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“Ian, do you want to go out to the forest trail now?” Anthony asks his boyfriend as the movie that they were watching came to an end.
“Yeah I do. It would be nice to get some fresh air instead of just rotting in here all day.” Ian replies, his hands going towards the armrest of the sofa for support as he slowly tries to pull himself up to stand, a task that’s become more and more difficult as he’s progressed further through pregnancy.
Anthony smiles and turns the tv off, helping Ian up off of the sofa by letting him grab his hand for additional support. He then goes to get ready for the outing they sometimes had whenever they had some free time on their hands.
In what felt like a blink of an eye, Anthony was already almost fully prepared to go out with him having his walking boots on and he was zipping his coat up, patiently awaiting his partner’s arrival in the corridor close to the front door.
Before doing anything else to prepare for the walk though, Ian lugs himself upstairs to take a quick piss, knowing that with his current state he needed to go more often thanks to the developing infant that was currently sitting on his bladder deep inside of his body, so he figured that it was best to go now just in case.
When he finishes doing that and steadily goes back down the stairs, he noticed that his boyfriend was mysteriously absent from the corridor near the front door where he last saw him. Slightly confused, Ian walks further into the first floor of the house to investigate and almost right away, he finds Anthony putting what looked like a few granola bars into the cross body bag that he had previously put his phone and water bottle into.
“Uhh, what are you doing?”
“I’m packing a few of these for you.” The other man explained. “Don’t worry, they’re gluten free, I checked multiple times to be certain.”
“Did you really have to do this? It’s not like I’m gonna starve to death if I don’t eat for five minutes.” Ian deflects, rolling his eyes. A large part of him really did adore being pampered by Anthony like he was a delicate princess but at the same time, his instinctive sense of stubbornness would still come out on top every once in a while even though he has gotten a little better with it over the past several months.
“Ian, please let me take care of you.” Anthony softly pleads, a pout forming on his face.
“I know that being pregnant isn’t easy for you at all, so I want to do everything that I can to make sure that you and our baby are okay.” He reminds him, his tone lowering to one that he knew would probably convince Ian to believe what he is saying.
Ian’s cheeks flush a soft shade of red, a slight smile appearing when he heard that from Anthony. He’s definitely aware of how much more affectionate and attentive his boyfriend had become towards him ever since those plus signs showed up on those pregnancy tests around half a year ago and as much as he didn’t want to be treated like he was made of glass, he’s gotta admit that he does love how Anthony often does his absolute best to give him his undivided attention whenever he needs it and how he always goes out of his way to make him feel cared for and supported during this vulnerable time.
“Okay fine, you can pack those, even though I may not need them.” Ian relents, feeling a weird mix of emotions that consisted of slight defeat, but also a great amount of joy from Anthony’s sweet gesture.
Anthony grins, taking this as a win. He zips the bag up and places it on his body, about ready to head outside. Ian however, still needed to put on his boots, so he turns to pick them up in the hallway, only for his enlarged stomach to abruptly remind him of his decreased mobility the moment he even slightly tried to bend down to grab the walking boots off of the floor.
After his lover stepped in and gladly picked them up for him, Ian carefully lowered himself down onto one of the very bottom steps of the staircase in order for him to slot his swollen and sock covered feet into the boots. Unfortunately for him however, he just couldn’t quite tie both sets of laces up no matter how much his fingers demanded that the laces get done due to the obstruction that his now seven month bump has manifested.
“Do you need any help with doing the laces up?” Anthony kindly asks him as he steps a little closer.
“I do.” Ian quietly confesses after about a second of silence, a trace of frustration in his voice.
The tattooed man’s face lights up as Ian accepts that he had lost the battle of tying the laces by himself, letting Anthony take on the task instead. He kneels down and does them up without any struggle but instead of getting up right away, he stops, his gaze landing on his partner’s round belly that was just inches away from his face.
Mesmerised by the visible proof of what he had done to him, Anthony lifts Ian’s baggy sweater up a little, exposing the baby bump in its full glory. Although it retained the pale hue that the rest of Ian’s skin had, the rest of his abdominal region had certainly changed quite dramatically ever since it had been given the task of housing and nurturing an infant - and in more ways than just getting bigger. Light pink, almost web-like stretch marks were scattered across its surface like flakes of snow, his belly button that was once an innie was now popping out like an outie and to top it all off, the hair in that area was not nearly as thick as it once was due to the smoothie of hormones that have been flowing through his veins for many months now.
