twenty six

Nolan's cry woke Luke up first. He sat up, trying to decide what cry it was. Was he hungry? Did he need his diaper changed? We he lonely? Was something bothering him? Something was obviously bothering him—Nolan wasn't much of a crier.

Luke turned to his husband, poking his cheekbones.

Matty had Stacy underneath his arm, the overweight cat purring and looking up at Luke. Stacy didn't care who was cuddling her as long as someone was cuddling her. She liked Matty's fingers subconsciously going through her fur in his sleep. Every now and then, she'd get annoyed and swat at the older man, though.

Matt made a noise, signaling he was indeed awake from Luke's pokes.

"Wake up, it's your turn."

"I'm sleeping."

Luke stood up on his knees, poking Matty harder along his jaw line. "Wake up, then."

"You're already energy-filled, can't you?" Matty opened one eye, looking up at his lover.

"But it's your turn," he whined, almost as annoying as the crying eighteen-month-old.

Matty rolled onto his back, stretching out his arms over his head. His faded red sweater was too short on his long torso, revealing half of his stomach as he stretched up.

Luke took the opportunity to poke at the space between his hip bones, causing his husband to curl up and laugh.

"Stop it, you know I'm ticklish," he said.

"Exactly." Luke got back in bed, pulling Stacy to his side. He watched the man get out of bed, pulling on sweats from the ground. He went around their bed, almost hitting his head on a plant hanging from their ceiling as he rounded the corner to Nolan's room.

Their toddler was up on his feet, his hands gripping the sides of his crib. He reached out his hands towards Matty, stomping and making a mess of his bed. "Up!" Nolan yelled, grabbing onto Matty's shirt. He was a small baby, but still big. All babies had piles of fat keeping them warm and squishy and Matty loved it.

"Calm down, Child." Matt picked up the toddler, walking with a bounce in his step around the room. He checked his diaper, tried to feed him his bottle, even let him pull on his necklace.

Nolan continued to cry, his father not entertaining enough.

Matty walked back to their bedroom, gladly waking Luke awake once more. "He said if he doesn't get to sleep, then no one gets to sleep."

"He didn't say that," Luke answered, rubbing at his eyes. Stacy jumped off the bed, going to hide in the living room.

Matty looked at their baby, leaning in to peck at his forehead and nose, hoping to silent his cries. He started to walk over to his side of the bed, laying back in his spot.

"Why is he crying?" Luke asked, rolling over and pulling the sheets up to his chest.

"If I knew, don't you think I would have stopped it?" Matty sassed, turning to look at Luke once more. "He's just so cute when he's crying." He put a finger in front of Nolan's face, letting him suck on his index finger. He bit down and suddenly it made sense. "Oh, Luke, he's still teething."

Luke sighed. "He's been teething for, like, an entire year now." He scooted closer, wiggling the baby's toes and trying to make him giggle.

The cries died down, slowly turning into spurts of laughter. Matty laughed, too, leaning down to peck Nolan's nose once more before pecking Luke's lips. They played with their baby, giving him more attention than he could ever handle.

"Are you supposed to take that fertility stuff today?" Matty asked quietly, as if Nolan could understand.

Luke nodded, "But not until breakfast." He rolled onto his back, "It's kind of annoying. Maybe we should just have one kid."

"Does it hurt?"

"No, I'll just get like really, really cold or really, really hot or I'll need to pee every four and a half seconds," he answered. Luke looked at their baby bouncing on his legs as Matty helped him dance around. "Like, what's so wrong with having one kid?"

"They'll be left alone when we die."

Luke pouted his bottom lip, "That made me sad."

"I'm just telling you what my fears are," Matty defended, "I'm an only child and it kind of sucked when my parents worked or went to do adult-things. I was left alone for most of my life."

"What happens if we can't have another?"

"We can cross that bridge if we get there, yeah?" Matty asked. He put Nolan between his two fathers, letting his wide blue eyes look between Luke and Matty a few times before letting out another laughter.

"Daddy," he said, pointing at Matty.

Matt rolled him over to Luke, knowing what was coming next.

"Ma!" The baby squealed in laughter, only encouraged by Matty laughing, too.

Luke rolled his eyes, unable to stop the smile on his lips. "That's fine, I'll be Mom."

Nolan continued to babble, reaching up to play with the ring on the end of Luke's necklace, he pulled at it, causing his father—or "Ma"—to come closer. Nolan booped Luke's nose, using Matty's favorite vocabulary, "Boop!"

OKAY A FEW THINGS. HI I AM BACK WTIH TWO UPDATES IN ONE DAY. 

FIRST OF ALl, do u guys realize that calum's kids are not white because.....,,,look even though I've never mentioned the appearance of their other father, they still Aren't White because Calum is poc okay. 

SECOND OF ALL, I'm like 98 percent sure I've described the three kids are dark aka not white. I'm making a big deal out of nothing it seems, but poc representation is important alright....,,,

THIRD, I love you all, a lot. comment and love me and hmu on social medias in bio okay slide into my dms anything.