Saint Nicholas: Chapter 7

Valentine's Day 2015

Over the last almost-two months, Nicholas had been seeing a lot of Sören and Anthony. So much so that he was spending less and less time at his flat, only sleeping there occasionally to give Sören and Anthony a night to themselves. Twice, since they'd gotten together in late December, Anthony had let Sören and Nicholas spend an evening together while he went to visit his parents.

But it was starting to not make sense to maintain a separate flat and pay a monthly rent for a place he was barely using. And above and beyond that, Nicholas didn't like leaving them, feeling like a piece of him was being ripped out each time.

Nicholas had thought about broaching the subject of living together with them, but the relationship itself had escalated quickly enough and he didn't want to frighten them by moving too fast, even if they were already practically living together. It was one thing for Nicholas to spend the night with them more often than not, another thing entirely for them to share space all the time. Sören and Anthony's flat was really only big enough for the two of them and their daughter, not a third person and all of his belongings.

But finally, on Valentine's Day, Nicholas decided he was going to just stop dancing around it and go ahead and ask. He thought the worst they could do was say "not yet". And his protective Alpha urges were brought out by the fact that Sören had been feeling under the weather the last few days, including running to the bathroom with dry heaves. Anthony took care of Sören, but Nicholas would feel more at ease if there were two people available to care for him.

Sören wasn't feeling up to going out, which was OK - after Rey went to bed, they got Chinese takeaway delivered for a quiet romantic evening at home. As they waited for the food, Nicholas rubbed Sören's back and Anthony massaged Sören's feet.

They took turns feeding each other bites of shrimp and chicken, forkfuls of rice, silly and playful. When the meal was over, Sören lay across Nicholas and Anthony, the two of them leaning up against each other as they pet Sören together. "That was perfect," Sören said. "This even moreso." He smiled adoringly at them; the love in those sweet brown eyes always took Nicholas's breath away.

"I like evenings like this," Anthony said.

"The only thing that would make it better is if we could all take a bubble bath together but the tub is barely big enough for one of us to fit in, never mind the three of us." Sören pouted.

Nicholas swallowed hard. He opened his mouth, preparing to ask the question about living together - finding a bigger place, perhaps one with a bigger tub, or getting one custom-built, and then Sören cleared his throat and said, "Somewhat related, I have a little announcement."

"Oh?" Nicholas's heart skipped a beat, wondering what it could be.

Sören looked at Anthony, then Nicholas, and nodded. "I'm pregnant."

Anthony grinned. "Hi Pregnant, I'm Anthony -"

"ANTHONY, THAT'S MY ROUTINE, DAMMIT." Sören tweaked Anthony's nose, and Anthony chuckled, then he patted Sören.

Nicholas's mouth hung open and all of his carefully practiced points about why he wanted to live with them, why it would be good for all of them, went flying away. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, but then he had a recollection of Anthony asking Sören if he'd picked up the birth control at the pharmacy and it was down in the kitchen drawer and of course it had never been brought out, even though trips were made to the kitchen to give Seumas food and water, and put together more food for the heat nest.

"So..." Nicholas blinked slowly. "This happened during your last heat?" He felt immediately like an idiot for saying it.

Sören just nodded, laughing. "The heat before that was in late March before Rey's last birthday so yes, I'd have had it already."

"That means either of us could be the father," Anthony said.

Sören nodded again.

"Well..." Anthony smiled at Nicholas and gave him a little kiss. "I don't really care whose it is, I would treat it like both of ours."

Nicholas smiled back - grinned, even though he knew he looked ridiculous - fighting back the urge to leap off the couch and shout for joy. Never in his life had Nicholas Decaux thought he would be fathering a child, and yet he was sort of a second father to Rey... and now there was a possibility the child Sören was carrying was his.

"I hope that's OK," Sören said, looking into Nicholas's eyes.

Nicholas grabbed Sören and kissed him hard. When they pulled apart he began to weep quietly... happy tears. Part of him felt a little guilty, not knowing how long he'd be around, not wanting to die when the child was young... but he also felt like he'd been given a new lease on life. He'd had more vigor these last few weeks, his arthritis had been bothering him less.

"One thing, though." Anthony looked at Sören, then at Nicholas. "We're... going to need to move into a bigger place."

Nicholas nodded. "I'd thought about asking if we could live together before you made the announcement." Nicholas stroked Sören's face.

"Yeah, I don't want to leave Brighton, but I'm sure there's a three-bedroom, one for us, one for each of the kids."

Nicholas realized he'd have to part with some of his furniture, if the house wasn't big enough for all of it, but that seemed like a very small price to pay for what he was getting out of it. Two children... two partners.

Nicholas and Anthony both had their hands on Sören's stomach now. They kissed each other, then took turns kissing Sören. Then Sören patted them and climbed off of them, stretched, and looked down the hall, and back at them.

"We should celebrate," Sören said.

Anthony picked Sören up off the floor and began carrying him down the hall. Nicholas followed, his steps feeling lighter than air. When they reached the bedroom, Nicholas took them both into his arms and spun them around - so silly and undignified, but he was downright giddy. It was like Christmas all over again.

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