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“I want another kid.”
Whatever Laurence had been sleepily expecting Aphmau to say while they snuggled during the bimonthly parent movie night, it wasn’t that.
“We already have three, Aph,” He yawns, pulling her in closer to his chest. “I think a fourth would be overkill.” She sighs, and burrows her head further in under his chin.
“Like, genuinely, Laur. I want another kid.” She murmurs, tracing some pattern on his chest. “Like, obviously I love Levin and Malachi and Yip to death, those are our babies, but I just.. I want another one.”
“This came outta nowhere, Aph. Well, I mean, we have discussed it before, but like.. there’s gotta be some reason for you bringing this up now.”
“Well, angel, there’s a few,” Garroth says from behind him. Laurence tries to twist around to see Garroth with a big ass bowl of something. “Do you mind if I pause the movie?”
“Yeah, it’s all good. Hey, what’s in the bowl?” he asks, and Aphmau slides out from under him to take the bowl from Garroth. “ Pearl ,” He whines at the loss of warmth, pouting at her. Aphmau just rolls her eyes before presenting the bowl of popcorn to him.
“Oh shit, this is the good stuff!” He says before stuffing a fistful in his face, getting a snort from Garroth. “You got something to say, sugartits?”
“Manners, Laur, have you heard of them?” Garroth says, settling down on the couch next to them. Aphmau curls up into his side, and Laurence mock glares at her.
“Aph, you traitor. And, c’mon, there’s no kids around, I can eat however I want!”
“Okay, but I have to see it.” Garroth says with a wrinkled look of disgust. “Just because there’s no boys to pick up on your disgusting habits doesn’t mean you can do them.”
“I’m not taking this from you, you knew what you were getting yourself into when you married my ass, mister. Now, why are the two of you buttering me up? I mean, I know why, but why now? We have three sons, why would we need another kid?”
“Well,” Garroth starts with a sigh, “It started with a new birth mother that came into the agency yesterday. She’s not working with me, obviously, but I started chatting with her during lunch, and she was so nervous and so young and I brought it up to Aph when you were taking Malachi to taekwondo-”
“And it just reminded me of the boys, and how I got them, you know? ” She says, reaching forward to grab Laurence’s hand. She starts to rub her thumb over his hand, and Laurence squeezes her hand lightly. “I mean, I kinda got them all from all over the place. None of them were really acquired in the traditional sense.”
“Sheesh, Aph, you’re talking about our sons like they’re trading cards or something.”
“I mean, I’m not wrong. I found Malachi living in the property I was cleaning out, Yip’s dad kinda made me his guardian so abruptly, and Levin was literally left on my doorstep-”
“Wasn't that because his mom thought your house was Garroth’s or something?” Laurence interjects. Garroth stiffens ever so slightly, and Laurence sits up to squeeze Garroth’s knee with his free hand. “Gar, that wasn’t an attack on you, sorry love.”
“No, it’s alright. I just wish Matilda had told me sooner.” He sighs.
“Well, now both of you get to be the proud papas of all three of the boys.” Aphmau interrupts. “Anyways, just hearing about this birth mom made me think of adopting the boys, and if this had happened when it was just me and the boys, I probably would have already started signing adoption papers. But obviously, and thankfully, it’s not just me anymore, I have the two of you, and that means I don’t make these decisions on my own. And Garroth and I talked about it-”
“-And it made me think about how while we were both there when Aph got the boys, we weren’t their dads yet. We were just Aph’s really close friends, and everyday I thank Irene that I get to be their father alongside the two loves of my life, but we weren’t always. And I’ll never ever not love the boys, but it…it would be nice, you know, to get to raise a child, for lack of better words, from scratch.”
That did give him pause. “It.. yeah. It would be nice.”
“She's expecting a girl,”Aphmau adds. “I'd finally have another lady in this house.”
“Are my feminine hips not enough for you, pearl?”
“I mean.. this feels like a trap.”
“How you wound me! I think I should wake up Levin and tell him how his mama has broken his poor daddy's heart!”
“If you do that I’ll tell Yip he can use you for teething.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Then don’t wake our cranky-ass five year old.”
“Touche.”
“Obviously, angel, this isn’t a right now decision.” Garroth says, placing his hand on top of Laurence’s. “But will you consider it?”
“Definitely.” He says with a nod, causing both of his spouses to sigh in relief. “Now come here, sugartits, cuddle me while I eat this bribe popcorn.”