Ian, knowing full well what Anthony was about to do, took over in keeping his sweater up, giving the other man full permission to have this moment with their baby. It was something that had become deeply entrenched into their daily lives at this point and even though Ian wasn’t always that big of a fan of having Anthony constantly trying to help him with every little thing around the house, his heart melted every single time his partner interacted with their unborn child. Those sorts of moments have become his favourite parts of a day, even though he initially thought that the idea of them interacting with his belly was a little silly.
“Hey sweetheart.” Anthony spoke softly, placing his hands on Ian’s stomach.
“It’s me, your Papa. I just wanted to let you know that your Daddy and I are so happy to be having you and cannot wait to meet you.” He joyfully continued, utterly captivated by their future kid.
“You may not be here yet, but I love you. I really do.” Anthony whispered. He finishes off the moment of bonding by leaning forward and pressing a kiss to the belly in a spot close to Ian’s navel. Right before he fully pulled away though, he notices some movement that looked like kicking coming from inside of his boyfriend, with the motion happening in the exact same place he just spoke to and kissed.
“Did- did they just kick for me?” Anthony asks with astonishment, his mouth agape.
“It seems like they did. I’ve heard that babies inside the womb can recognise their other parent’s voice at around this point, so they probably did.” Ian explains as he wipes away some of the tears that were welling up in his eyes, his other hand subsequently rubbing his bump to show some of his own affection to their baby.
Anthony gets back up, once again assisting Ian with getting back on his feet. The blue eyed man goes and takes an oversized fleece coat from one of the coat hangers, putting it on and zipping it up, ready to withstand the cold December weather outside.
Their lives weren’t very busy right now because of the fact that everyone was off work for the holidays in the time leading up to Christmas and the new year so they now have more time to themselves, a stark contrast to how busy they had been around the time of the twentieth anniversary of Smosh celebration, so they were grateful to get this chance to relax more. A lot of their days at the moment were spent with Ian curled up under some blankets on the sofa watching movies whilst Anthony would either be there accompanying him occasionally or be out getting Ian whatever food he was craving that day, no matter how strange that craving was sometimes.
Ian would also complain more and more frequently about all sorts of aches and pains across his body as he got more pregnant, from his back aching to his legs cramping to even his belly itching, which would always result in Anthony giving him a soothing massage on whatever part hurt or he would prepare a warm bath for him to alleviate his discomfort whenever he had the opportunity to do so. It was clear that Anthony didn’t like seeing his poor babygirl suffering, so he did what he could to keep him comfortable.
Since they were fully equipped to go out now, Anthony opened the front door and they both stepped outside of their house. Anthony stayed behind for a moment to lock the door whilst Ian waddled over to his car.
The pregnant man proceeded to open the door to his favourite vehicle and he attempts to squeeze himself into the driver’s seat, but to no avail. Sighing, he moves the seat back a bit and gets into it, before moving it forward again so that his feet could reach the car pedals. However, his feet simply could not fully reach the pedals no matter how much he tried to get this to work. His toes were brushing up against them, but not enough to be able to fully press down on them.
He looks down and he quickly discerns what the problem was, as he was greeted with the sight of his sizeable mid-section that was doing everything it could to prevent him from being able to properly drive with how it was pressing up against the steering wheel and creating distance between his body and the pedals.
Before he could fully process what just happened, he hears the sound of Anthony trying and failing to stifle a sea of giggles just outside of the vehicle, his boyfriend rocking forward a little bit as small, but audible bursts of laughter escape from his lips.
“Ar-are you okay babe?” Anthony questions with a hint of amusement in his voice.
“This is all your fault.” Ian grumbles, his frustration taking over.
“Wha- why are you blaming me?”
“You did this to me.” Ian huffs, pitifully pointing to his protruding tummy.
“To be fair, you literally begged me to fill you up with my cum and breed you the night that I’m pretty sure we conceived our kid on, so I’d say we’re both to blame for this.” Anthony giggles, a fiery wave of blush spreading across his face. God, Ian was so unbelievably cute like this.
“I guess that is true.” Ian concedes, his heart speeding up from the mention of that unforgettable night. The memory of Anthony’s raw cock pounding into his hole without any barrier between them and the mental image of his partner’s thick cum filling him to the point of successfully knocking him up sent pleasant shivers down his spine whenever he recalled it, in spite of the fact that he wasn’t the one with the major breeding kink.
“I mean, I’m definitely overjoyed to be bringing our child into the world but I won’t lie, the symptoms that come with being pregnant are quite irritating to deal with.”
“I totally understand why you feel that way honey. It must be so hard for you to carry all of that extra weight around all day.” Anthony said, wearing a sympathetic expression.
“Damn right it is.” Ian confirms.
Silence fell between them for a moment, before Anthony spoke up.
