AU: Bundle of Joy (Damien)

[Damien Tremblay]

Being the one to shelter and protect was incredibly foreign to Damien when it came to Josef. His boyfriend was the protective one, even if he was slightly shorter. He was stronger by miles, far more confident, and had proved over and over that he was unafraid to throw a punch. But this wasn't some idiot student threatening them, and it felt right to attempt comforting Josef when Damien was still carrying the blame. "You look after me," he offered tentatively. Which was... sort of true. Josef seemed to do equal amounts of caring for him and corrupting him. He'd just ignore that last part for now. "Between us, we can do it. I'm positive." As for what their baby would be like... he made a face. "Maybe a mix. Not quiet, but not.." Polite word, polite word. "Too adventurous?" He smiled in encouragement. "Because I like your hair." Which he also hoped the baby would inherit, rather than his impossible mop of curls.

Damien was well capable of screwing things up. He did find that writing tnings down helped keep thoughts straight. He'd need that when talking to his family. There was nothing easy about admitting you had thoroughly knocked up your very male boyfriend. "Yeah. For hard stuff like this. I want to say it right." That would take some effort, but it would be worth it.

"You can't work right after the baby," he protested. Being protective was having an odd effect on him. "And you have to have a future too." He couldn't let Josef sacrifice school entirely. He didn't like being bossy, but he felt it was warrented. "We'll figure it out later, I guess." Damien knew he wanted to go to law school, but he wasn't sure if Josef had thought about it much. But that could be for later. For now, Damien was content. At least until he'd admitted how he felt. His mouth was dry, and his fingers felt cold as he waited for Josef's reply. When it did finally come, he breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head. "No. Not really."

Though he was loathe to change the subject from something so important, Damien's mind chose to remember bits of Melissa's complaints in the early days of pregnancy. "Um. Are you hungry? We could go get some dinner?" He eyed the remains of his half-started paper before letting a sly smile take over. "We could eat, then ditch homework and watch movies? Um. Or cuddle. Whatever you want, okay?"

[Josef Muller]

Josef snorted, clearly a little bemused by the idea. “I think I get you into trouble and then take care of you while you’re in it. But thank you. I appreciate the idea of it. And—I’m happy to look after you, I guess. When I’m not corrupting you.” Damien had certainly started out as a lot more innocent than he was now. Josef couldn’t decide if he was pleased about this or guilty. Considering that it had gotten him pregnant (which was still bizarre to him), he decided it was a mixture of both. The expression on his face when Damien brought up what their kids could be like was—interesting, to say the lease. A combination of fascination and horror, with the horror becoming more and more prevalent. “I’d rather they’re like you,” he said at last, faintly. “Polite is good. I think if they did have of what I did as a kid I wouldn’t make it to thirty. And I don’t see what you think is wrong with your hair.” He ran a hand through it and smiled at Damien. “I like it.”

Josef nodded. “All right. We’ll try it.” Although later when he did try it, he suspected he’d spend most of the time scribbling things out and eventually resort to his usual method—blurting things out.

“I know I can’t—I mean, I guess I can’t work right after the baby.” He hadn’t thought about it, to tell the truth. “But look, I never thought about going to school much anyways. And we can’t both go with the kid, right? So I’ll just…put it off or something. It’ll work out. But yeah, we’ll work it out later.” Josef hadn’t thought about school, but he knew he had other options and he’d take them for now.

Josef’s lips twitched up at Damien’s comments, and he eyed the paper, then sighed. “No. You have to finish. Tell you what. You finish and then we’ll cuddle. I’ll go rustle up some food, okay?” And because he could, and because he was still giddy from hearing him say it, he leaned in to kiss him and mumbled against his lips, “I love you.” He pulled away, grinned at him, then climbed up to go grab a meal.

[Damien Tremblay]

Damien had to shake his head and grin. “I’ve been in trouble more times with you than I’ve been in my entire life.” Which... really was true, scarily enough. “I’m just glad you look after me when we wreak havoc.” Even he had to admit that being ever so slightly corrupted wasn’t so terrible. Toeing the line of good and bad was actually fun sometimes. “They’ll be a little like you no matter what,” he pointed out. It was genetically impossible to be any other way. “But just... don’t encourage them to be crazy?” Privately, Damien wasn’t sure he’d know how to handle a toddler that was intent on doing the things Josef did now, like climb up trees or generally be a daredevil. As for his hair, he just scrunched up his face. “It’s a mess,” he protested, gently batting his hand away.

In writing things out, Damien could be patient. He knew how Josef’s mind tended to work. He’d just have to... edit creatively while still getting the message across. If his boyfriend got beyond frustrated with it, he’d just take the project over. He was sure he could present the situation in a good light with his parents. Given time, anyway.

He felt somewhat terrible that Josef would have to be the one to put off school, at least for a while. He honestly wanted to stop thinking about it, but that was difficult. “Fine,” he agreed reluctantly. Maybe his parents would have some idea of how to get around it. Or he could find something to interest Josef in school beyond Hammel. It was a thought.

It was very odd to have Josef as the so called ‘responsible’ one. Perhaps it was because Damien felt he was always looking out for him. Whatever it was, he just sighed. “Fine, I’ll finish the stupid paper. ... But then can you stay in my dorm tonight?” He didn’t mind squishing up in the bed. He just didn’t want Josef to be alone tonight. Hopefully, he got his answer in the kiss. Hearing Josef say it again made him want to shiver in absolute adoration. “Love you too.” Damien watched him go before pulling himself off of the bed and back to the task at hand. The faster he finished the paper, the faster he’d get to cuddle.