“Hi love,” Thomas smiled, kissing the top of my head, “are you okay?”
“Just had a weird dream. I’m fine. Um… how much did you hear?”
“Oh all of it,” he laughed, sitting next to me, “Kennedy knew I was there the entire time.”
“You’re just as bad as my Pa,” I glared at her.
“Yeah maybe,” Kennedy shrugged, taking a sip of tea, “but you seem to be okay with sharing your feelings if Tommy isn’t around. I was just trying to figure out why you can share with everyone but him. I think I know now. You’re still scared of your feelings. There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. It’s okay to be scared. But the best part of life is falling when you’re afraid. If my words mean anything, Thomas was raised in a home seeing only love. Our parents rarely fought, rarely argued and if they did it was never in front of us. He will not hurt you. Even when he was 16, he believed that love was more important than messing around. He never wanted that. He wanted someone like you. Someone to love and cherish. You haven’t had the most conventional relationship, but that’s okay too. The reason that Theo was so scared was because of my birth mother. She was horrible to us. It wasn’t that you could be pregnant at such a young age, it was the fear that you wouldn’t care for Tommy. Mia never loved Theo. She belittled him, made him feel terrible about himself and he believed it. He truly thought he was worth nothing, that he was ugly, unloveable. He got scared that you would treat Tommy that way. You are sort of an asshole from what I understand.”
“But his behavior doesn’t come from a place of malice,” Thomas softly rubbed the nape of my neck, “Sparrow is incredibly shy. He uses the attitude to keep everyone away from him. But, I’m nothing if not annoying and I managed to get him to open up to me.”
“Yeah a little too much,” Kennedy laughed, making me snort and start coughing as I had been taking a sip of tea at the time, “sorry. I trust you, Sparrow. I know that what you feel for Tommy is real. So don’t be so scared. Everything is going to be wonderful.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, “hey Tommy?”
“Hm?” he smiled at me.
“What do you… think of the names Hyacinth and Phoenix?”
"Another bird name like you?”
“Hey! Birds and tree names run in my family,” I huffed.
“I know. I love them.”
“Good. Um… I should warn you. Just because they’re twins… There's a gene that runs in my family. You saw Alder and Oakley. Their hair isn’t white because of age. It’s always been that way. I'm not really sure why but it runs in my grandma Joanna's side. So there's a very good chance that while they," I pointed to my stomach, "are twins…"
"They probably won't look identical," Thomas nodded.
"They won't," Theodore yawned as he walked into the kitchen, wiping his glasses on his sweater, "they're fraternal twins. They don't share a placenta. You would have had two eggs, Sparrow, because they're not sharing."
"You could tell that from an ultrasound?" Thomas smiled.
"Mhm."
"Thanks," I nodded as Theodore headed to the living room, "he doesn't talk much does he?"
"Oh, he does. He's just incredibly awkward and you're the first and hopefully last partner Tommy has ever brought home," Kennedy laughed, "he's not good at coping with his children growing. He cries a lot."
"How sweet. Oh. Tommy?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"I want… um… when the babies are born I'd like it if your parents were there too. Do… do you think they'll be willing to come to Idaho?"
"Of course, we will!" Killian laughed as he came bouncing into the house, "Absolutely. I'm gonna wanna hold my grandbabies. I never thought it'd happen. Let us know what day your c-section is scheduled for. We'll come out a week before to help make sure everything goes well."
"Thank you… Ian," I smiled, "being with you all has… I'm not scared anymore."
"Me either," Thomas rubbed the nape of my neck.
"Stop touching me in front of people," I pouted.
"No," he kissed my cheek, "you told me I could."
"Why did I ever say that?" I groaned, "Give me back the bracelet."
"Nope. You'll have to end things to get this back."
"You know I can't do that."
"And neither can I," he gently pinched my chin and kissed me, "I belong with you after all."
"Yeah whatever," I smiled.
"What time is it anyway?"
"About 3," Kennedy stretched.
"Alright. I have a promise to keep in an hour so we should head out soon."
"What are you talking about?" I looked at Thomas confused.
"I promised Papa Addi that we would come to dinner at the care home tonight. As soon as I got him there with Papa Lucas, Lucas had a long period of lucidity, sitting with both of us. I know… he won't remember but I want him to at least meet you. Please?"
"Yeah… yeah, I can do that. For you."
"Thank you," he smiled, kissing my nose.
"I'm not exactly dressed for that and I don't even have jeans I can wear though. I'm stuck in sweats."
"That's where I come in," Cecilia appeared once again and dropped a duffle bag on the ground, "these might be about 20 years out of style but I'm sure you can find something comfortable. From the pictures that Tommy sends me of the two of you together, we actually have a pretty similar style. So, here’s a late Christmas gift.”
Going over, I squatted down and opened the bag finding a mass amount of maternity clothes, “Oh wow… thank you.”