“Alright then, since you’re now officially too pregnant to drive properly, I guess you’ll have to be my passenger princess for a while.” Anthony gleefully suggests, clearly not minding that at all.
“I would be honoured to be your little passenger princess.” Ian replied, leaning into the bit by batting his eyelashes in a somewhat exaggerated, but also cutesy way, earning an endeared look from Anthony.
And so, Ian reluctantly departed from his car and locked it up again as Anthony unlocked his own car and got into the driver’s seat, with Ian putting himself on the seat opposite to him.
As Anthony began the drive, his mind reflected on what had occurred just now. The sight of his boyfriend being too big to properly drive his own car definitely stirred up a fairly strong feeling of arousal that swam through him like a fish and his dick was still quivering in his pants, yet to recover from what he had just seen. They both knew about his kink and while he genuinely wanted to have a child with Ian, he cannot deny that he thought that Ian looked so much cuter and has gotten even more submissive with him ever since he got pregnant, something that never failed to turn him the fuck on whenever his thoughts veered in that direction or when they would have sex and Anthony would fully worship his boyfriend’s changing, but stunning body during those moments of intimacy.
To Anthony’s mild annoyance however, he had to force himself shake off that feeling in order to focus on the road ahead, not wanting to end up killing himself or his future family just because he felt horny at an inconvenient time. That would be dumb.
~~~~~~
After around half an hour of driving, they arrived at their destination. Luckily for them, there were no other cars in the car park at the front of the woodland path, so they didn’t have to worry at all about potentially being seen by someone who might recognise them.
They had gotten out of the car and were walking up to where the path started, when Ian voiced something.
“Can I go for a piss real quick? I really need to go now.” He says, pointing to the public toilet that was just to the side of the car park.
“Already? Didn’t you go right before we left?”
“Try telling that to the person who’s literally crushing my bladder right now.” Ian deadpanned, looking straight at Anthony as he gestured to his belly.
“Okay, fair enough.” Anthony returned with a nod, remembering his boyfriend’s current state and the physical effects that it can have on him.
They go over to the toilets, with Ian going inside of the small building to relieve himself while Anthony waited for him outside.
When Ian returned, they redirect their attention to the concrete path behind the wooden gate in front of them, which led through the forest up ahead. Anthony swings open the gate, before shutting it again once they were both through.
Their gloved hands met like magnets, and they began their peaceful stroll across the path through the woods. The branches of the trees that were towering over them may be devoid of green thanks to the freezing winter weather, but that didn’t dampen the positive mood between the couple, who were equally happy to be within nature for a change.
While most days currently consist of them chilling inside of their house, Ian especially still yearned to go outside whenever he felt up for it. They had to go to these more isolated footpaths due to the level of secrecy around the pregnancy, but Ian fortunately didn’t mind going out to these places and he actually greatly enjoyed going these areas.
With their hands interlocked, they make their way down the trail. They talked about whatever topic came to their minds, always adoring whatever the other had to say. Ian was going on about his favourite highways, with Anthony listening with rapt attention and occasionally adding his own input into the conversation as the cold, but refreshing air entered their lungs.
Suddenly, Anthony starts thinking back to what happened right before they left to go here. A little part of his mind returns to how hot it was to see his boyfriend so large with their baby, but a lot of his thoughts began to revolve around how frustrated Ian was in that moment and a wave of guilt hit him as he started to worry about how his reaction might’ve made him feel.
“Ian?” He pipes up after the other man had finished talking about his interest.
“Yeah?”
“I-I’m sorry for laughing at you earlier when you couldn’t fit in your car, that probably made you feel even worse about it.” Anthony uttered apologetically, hanging his head.
“It’s alright babe.” Ian softly reassures him. “I was just pissed about the fact that I couldn’t drive my favourite car, it wasn’t anything to do with how you reacted.”
Anthony’s tense body relaxes, his grip on his partner’s hand loosening into a more composed one. Sensing this, Ian stops and turns towards Anthony, meeting his slightly confused, yet shiny eyes. He then steps closer to his boyfriend and connects their lips together in a sweet kiss that was laced with a hint of passion, pouring all of the love that he felt for him into this deeply affectionate gesture.
After exploring each other’s yearning lips, their bodies part ways once more, leaving Anthony to lovingly gaze at the man he was so proud to call his partner. As he was drinking in Ian’s stunning appearance like he often does, a thought hits him without any warning.
I hope our child has his eyes
Anthony was a little taken aback by that thought, but he quickly fell in the love with that idea in spite of how unlikely it was to actually be a reality due to how the genes for brown eyes tend to dominate over the ones for blue eyes. He stares deeply into Ian’s azure eyes that sparkled with endless life, imagining their kid having that exact shade of striking blue present on their face too.