“What if I want to keep his sugary tits all to myself?” Aphmau giggles, making a show of grabbing Garroth’s chest and squeezing. “What if I hold them hostage until you sign the adoption papers? Hm?”
“You do realize we have all the tools to make our own baby, right? Why can’t we just do that?” Laurence says, lunging across the couch to get to Garroth and Aphmau. He worms through an opening in Aphmau’s arms, and kisses her with a loud smack, while his hands snake to Garroth’s ass.
“If you want to grow an entire ass baby in your stomach for nine months, be my guest, love.”
“If the two of you are done groping me, can we watch the movie now?” Garroth groans, fighting off a smile.
“Of course, curlycue.” Laurence says, and presses his lips to Garroth’s.
“And then, Levin the Silver Scythe, Yip the Fire Fist, and Malachi the Golden Heart swooped in and BLEW everything up! BOOM!” Levin cries, as all three of them run around the living room. “No one can stop them!”
“No one? Ever?” Garroth asks, walking into the room. “Not even.. Let’s say.. Garroth the Diamond Dad?”
“Nuh-uh!” Yip says from the spot where he’s perched on the couch arm. “Maybe when we were little, but we’re way too powerful to be defeated by you , Diamond Dad!”
“Ah, ah, ah. I have a secret weapon that will guarantee your downfall, Fire Fist.”
“And what’s that, Diamond Dad?” Malachi asks, starting to inch closer to him.
“He has backup!” Laurence cries, scooping Malachi up from behind.
“Ambush!” Levin yelps, and tries to dart away, but runs right into Aphamu’s arms.
“That’s right, Silver Scythe,” She says with a giggle, picking him up and bouncing him. “You can’t resist the power of Aphmau the Matron and Laurence the Emerald Dad!”
“Yip! Run!” Levin yelps, wiggling around. “Eek! Mama let me go!”
“Nope! Here comes my kiss attack!”
“C’mere, Fire Fist,” Garroth says, chasing after him. “You can run, but you can’t hide!”
Yip was a very fast runner for being only 6 years old, something that Ein had explained was because he was a werewolf, but Garroth had the advantage of being 30 and rather tall, so he very quickly caught up to him and picked Yip up from under the armpits.
“No! Capture! You fiend!” Yip cries, trying to wiggle out of Garroth’s grasp, but Garroth just adjusts his grip to sling Yip over his shoulders.
“Ooh, that’s a five dollar word, Fire Fist.”
“Then give me five dollars, Dad!”
“Nice try, stinker.”
Garroth walks over to the couch, and sits down, sliding Yip off his shoulders onto his lap. The other two adults follow suit, Levin seemingly finally subdued by Aphmau’s kiss attack.
“Mama, just ‘cause your kiss attack worked, don't think you won!” Levin says, trying and failing to look solemn as he snuggled into Aphmau. She only kissed his forehead as a response, and he sighed rather sarcastically for his five years of age, and kissed her cheek back.
“Alright boys, we do need to talk,” Laurence says, Malachi smiling contently as Laurence sets him down on the couch. As soon as Laurence sits down, Malachi scoots over to tuck himself into Laurence’s side.
“What about, Daddy?” Malachi asks, combing his fingers through Laurence’s hair.
“So, we’ve been thinking about adopting another kid, but we wanted to ask you guys first because that’s a big addition to the family.”
“Mama didn’t ask me when she brought ‘Chi and Yip home.” Levin says, a confused look on his face.
“That’s because they were in special situations, and you were really little back then, baby,” Aphmau tells him, combing his blonde curls. “I would have asked you, but ‘Chi and Yip needed to come home as soon as I met them.”
“I woulda said yes if you did ask, Mama. I love ‘Chi and Yip!”
“Would the new kid be a boy or a girl?” Yip asks, looking up at Garroth.
“The new kid is a girl.” Garroth responds, scratching behind Yip’s ears, getting a faceful of a wagging tail as a result.
“Sorry Dad!”
“It’s okay buddy.”
“Can we meet her?” Malachi asks, starting to braid Laurence’s hair.
“Not yet, she’s still growing in her birth mom’s tummy right now.” Laurence answers, adjusting so Malachi can have more hair to braid.
“She’s growing in someone’s tummy?” Levin asks, looking even more confused. “Like a flower?”
“Yeah baby, that’s where babies come from.”
“That’s silly, Daddy. Babies aren’t grown in tummies.”
“Where do babies come from then, baby?” Aphmau asks, a bemused smile on her face.
