn't always the best.

oliver started to cry.

"oh, honey," tyler sighed, taking the baby back in his arms.

he'd grown use to cooking with one hand while using the other to hold an incredibly tubby baby. it happened every night while josh was away.

"how about we stay in here while daddy cooks but you let me hold you?" josh offered. "is that ok?"

"yeah, ollie. let jishjish hold you," tyler said, oliver wiping his eyes and sniffling, nodding his head.

josh smiled and held the baby, walking around the kitchen gently bouncing the baby in his arms as tyler cooked.

he was nervous for some reason.

his hands were incredibly shaky, and josh picked up on it.

"you want me to cut those?" josh offered, seeing his husband struggling to slide the tomatoes.

"n-no thank you," tyler responded.

josh just nodded, continuing to hold the baby.

"i-i think i-it's ready," tyler said a few minutes later.

josh smiled and nodded, sitting down at the table and grinning down at his plate.

tyler made all his favorites.

he didn't forget.

"it looks amazing, honey," he smiled.

tyler smiled nervously and nodded. "i-i hope it t-tastes ok." his voice was still pretty raspy.

"i'm sure it'll be incredible," josh reassured him.

and so the two ate their dinner across from each other at the table, tyler holding ollie in his lap, feeding him tiny bites whenever the baby would lean in and try to steal tylers bite from him.

"thank you for dinner, baby. it was very good," josh said honestly, taking both their plates to the dishwasher.

"i-i'll get the dishes," tyler offered.

"no, it's ok. i've got it," josh said. typically, he would make dinner and do the dishes, but especially this time, since he didn't make dinner, he made sure he did the dishes.

before the incident, the boys would blare music and sing their hearts out while they cleaned the dishes, kissing every few seconds and playfully poking one another.

but that was gone.

dishes were now done silently. by only one person.

and they were saving their first kiss until tyler was ready.

joshua was beyond ready, but tyler wasn't, and he was in no way, shape, or form going to force tyler to do anything.

tyler took ollie up to bed, laying him down in his crib and kissing his forehead. "goodnight, sweet boy. i love you."

"where dada?"

"i'm right here, honey."

"noooo, dada!"

tyler went downstairs, walking up to josh and standing a solid few feet away.

"u-um... o-oliver wants you. i-i can finish doing the dishes."

josh nodded, kissing his forehead before he went up to ollie's room.

"DADA!" oliver screamed happily as josh entered his room.

josh grinned widely, approaching the crib and leaning forward to kiss the baby's forehead. "hi, oliver gray."

"ha dada!" ollie giggled, clapping his hands and hugging josh's arm tightly.

meanwhile, tyler finished doing the dishes, walking past ollie's room on his way to his own and smiling as he heard ollie calling josh 'dada.'

he crawled into bed and sighed, smiling slightly when he heard the door open and the weight of the bed shift.

"hi, honey," josh smiled as he laid down next to tyler.

"h-hi," tyler smiled shyly as he rolled over so he was facing josh.

"i-is it ok that um... that he's calling me his dad? i-i mean, i completely get it if not, and i just wanna know if you want me to be teaching him to call me something else," josh said.

tyler quickly shook his head. "no, that's perfectly fine. you are his dad. we adopted him together. just, i wanted to leave that up to him to decide what he's calls you after he saw the um.... the... the incident."

josh nodded, forever grateful tyler supported him still being a father.

but what he was now fully focused on, was still being a husband.

he wanted to know if he would one day be allowed to kiss tyler on the lips or call him his husband or even have sex, though, the last one wasn't one of his top priorities.

they were still technically husbands, having never gotten divorced, but it was clear tyler wasn't ready to throw that title around just quite yet.

"i-i love you, tyler," josh said, kissing the top of his husband's head. "you don't have to say it back, honey."

tyler nodded, scooting more towards josh and resting his head on his chest. "i love you too," he said quietly.

josh smiled and gently rubbed tyler's back, not wanting to push anything since it was a big step for tyler to say he loved him without adding anything else onto it.

the truth is, neither boys really knew what their future held, but they both hoped it held each other.