“What if our baby ends up having your beautiful blue eyes?” Anthony breathlessly let slip, his mouth speaking first before his brain could catch up, some blush spreading across his cheeks as he uttered those words.
“I guess that would be nice, but the chances of it are kinda low, so they’ll probably get your brown eyes.” The other man shrugs.
“I know, but it’s fun to imagine stuff like that.” Anthony grins, still giddy from that thought, with Ian returning that same expression.
Their hands reunited again after being separated by their little kiss as they then proceeded with their journey through the outdoors, passing many frost covered trees as they went.
“Going back to what we were just saying, I do think it that would also be cool if they had your curly hair too. Your curls are one of my favourite parts of your appearance so that would be pretty awesome.” Ian confesses, his eyes paying special attention to his lover’s hair.
“That would certainly be great as well, although I don’t care a whole lot about our child’s physical appearance at the end of the day. They’ll be perfect no matter how they look or what gender they are.” Anthony happily expresses.
“You know, it makes me so angry whenever I see videos of people online getting upset and throwing tantrums over things like their child’s sex, when they should be grateful to even be having a kid at all.” Ian cringed, recalling the ‘gender reveal’ videos that would still occasionally find a way to show up on his social media feed.
He always hated seeing those videos due to how the expecting parents in them would often strip the worth of their unborn baby down to what they had in between in their legs, something that he strongly believed wasn’t right at all and he would often rant to Anthony about it, with Anthony sharing Ian’s opinion on the subject.
Their conversation carried on for a while, until Ian informs Anthony that he was beginning to feel a little tired so he requests a break. Fortunately, this trail had lots of benches scattered throughout it, so they were able to quickly find one so that Ian could rest for a moment.
As Anthony observed his lover lowering himself onto the bench, he notices how much the sun’s rays were shining in the spot that Ian was sitting in and even though the rays were faint, they clearly highlighted just how goddamn domestic Ian looked in this state.
It was true that Anthony has been obsessed with watching his belly slowly rise like bread dough in an oven for the past several months, but that was not the only part of Ian’s body that he was crazy about. His face had that famous ‘pregnancy glow’ look to it, with rosy cheeks and vibrant skin that almost looked like it really was glowing from how radiant it appeared to be. Even the hair on his head appeared marginally thicker and more luscious than it usually was.
Another notable feature of Ian’s pregnant body that Anthony loved was his wider-than-average hips that were designed specifically for childbirth. Even when he wasn’t pregnant, his hips definitely stuck out just enough to be noticeable to anyone looking closely. Now that he was growing a whole new person inside of his body however, this difference became more apparent with his pelvic floor widening just that little bit more in preparation for the big day, something that drove Anthony absolutely wild when he first noticed it gradually happening before his eyes.
Once Ian had a bit of water and felt ready to proceed with their walk, Anthony offered to help him get up but Ian declined, insisting that he can do it himself like he occasionally does. He was able to successfully heave himself up from the bench without too much effort but shortly after they went on their way, the blue eyed man’s stomach rumbles, a fairly mild, but almost impossible to ignore pang of hunger swiftly making itself known in his gut.
Ian is tempted to just brush off that feeling but eventually, he decides to just bite the bullet and ask his boyfriend for a granola bar or two. He suddenly feels extra thankful that Anthony pampered him as much as he did and how he does seemingly minor things like bringing a snack for him just in case he got hungry. Not that he didn’t love that about him before, but he was really realising once again how lucky he was to have such an amazing person in his life.
“Anthony?” He asks, turning towards the man who was holding his hand.
“Hm?”
“Can I have a granola bar?” Ian asked, a hint of shyness in his voice.
“Of course you can!” Anthony answered.
They stop walking and let go of each other’s hands, allowing the tattooed man to open his little bag and produce a granola bar from inside of it. He hands it to Ian, who quickly tore the wrapper open so that he could get to the food contained within.
“Thanks.” Ian said, right before taking a big bite out of the bar that he was holding as they resumed with their little stroll across the flat path through the woods.
Before long, one granola bar turned into two, and then that ended up becoming three after a while with Ian tossing yet another empty wrapper into his boyfriend’s bag.
“Damn, how hungry were you?”
“Hungry enough to eat three of those bars I guess.” Ian jokes right before a small burp escapes from his lips, finally feeling satiated.
“I’m pretty glad that I brought those bars with us then. Sunshine probably needed all of that additional energy.” Anthony smiles, happy that his plan had succeeded.