“You find them, duh!”
“You find the-” Aphmau starts, and then stops, an understanding look coming over her face. “Baby, do you think that because I found you, Malachi and Yip?”
Levin nods, and Garroth has to fight down a giggle at how cute his youngest son is.
“Well, before that, you all grew in someone’s tummy from an egg.” she explains.
“I thought we grew like a flower! Also, birds lay eggs, and none of us are birds, Mama!”
“Hey Gar, remind me to order a ‘where babies come from’ picture book later,” Aphmau sighs. “I’ll get a book and explain it to you later, okay baby?”
“Okay Mama.”
“It’s weird, Lev,” Malachi says, an off look on his face. “But yeah, you grow in someone’s belly. I grew in my mom’s belly, and so did you and Yip.” Laurence scoops Malachi up onto his lap, and squeezes him tight, and Garroth feels Yip stiffen and he pulls him closer into his chest.
“We didn’t grow in Mama’s belly! She found us!” Levin insists, his volume starting to rise.
“Hey baby, remember how we explained to you a bit back that Garroth is your dad that helped make you?” Aphmau says, tilting his chin up to look at her. “And how Yip and Malachi came from somewhere else before they came home to me?”
Levin nods, and Garroth starts petting Yip’s hair to try to stop him from freaking out.
“So, all three of you were grown somewhere else before you got to come home to us, and that’s what is happening with the kid we want to adopt. She’s currently growing in her birth mom’s belly, a birth mom is what Malachi meant.”
“Oh. Okay. That makes sense.” Levin says, and everyone relaxes, Garroth included. “And how long do we have to wait after the baby comes out of her birth mom’s tummy until we get her?”
“We’d get her immediately, so we’d get to have her as a baby, like I had you.”
“I think it’d be really nice to have a little sister!” Yip says, and Garroth moves his head to avoid getting hit by his tail again.
“It’s weird it took you so long to get another kid,” Malachi says, finishing Laurence’s braid and starting another. “I mean, Mama got us in like, two years, maybe, and you all have been married for two years, so I thought by now, you’d have more kids.”
“Would we get to play with the baby?” Levin asks.
“When she’s bigger you could play the Jury game with her, but when she’d be little, you’d have to play gently with her.” Laurence explains, and Levin nods.
“Oh! Oh!” Levin says, starting to wiggle. “Mama, Mama! Mama, if we get her, would I be a big brother like Yip and ‘Chi?”
“You would be, baby,” Aphmau answers, and a fond smile spreads across her face.
“If we did get her, she’d have the best big brothers ever,” Garroth says, squeezing Yip.
“I think it would be nice to have a baby sister,” Malachi says, yawning and snuggling in closer to Laurence, abandoning the braid.
“Okay boys, thank you for your thoughts. It's not decided yet, but we are leaning towards adopting the baby.” Garroth says. “Alright, now, anyone that wants the special snack Mama picked up yesterday better get their butts into the kitchen!”
The boys all cheer, and scramble off the couch to rush into the kitchen. Garroth pulls Aphmau and Laurence up from the couch into his arms.
“I think we’re having a baby,” Aphmau whispers, looking up at Garroth, and the warmth that shone from her amber eyes made his heart sigh.
“Good thing we’re such pros at changing diapers because of Levin,” Laurence adds, pulling Garroth closer to him with an arm around Garroth’s hips. “Aph, whatever you fed him, do not feed this baby it, those diapers were awful .”
“Don’t let him hear you!” Aphmau says, swatting Laurence’s arm. “He’ll flip his shit.”
“Someone should go get those boys their snack, huh?” Garroth asks in a hushed whisper, as to not alert the children waiting impatiently in the other room.
“Let me keep you here a moment longer,” She whispers, and lays her head on his chest.
“Okay boys,” Aphmau says, lifting Levin out of his carseat. “Are you ready to meet the baby?”
“What if she doesn’t like us?” he asks, looking up at her. “What if she thinks I can’t be a good big brother? What do I do then, Mama?”
“Oh baby, you’re going to be such a good big brother,” She reassures, smoothing a wayward curl. “She’s going to love you baby, like your brothers and dads, and me.”
“And don’t worry, Lev,” Malachi says, grabbing Levin’s hand. “Yip and I will show you how to be big brothers.”
“Yeah, Lev! We’re the bestest big brothers ever, so you will be too!” Yip squeals as he crashes into Levin, squeezing him tight.