“You’re very welcome,” she gently patted my head.
Taking a seat on the ground, I slowly started going through the clothes, and in the end, I kept every oversize plain shirt I could find as well as thick strapped tank tops, 10 pairs of skinny jeans, sweats, and finally a massive University of California San Francisco sweater that I could sleep in as it came to my knees.
“You went to UCSF?” I smiled up at Cecilia.
“Hey wait a fucking minute,” Theodore stared at the sweater from his new spot at the dining table, “that’s mine! I’ve been looking for it for like… 35 years!”
“Oh yeah, I stole it when Kennedy was like… 2? It was just in the closet so… mine,” Cecilia shrugged, “well Sparrows now. That’s the most vintage thing I own and I think it’ll look cute on him.”
“Well… fine,” Theodore huffed, “you can keep it.”
“Yeah I wasn’t going to ask,” I laughed, hugging the sweater, “it’s soft. I like it.”
“I got you something,” Thomas poked my nose and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Stop buying me stuff!”
“No. Anyway,” he ran off to the room we were using and returned with a bright yellow sweater that had the logo for UC Berkeley on it, “here.”
“I already have one.”
“I know,” he bent down and kissed me, laying the sweater in my lap, “it’s mine.”
“How the hell is it yours! It’s an extra large.”
“I like sleeping in it. Trust me, with twins…”
“You’re going to need huge clothes,” Cecilia laughed.
“I am going to kill you, Thomas.”
“What! Why!” he laughed.
“Gonna have more stretch marks,” I muttered.
“Well, I love the ones you already have. I touch them all the time.”
“Stop being so honest in front of your family!”
“No. Now seriously, get ready. We’re going to miss dinner.”
Grumbling, I gathered up all of my new clothes and took them to the bedroom, grabbing a pair of jeans and pulling them on, a small smile on my face when I realized that they stretched at the top, hiding my stomach.
Oh.
These are nice.
You can’t tell for now.
Grabbing one of my shirts and a hoodie, I made my way back to the living room and slid my shoes on, “Chip! I’m ready. Where are you?”
“I was grabbing the keys, sorry. Alright, Dad,” Thomas smiled at Theodore, “we’ll be back later.”
“Tommy,” Theodore sighed, “don’t be upset if Pops has a hard time.”
“I promise.”
Thomas pulled me from the house and we climbed into a truck that was difficult for me to get in as it was incredibly tall.
“What the hell? How does Killian get into this thing!” I laughed.
“Oh no he doesn’t,” Thomas smiled, starting the engine, “this is just for Theo. Killian drives a really nice but tiny car. He hates getting into the truck. They had to buy a third vehicle for both of them because Theo can’t comfortably fit into the car. So there’s an SUV in the garage.”
“And you say your parents aren’t rich.”
“They’re really not. Theo owns his vet's office. Most of his money goes back into the office itself. They live comfortably, but not extravagantly. The only reason they can afford what they do is savings and Killian finally went back to work when I was 3.”
“Oh… my parents have a lot actually,” I whispered, “um Kai got about 650 thousand dollars before I was born. Then, Shiloh released like 8 books or something like that that sold phenomenally. But they never spent any of it. They saved it for me and my siblings. But I couldn’t tell you how much they actually saved for me. They refused to share.”
“I wonder if we can ever do that for our kids.”
“As long as they’re happy that’s all that matters. Right?”
“Agreed.”
We reached a beautiful facility, a large gate around the outside and after Thomas introduced himself we were let in and directed to go to A21.
“A21?” I looked at him confused as he parked the truck.
“Yeah. So unlike other retirement homes or things like that, this place is essentially a single-story apartment building separated by blocks, A through C, and each block has 25 units as well as 10 nurses per block. It’s really nice and incredibly expensive but it was a way to keep my grandparents together.”
“That’s so sweet. This place is nicer than our apartment was.”
“Agreed,” he laughed, jumping out of the truck and coming around to open my door, “come on, babe.”
“We shouldn’t have taken the big ass truck,” I groaned, letting Thomas assist me, “not good for the pregnant boy.”
“Fine. If we need to go anywhere, we’ll take the SUV next time.”
“Perfect.”
Thomas led me along the sidewalk, his hand in my back pocket and he pointed to a bright blue door, “that’s it.”
“Well… okay.”
We made our way to the door and Thomas knocked softly. It swung open to reveal Adrian, an excited smile on his face.
“Tommy! Aero!” he laughed, hugging both of us.
“Hi Papa,” Thomas laughed, “I kept my promise. How is Papa Lucas?”
“Wonderful. This was a good idea. For us to move here. He’s doing better than he did at home.”
“Good.”
“How are you feeling?” Adrian gently touched my cheek.