Ian fondly rolls his eyes after hearing Anthony call their kid that. His partner came up with that nickname not long after they made the decision to keep the baby and although Ian playfully gave him shit for it at first, he came around to liking the placeholder name and he even found it cute after a while.
“And they’re gonna use that energy to make me even bigger than I already am.” Ian offhandedly remarked, huffing a laugh.
“That would be a good thing, because that would mean that they’re healthy and developing the way that they should be.” Anthony beams, his eyes crinkling.
“Yeah, I don’t care if I end up looking like a beached whale. The main thing that matters is that our child comes out with ten fingers and ten toes.”
“But you’ll be a very cute beached whale.” Anthony cooed, his warm brown eyes tenderly surveying Ian’s angelic frame.
“If I’m so cute to you, would you do anything for me? Even when I become so pregnant I can hardly see my own feet?” Ian teasingly challenged, slipping into his babygirl demeanour.
“I definitely would.” Anthony said, his voice softening. “I’ve already been doing that this whole time, so why would I stop?”
Ian blushes, a smile flourishing on his lips as his already naturally rose tinted cheeks turned a slightly hotter hue of pink.
“Um yeah, that’s true.” Ian mutters. For a second, he contemplated telling Anthony everything. He wanted to make it clear to him how endlessly appreciative he really was of his boyfriend, the other father of their baby, the person who was essentially his other half at this point.
He internally tries his best to get the words out, but they instead danced on the tip of his tongue, refusing to leave his mouth. Despite the emotional improvements he has made over the years, it made him feel too naked to even think about saying things like that right now, so he instead carried on with talking about basically anything else, simultaneously pushing that dilemma into the back of his mind as they traversed along the path.
~~~~~~
“My knees are starting to ache a bit.” Ian breathlessly revealed after a while.
“Do you want to take another break on that bench over there?” Anthony gently asked, pointing towards the wooden bench that was just off to the side of the main path.
“Yeah.”
They walk over to the bench and sit down on it, with Ian letting out a little ‘oof’ as he made contact with the seat. As much as he doesn’t like showing it, he’s been feeling more tired more often as of late, most likely due to how much the baby has grown over the past few weeks, hence why his energy levels have noticeably decreased. He will be going on Paternity leave shortly after everyone returns to the office at the beginning of January, so it won’t be long until he can fully put his feet up and not have to worry as much about work.
The repetitive melody of the rushing water in the rapidly flowing stream that was ahead of them filled the now wordless atmosphere as the two of them (well, technically the three of them) existed together in serene bliss for the better part of the next few minutes. The corners of their mouths mutually curl up into small smiles, neither of them being able to deny the level of peacefulness they were experiencing.
“You know, I was just thinking about the future. Like, imagine us bringing our kid somewhere like here someday.” Ian fondly muses, breaking the cocoon of silence that was encasing them after a short while.
“Yeah, that definitely sounds like something we could do one day.” Anthony agrees. “I’m certain that we’ll do everything we can to give our child the best possible life. I can just feel it.” He grins, sliding closer to Ian, their knees almost touching.
“It’s so crazy to think that we’ll be parents soon.” Ian muttered in disbelief, feeling the fluttery sensation of the infant that he was carrying shuffle around inside of him as he said that. It’s been a few months since he first started to feel their baby moving, but he doesn’t think that he’ll ever get over that unbelievable sensation.
“I know right? I’m so looking forward to meeting them once these last two months are over.” Anthony eagerly gushes.
“Damn, is it really not that long until I have to give birth? I’ve gotta start practicing for it like, right now.” Ian quips, getting a few titters out of his partner.
“And how are you gonna do that?”
“I dunno really. I could try shooting a ping pong ball out of my bussy though, that might give me an idea on what the real thing will feel like.”
Anthony’s little chuckles instantly transition into harder laughter. He remembers that Ian made that same sort of joke while they were filming the Smoshscars, but that didn’t decrease how funny he thought that was at all.
“I suppose that could work, but isn’t a baby larger than that?”
“I don’t think shoving a whole ass football up my birth canal is a good idea.” Ian jokes back in response, although his voice sounded a little quieter and more halfhearted, the corners of his mouth drooping slightly like a mask subtly slipping.
A few giggles escape from Anthony’s lips once more, but that gets prematurely cut off when he notices something off about Ian. He’s known his best friend turned boyfriend long enough to know all about the signs that he wasn’t feeling okay, and those signs were definitely on display here, at least to his eyes anyway.
The brown eyed man leans further into Ian, making their knees meet as he connects their hands together, the other man melting into the touch despite his presumed emotional state.