Aphmau watches as the three boys hug tight, and tears swell up in her eyes. Garroth slides over to slide an arm around her waist. “You all good, love?”
“Hm?” She responds, wiping the tears away. “Oh. Yeah, I am. I’m just.. I’m just so happy. And nervous. Every other time I wasn’t really expecting a kid, you know? And you and the boys are meeting her for the first time, and we’re going to take her home , and it’s just..”
“It’s a lot,” Laurence agrees as he locks the car up. “Okay boys, grab a hand.” They all scramble around, and Malachi grabs Aphmau’s hand. “But hey, it’s going to be all good, alright? We have each other. You’re not going to have to go through the child.. Acquisition? Is that the right word? Process alone ever again.”
More tears well up her eyes, and she desperately tries to blink them away. “Oh Aph, I didn’t mean to make you cry, I’m sorry.” He says, eyebrows furrowed. “Gar, get her tears, my hands are full.” Garroth’s arm comes out from around her waist and wipes away the tears that she didn’t get, and Yip’s face takes on an incredulous tint.
“Daddy! You made Mama cry! ‘Pologise!” He scolds, stamping his feet.
“Oh, sweetie, he didn’t hurt my feelings,” Aphamu explains, reaching over to ruffle Yip’s hair. “They’re happy tears.”
“Why are they happy tears, Mama?” Levin asks, swinging Garroth’s hand back and forth with his own.
“Because I’m happy,” she starts, and then laughs a little. “Sorry, let me start over. I’m happy because I get to have Dad and Daddy with me when you get to meet the baby and then bring her home. Because..” Her voice wavers and Malachi squeezes her hand. “Thank you, ‘Chi. When I got the three of you, I still had them, but they weren't your dads yet, and now we're all going together through this process as a family. It’s exciting. Mama’s excited.”
“Okay Mama.”
“Let’s go meet our baby, alright?” Garroth says.
“Let’s go meet our baby,” Laurence affirms, and Aphmau takes a deep breath in and out.
“Let’s go meet our baby.”
The walk inside the apartment building and the elevator ride was excruciatingly long, so once they finally found the right apartment, Aphmau’s mind had gotten more time to churn and Garroth raps his knuckles on the door. Luckily for her nerves, the door opens to reveal the birth mother, smiling.
“Khannah!” Garroth greets her, pulling her into a hug with his free arm. “How are you? Is the recovery process going alright?”
“Yes, it’s been a long week, though.” She responds, tucking a lock of dirty blonde hair behind her ear. Aphmau watched and wondered to herself if the baby would have the same color of hair. “Come in! Come in! The baby’s crib is in my room, thanks again for buying it for me.”
“Of course, it’s what our company provides. We want to make this process as easy and comfortable as possible, carrying a baby isn’t easy.”
“And you have,” She says with a small smile.
“Are you going to visit the baby?” Levin suddenly demands, solemnly staring at Khannah with his big blue eyes. Malachi also turns to look at Khannah, his gaze as intense, making Khannah flinch a bit. Aphmau had been with Khannah throughout labor, and Khannah asked about their family to distract her from contractions. Aphmau had briefly mentioned to Khannah how Malachi and Levin’s birth parents were still presumably alive, but she wasn’t sure how much Khannah had remembered.
“Oh, well..” Khannah starts, and trails off.
“Khannah, would you like to visit the baby?” Laurence asks.
Khannah nods her head a little. “You’re allowed to say no, I understand that you don’t want me in-”
“Oh Khannah,” Aphmau interrupts, letting go of Malachi’s hand to grab one of Khannah’s. “You’re allowed to visit her and be in her life.”
Tears start to brim in Khannah’s eyes, and she brings up a hand to wipe them away. “I just.. I know I can’t be her mother, and I still have the rest of my life and I couldn’t be happy and be her mother, I just… I have no doubts that she’ll have the best opportunity as part of your family, I just want to know she’s okay.”
“Of course you can, Khannah.” She says, pulling her into a hug. The younger woman squeezes her back, and Aphmau internally sighs in relief that one of her children will not have to grow up without their birth parents.
Khannah pulls away, and waks them down a hallway to a door. She opens the door, and Aphmau has to stop herself from sprinting into the room. “Here she is,” Khannah says, gesturing to the crib. Aphmau pads over, and looks down at the impossibly small baby lying in the crib. Someone turns on the light, and it startles the baby awake, and Aphmau can only watch with bated breath as she blink her dark blue eyes open, and stares at Aphmau.