“I feel okay. We’re… having twins,” I smiled hesitantly, “Theo gave me an ultrasound because,” pulling my shirt up, I showed how large my stomach was already, “I can’t really hide it anymore and I’m only two and a half months.”
“Oh how wonderful. You’ll certainly have your hands full. Theo and Cece are only a year apart in age. It was exhausting."
"Adrian?" An incredibly deep voice called, "Where did you go?"
"We have visitors, Lucas. Are you okay?"
"Is it my baby?"
"Yes and his boyfriend," Adrian smiled, stepping aside to let us into the home.
"Oh you brought him!" Lucas smiled at us from the couch.
Lucas was visibly the opposite of Adrian based on photos I'd seen in Theodore and Killians' home. He had long, beautiful light blonde hair and welcoming green eyes, puffy lips like Thomas but where Thomas' smile was wide, Lucas’ was more subdued.
"Hello," I waved, "I'm Sparrow."
"Oh yes. I know," Lucas nodded, getting to his feet and hugging me, "Adrian put that in my notebook. Tommy talks about you a lot I guess."
"That's what I heard," I laughed, patting his back.
As always, I was uncomfortable but I knew that Lucas wouldn't remember that I wasn't okay with touch, so I allowed it, knowing how important he was to Thomas.
"Did Papa tell you?" Thomas smiled, hugging Lucas as well, Adrian joining us, his hand on my shoulder, "Sparrow is pregnant. I'm pretty sure I wrote that he's trans."
"Oh! I knew he was trans but… were going to be great grandparents?" Lucas beamed.
"Mhm," I nodded, "we're having twins. I'm two and a half months," I moved my sweater up to show him my bump and he softly touched it, giggling as he did.
"Oh how nice. I hope you bring them to see us."
"We absolutely will," I smiled.
After a small dinner, Lucas simply thrilled to have us there, we sat in the living room and I looked through photo albums that Adrian gave me. There were photos as far back as 75 years, showing a young Lucas and Jace. No photos showed Adrian until he was clearly in his twenties and with Lucas. There were photos of small Theodore and Cecilia, tiny Kennedy, and finally baby Thomas. A lot of them featured the same cabin and I studied it before turning the album to Adrian.
"Where is this?"
"About… three hours north. Lucas' family has owned it for over 120 years now. The newest owner is," he gestured at Thomas who looked at him in shock.
"Wait, I get the cabin?"
"Mhm. Kennedy gets our house, you get the cabin. Just let your parents borrow it sometimes. They love going for Killian’s birthday. It's where they shared their first I love you after all."
"How long had they been together?" I smiled, looking at photos from Theodore and Killian’s wedding.
"4 months," Lucas yawned, "they actually waited a lot longer than Addi and I. I told him a month after we met I think."
"How nice."
I love his grandparents.
They're wonderful people.
"Boys?" Lucas smiled, "I'm going to head to sleep. My medications are hitting and Adrian can't carry me to bed. Thank you, for coming to see me. Please visit more."
"Of course, sir," I smiled again, letting him ruffle my hair.
"You can just call us Papa Luca and Papa Addi. You're family, Sparrow."
"Alright. Sleep well."
"I will," he hugged Thomas before giving Adrian a kiss and heading into the one other room in the tiny home.
"He's never lucid that long," Adrian whispered, wiping a tear away, "usually by now I'm the only person he can recognize and I have to remind him where we are and all that."
"Did they put him on new medication?" Thomas rubbed Adrian's back softly.
"Mhm. Even now, dementia isn't reversible but we can slow it down some. So that's what we're trying to do. We're old now anyway. I'd like him to at least remember me until the end."
"He will," Thomas whispered, kissing the side of Adrian's head.
"I can only hope. Now, take your wonderful boyfriend back to your parents and get him to bed. He's fading."
Thomas looked at me and I yawned softly, my eyes barely managing to stay open, "Hyacinth and Phoenix are draining him. The fact he ate dinner is shocking."
"Rude," I yawned again, "it's your fault I'm like this."
"Hyacinth and Phoenix are beautiful names. Williams?" Adrian hesitantly touched my stomach and I nodded that it was okay.
"Yes. Sparrow’s idea," Thomas ran his fingers through my hair and I smiled at him, "How though?"
"Oh… when you brought Papa Addi back I had a dream about them. We were on the beach, they had to be about 2. You called them. Hyacinth and Phoenix. Both boys."
"Is that why you looked upset when I came back?"
"No. It was because in the dream you were talking about our uh… um…" I pointed to Adrian's wedding ring, "that and it… it just brought up the fact that I never expected to find someone… like you. I just… three years with Casey, the assault, and I never pictured a life where I could have kids or f… fall… fall in…"
"I know," Thomas whispered, kissing me softly, "stop trying to force yourself. It's okay."
"Thank you."
"Always."
Comments (4)
See all