“How are you feeling right now?” Anthony gently enquires, stroking Ian’s hand with his tattooed thumb in the hopes of keeping him emotionally grounded.
“Why are you asking me that?” Ian lightly deflects, although it was clear that he was experiencing some uneasy feelings. Maybe it was fear? Sadness? Possibly a mixture of both or something else? Anthony wasn’t sure, but he aims to get to the bottom of it, like he always eventually does when Ian feels ready to talk about it.
“Look, you don’t have to talk about anything right now you don’t feel comfortable doing that, but I will listen to you if you do decide to tell me about whatever’s on your mind.” Anthony said reassuringly.
Ian slowly takes a deep, but shaky breath in to try and compose himself. He looks up a little, glancing at Anthony’s sympathetic face.
“I-I’m… really scared of labour and giving birth i-if I’m gonna be honest here.” Ian whispers, just about loud enough for Anthony to hear.
The taller man nods, easily comprehending the logic behind Ian’s reasonable fear.
“Do you want to tell me why that is?”
“What if something goes wrong? I’ve done enough research to know that there’s a chance that I could bleed out and die during it and if I don’t, then something else is bound to go wrong.” Ian blurts out, his tone of voice raising and sounding progressively more upset as he continued speaking. “And even if none of that happens, it will hurt like absolute hell for hours on end, so I’ll be suffering either way.” He bitterly adds, a few lone tears rolling down his cheeks.
Anthony almost starts to tear up himself seeing Ian like this, but for the sake of his boyfriend, he keeps his own tears back for now so that he can console him, wearing that same compassionate expression as he did before. He’s caught Ian extensively researching about this topic a few times in the past and while he knew that it was important to know about things like that, he didn’t realise that this knowledge was fucking with Ian’s head this badly.
“Love, I fully understand why you feel so scared about having to go through that soon, given what I and especially you know about it. Your fears are very much valid.” Anthony softly validates, squeezing Ian’s hand gently. “Just know that no matter what happens, I will be there for you when the time comes and I’ll support you the best I can. I promise I will.”
Ian’s facial expression lights up a little from Anthony’s words and while he wasn’t tearing up like he was a moment ago, a hint of the worry that was still overstaying its welcome across his mind remained visible on his face.
“I wasn’t doubting that you’d be there one bit, I’m mainly worried about how painful it’ll be or if something happens to me or the… baby.” Ian trails off, willingly showing more vulnerability to the best of his ability despite how hard it was for him to open up about his deepest fears.
“I’m no fortune teller, but I’m pretty confident that nothing bad will happen to you or our precious little one, particularly when you think about how advanced modern medicine is now with this sort of thing.” The tattooed man calmly reasons. “As for the pain, you’re right, it will probably hurt quite a lot and while that will definitely suck, we could potentially opt for you to get something like an epidural in order to hopefully reduce the level of pain you feel when you’re giving birth, if that’s what you want.” Anthony reminds him.
Anthony’s support really seemed to help Ian as he began to appear less afraid, his shoulders softening.
“T-thanks for reminding me of all of that. This whole pregnancy thing can make me so sensitive and emotional sometimes, it’s kinda annoying honestly.” Ian sighs, leaning into Anthony even more, making their shoulders brush up against each other.
“I get that, although it’s important to remember that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with feeling emotional, pregnant or not.” Anthony affirms. “It’ll all be okay honey, I’ll be there for you no matter how you choose to go about it.”
“I’m sure things will probably be alright in the end.” Ian softly smiles as he began to believe his lover. “As long as you don’t make me give birth at Disneyland, then my labour should go pretty smoothly.” The shorter man suddenly quips, instinctively injecting a joke into their somewhat serious conversation.
Anthony bursts out laughing, with Ian being unable to resist joining in too as they laughed in unison for a few seconds.
“There’s no way that people actually do that, right?” Anthony asked after his high pitched cackles reduced in frequency.
“Some particularly crazy Disney adults have tried to do that in the past unfortunately.”
“What the fuck dude, why would anyone attempt that? That sounds dangerous.” Anthony remarks, utterly flabbergasted.
“They think that their child will get a free ‘lifetime pass’ if they give birth there, which is just a dumb rumour that isn’t true in the slightest.” Ian exasperatedly explains.
“That’s so messed up.”
“It sure is.” Ian concours.
He signals to Anthony that he wanted to get something out of the bag that they had with them. The other man opened the bag, allowing Ian to fish his phone out of it. He wanted to show him a video that he recently saw about it but as he opened up TikTok, he was abruptly reminded that there was no internet in this area since nothing was loading.