“Hi love,” Aphmau breathes out, reaching out a hand to the baby, to which she responds by grabbing one of Aphmau’s fingers and cooing. “I’m going to pick you up, alright? So you can meet your dads and big brothers.”
She scoops up the baby, as she's being cradled, the baby coos and Aphmau can feel her tiny finger hook into her heart. “Say hi to your sister, boys.”
“Oh, hello,” Malachi says, eyes blown wide. “Hi, I’m Malachi.”
“What’s her name, Mama?” Yip asks as he reverently watches the baby.
“Well, we’ve been discussing it, and we’re thinking Lilith Garnet.” She explains. “Gar, do you want to hold her?”
Garroth nods, lips pressed together, Laurence pressed close to his side. She hands Lilith to him, and as soon as her head makes contact with his freckled elbow, he gasps slightly, and tears immediately sprung to his eyes.
“Why is that her name?” Levin asks, looking up wide-eyed at Garroth and Lilith.
“Lilith is from the same language as Khannah’s name,” Aphmau explains, as Garroth and Laurence are far too captivated by Lillith to respond. “And it was a name that we had always really liked.”
“Isn’t garnet a gem?” Malachi asks.
“Yes,” Aphmau distractedly responds, watching Garroth pass Lilith to Laurence, his face wet with tears. As Laurence cradled Lilith, she stretched out to grab Garroth’s finger, and she saw her two husbands fall in love with their daughter. “You’re so smart ‘Chi.”
“Can I hold her?” Levin demands, standing up on his tippy toes to look at Lilith.
“Yes, sit down. You remembered how we practiced with the baby doll?”
He nods, and sits down on the plush armchair in the corner of the room. Laurence gently hands Lilith to Levin, and Aphmau wipes away the tears on Laurence’s face, and then kisses his cheek.
Levin stares into Lilith’s eyes for a few seconds, and looks back up at his parents. “I love her!” He declares, startling the baby, who starts to cry. “Oh! I’m sorry!”
“It’s okay, don’t worry baby.” Aphmau reassures, taking Lilith from him, and bouncing her. “Babies cry all the time, promise.”
Despite her reassurances, Levin’s lip begins to wobble, and Laurence picks him up. “Hey, Lev, don’t worry. She’s gonna cry so much, like you did when you were a baby. Babies cry. That’s how they communicate.”
“I scared her and she's gonna hate me!” Levin wails, and the increase of noise makes Lillith cry even more.
“Oh, baby, we promise she doesn’t hate you. She’s just a baby.” Laurence says, and Levin sniffles and lays his head onto Laurence’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize, baby.”
“Okay, boys, how about we try to feed her to calm her down? Garroth and Khannah, do you want to handle that?” Aphmau asks, and Laurence hands Lilith off to Khannah, and Levin perks up a little.
“Can I come?”
“Yeah, of course. Garroth and Khannah can show you how it works.” Laurence says, putting him down.
“Yep, I pumped before you came,” Khannah says, and leads the procession of boys to her kitchen.
“I thought Levin was about to start bawling,” Laurence says, collapsing on the armchair.
“Yeah, nice save there,” Aphmau agrees, sitting on the chair next to him. They sit in comfortable silence for a bit, and then he turns to her, eyes sparkling with more tears.
“Aph, we have a daughter .” he whispers, starting to laugh a little, tears spilling down his face.
“We have a daughter,” She giddily laughs back, grabbing his hands. “Laurence, we have a daughter!”
He takes her hand and brings it to his mouth and kisses it. She giggles more, and presses her forehead against his. “There’s no one in the world I’d rather have on this journey with me than the two of you.”
He adjusts slightly to kiss her, and she can’t tell if the salty tears are from her or him. “Neither would I,” he murmurs against her lips.
“Dad, I think Daddy fell asleep with Lilith again.” Yip says, shuffling into the kitchen as Garroth starts to boil water for Aphmau’s tea. “I went to go ask him for something, and he was in the crib with Lil and when I whispered for him, but he didn’t get up.”
Garroth sighs, and turns off the kettle. “Thanks for telling me, love. I’ll go get him. How about you get into bed and I’ll send Mama in for snuggles?”
“Okay Dad. I love you! Goodnight.” Yip says, hugging his leg, and then walking off. Garroth takes the kettle off the stove, and followed Yip upstairs. Just after Yip slips into his room, Aph leaves Levin’s, and Garroth grabs her arm before she can head off downstairs.