Slightly annoyed, he leaves the app and for a short moment, he stared blankly at the home screen of his phone. However, his thoughts were interrupted by a particularly strong kick coming from within his swollen tummy, making him let out a small groan and place his phone back into the bag, turning his attention fully away from the device.
He looks down at his stomach, only to realise that he was already cradling it with his other hand benevolently, like he was subconsciously protecting the little soul sheltered within. He unzips his fleece coat and starts slowly rubbing his shirt covered abdomen, feeling his baby continue to wriggle about under his palm.
“Are they kicking again?” Anthony asked, slightly concerned for his boyfriend after hearing him groan out loud just now.
“Yeah, they are. We’re okay.” Ian happily clarified, putting Anthony’s mind at ease. “They seem to be quite active right now in fact.”
Anthony’s mildly concerned expression transformed into one of joy within mere seconds. He gracefully places his own hand onto the bump, joining in with what the other man was doing as he ran his fingers across the parts where he could feel the sensation of their child squirming around, his face lighting up and his heart softening even more each time he felt their quick movements.
In his head, he silently thanks every single one of his lucky stars that this is their reality, that he and Ian can have this beautiful baby together due to Ian being amongst the small percentage of people assigned male at birth that had the ability to carry children and more importantly, because of how healthy their relationship was now, especially with how much they’d improved in the communication department even before becoming something more than best friends. He couldn’t think of anything more perfect than these circumstances that they’ve ended up in.
“I think Sunshine wants to get out and be a cast member like, right this second.” Ian jokingly comments as he took yet another internal strike to the walls of his womb. He’s very much familiar with having to put up with an infant that won’t sit still, with the amount of sleep he has lost in the past due to it being solid proof of that fact.
“Well unfortunately for them, they’re gonna have to wait at least eighteen years or so until we can legally employ them at our company, regardless as to whether they come out now or in two months.” Anthony points out, his hand still exploring the expanse of Ian’s belly.
“Or we could find a way to bring back Smosh babies, then they won’t have to wait until they’re an adult if they’re really that desperate to appear on screen with us in some form.”
“Please for the love of god don’t remind me of that fuckass show. I’m still traumatised by those drawings of us as babies in dirty diapers with our dicks out.” Anthony says, scrunching his nose up in disgust.
“Well I just did, and you’re gonna have to live with that.” Ian smirked, visibly amused by Anthony’s reaction.
“And also, what if they don’t want to be a cast member in this hypothetical situation anyway? They might be like me and want to work behind the scenes or something like that.”
“They could do, but all of this is assuming that they’ll end up working for us when realistically, they’ll likely want to spread their wings somewhere else once they’re old enough.” Ian states, adding his honest opinion to this unserious line of banter that they were having.
“That’s very true. We’ll definitely support them whatever they end up doing though.” Anthony muses in agreement.
For the next ten minutes, they remained on that bench. Most of that time was spent with them getting totally lost in talking to their kid and feeling them move around. They always have been prone to getting immersed in their own little world whenever they were together, and this incoming addition to their lives has certainly not altered that dynamic between them at all. Despite how much they’ve changed over the years, they’re still the same at their core.
“Do you want us to start making our way back to the car now and go home? Or do you want to keep going?” Anthony asks upon seeing on his watch how long they’d been out for, giving Ian free rein on what he wanted to do next.
“I feel like going home now. It was nice to rest on this bench for a bit, but my calves will probably still end up hating me once we get back.” Ian answered as he zipped his coat back up again. They subsequently departed from the bench, turning back the way they came.
“Did you enjoy this walk through?”
“I did, yeah.” Ian wholeheartedly admitted, smiling brightly.
“You know, I’ll be more than happy to give you a massage later if your legs do ache, we’ve still got those essential oils that we got a while ago.” Anthony offered as his hand automatically slotted right back into Ian’s one.
“I would definitely like that.” Ian mumbled sincerely, feeling almost weak in the knees from his boyfriend’s selfless offer that he definitely could not refuse. Anthony massaging his back or legs or feet whenever they would give him trouble has been a part of their routine for a good while now, but that intimate act of care never failed to make Ian’s heart flutter a million times a minute.
“Come to think of it, we are making good time with us making our way back around now.” Anthony thinks out loud as his eyes scanned his watch yet again.
“And why is that?”
“It’s because we have the dresser for the nursery arriving later, remember?”
“Oh, right. I forgot about that.” Ian abashedly disclosed.
“We might need a bit of help with assembling it though, especially with how you’re currently banned from lifting anything even remotely heavy right now.” The brown eyed man points out.
“I’m sure some of our friends would be happy to help us with that. They care a lot about us and the baby so I don’t see why they wouldn’t want to lend a hand if that’s what we end up needing.” Ian suggests, his gaze flicking between the path back to the car and Anthony’s lips.
“I’ll try assembling it myself first but if we have trouble with it, then we’ll resort to having someone help us. We’ve gotta get the nursery finished soon.” Anthony stresses.
They’ve finished most of the room by now, with the dresser being the last major piece of furniture that the nursery needed. They still had to finish painting the walls and stock up on things like baby formula and diapers but other than that, the room was immaculate. There was almost no way of telling that it was once a mere guest room that was rarely used.
“We’ve only got around nine weeks until the baby gets here, so I know what you mean.”
They talked for a little bit longer before a comfortable silence hung over them once again. During this time where no vocal communication occurred, Ian recalls what he tried to say to Anthony earlier, and he felt frustrated with himself for not saying what he really wanted to say to his partner in that moment. Going to therapy has definitely done a number on his ability to communicate his emotions, but that didn’t mean that it always came naturally to him and even now he has moments where he struggles with expressing his inner feelings.
However, he wasn’t going to let that stop him from telling Anthony about how truly thankful he was for everything that he has done for him during this period of his life. It was something that his boyfriend absolutely deserved to hear coming from him.
Ian then feels increasingly motivated to not let those feelings go unsaid when he catches sight of the familiar positions of a few peculiar looking trees he remembered seeing near the beginning of their walk, signalling that their time at this trail was coming to an end. Having that knowledge, Ian finally pushes himself to let the words spill out into the open.
“Anthony…” He nervously begins, taking a few steady breaths in to calm himself.
“I know that I probably don’t say this enough, but thank you so much for taking care of me and being there for me during all of this. You make me feel safe and loved in a way that I’m not sure I’ve ever felt before and I’m just… so grateful to not only have you back in my life, but also to have this kind of relationship with you. I feel so incredibly lucky to have you, and I’m sure that our child will feel lucky to have you in their life as well.” Ian expressed, gripping Anthony’s hand a little more for comfort.
He was still kinda bad at this whole ‘showing emotional vulnerability’ thing, but he has been trying his best, for both his and Anthony’s sake.
Speaking of which, Anthony’s eyes were beginning to glisten with tears, his lips breaking into a wide, but warm smile once he had processed Ian’s slightly rambly, but very much from the heart admission.
“You’re very welcome love. The wellbeing of you and our baby are my top priorities right now, so I’m really glad to hear that you feel this way.” Anthony tenderly responded as he stroked Ian’s hand with his thumb.
It wasn’t easy in the slightest for Ian to say that, but in the end, he was glad that he took that leap. He knows that Anthony had the ability to read him so well it was almost uncanny, but he was still proud of himself for verbally telling him all of that, especially after he catches a glimpse of his partner’s glowing expression as they got closer and closer to their car.
This journey that they’ve been on together hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows however, as Anthony also occasionally had his own set of worries that he’s had to deal with as well. Ian’s well aware that growing up, Anthony never knew what it was like to have a stable household mainly due to his parents getting divorced when he was very young, a fact about his life that ignited his anxiety when he thought about his future role as a parent.
Despite that though, Anthony didn’t let those fears consume him and he did everything he could to show that he cared about this family that they were going to have soon and so far, everything was going great overall. Their baby was perfectly healthy, Anthony has now fully moved in with Ian, and their relationship was stronger than ever.
Once they were at their car, Anthony carefully pulls Ian closer, leans over Ian’s swollen frame, and he drops a gentle kiss on his forehead. No words were being exchanged, but this gesture said it all as the pregnant man leaned fully into the sensation of Anthony’s lips and hands touching him.
He couldn’t wait to be a Dad and finally get to hold their baby soon, and Anthony was equally unable to wait. Even though Anthony worries sometimes about whether or not he’ll be a good parent to their kid, Ian had full faith in him and their future. They may have only been romantically together for just about a year when they first discovered that they were expecting, but they’ve known each other for almost their whole lives and they had a rock solid foundation already there.
There was no way of one hundred percent knowing exactly what was in store for them, but he knew that he wanted this. They both wanted this, and together they will get through this last little part of pregnancy and after that, they’ll raise this kid the best they possibly can.
Anthony pulls away from Ian after a moment, leaving Ian with a strong, but calm sense of warmth coursing through his entire being. They get in the car, and Anthony soon begins the drive back to the house that will be welcoming a new addition in February.
Ian’s radiant smile continued to remain on his face. They absolutely loved their baby already and they will definitely continue to do so once their little one officially enters the world.