“Hey, Yip thinks Laur fell asleep in Lilith’s crib again, I’ll go deal with it, can you go in for Yip snuggles?” He asks.
“I can deal with it,” Aphmau says, “I know you’re on the clock for Yip snuggles tonight.”
Garroth shakes his head, a smile tugging at his lips. “No, last time you also fell asleep in there, and while we got a good crib, I don’t think it can take two grown adults.”
“Rude.”
“Sorry, darling, but you will,” He responds, kissing the top of her head. “How about I get him out, and then after Malachi get his snuggles, all three of us cuddle and watch Sleeping Beauty? It’s short enough that we can watch it before bed.”
She appraises him with a scrunched up nose, and then relaxes, and stands on her tippy toes to kiss his cheek. “Fine. But you better cuddle me good, sugar.”
“I will, darling.”
She slides off into Yip’s room, and Garroth can hear a quiet cheer of “Mama!” He smiles, and then makes his way to the nursery. He creaks the door open, and from the light of the hallway, sure enough, Laurence is passed out in the crib with their daughter. Garroth quietly pads over to where the crib is, and indulges himself in watching the two of them. Lilith Garnet, thank Irene, was a healthy baby, and that meant she was loud . Seeing her asleep was a surreal experience, as she looked so peaceful and it made Garroth’s heart squeeze a little every time. And his husband, oh Irene bless his husband, looked just as sweet next to Lilith. Laurence was curled carefully around Lilith , his ginger braid moved away from her, her little fingers gripping his pinky. It was the perfect scene, and Garroth snuck out his phone and took a picture to show to Aphmau alter.
He lets himself soak in the sweetness of the moment, and then gently shakes Laurence’s shoulder. “Wake up, angel.” He whispers, “‘Chi and our wife are waiting for you.”
Laurence blinks awake, and looks up at Garroth. He lazily reaches up a hand up to Garroth, and attempts to grab and pull Garroth into the crib with him.
“Nice try,” Garroth whisper laughs. “That may work on Aph, but not me. Get your butt out of there.”
Laurence pouts and glares at him. Garroth suppresses a snort, and grabs Laurence’s hand and tugs. “C’mon.”
Laurence reluctantly climbs out of the crib, and Garroth presses a kiss to the tip of his nose. “My hero,” Garroth says, and Laurence rolls his eyes, fighting off a smile. “Now, go snuggle Malachi so Aph and I can cuddle you. We’re gonna watch Sleeping Beauty.”
Laurence’s eyebrows raise, and he smiles. “Sounds good to me.” Laurence sleepily shuffles off, and Garroth closes the door behind them.
“”Don’t fall asleep in Malachi’s room,” Garroth calls after him, and Laurence looks over his shoulder and sticks his tongue out at Garroth. Garroth snorts and blows a kiss at him.
Garroth makes his way to the master bedroom, where Aphmau was changing into pajamas. “Hey love,” he calls.
She perks up and turns to him with a smile. “Ooh, Gar, you should wear the matching ones, and we’ll try to get Laur to wear his too.”
Garroth nods, and starts to change into his pajamas. As he pulls up the shorts, he hears a giggle from behind him and then immediately feels his ass get slapped. He whips around to glare at Aphmau, who has a mischievous smile on her face. “Really, love?” he asks.
She laughs outright, and shrugs. “Sorry, I couldn't resist.” She tugs him to the bed, and they both tuck into the comforter. Garroth throws an arm around her, and she basically lays on top of him, tucking her head into his side. “Queue the movie up while we wait for Laur.”
They just sit there, Garroth eventually syncing his breath to Aphmau’s as she traces some pattern on his chest. “Do you want to see Laurence with Lil?” he asks, grabbing his phone from the night stand. He pulls open his photo app, and hands it to Aphmau. She squeals, and kicks her feet a little, moving the blankets around.
Eventually, Laurence comes in, and the two of them perk up. “Well, don’t the two of you look cute,” he purrs, leaning in the doorway. “Room for one more?”
“Only if you get on your matching pajamas,” Garroth says, and Laurence scrunches up his nose and groans.
“Ugh, are my booty shorts and t-shirts not enough for y’all?”
“Laurence, please ?” Aphmau asks, laying on the cutesy voice thick.
“C’mon, angel, please ,” Garroth adds, pouting at Laurence.
Laurence rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. “Fine, but only because I want cuddles and to watch Sleeping Beauty.” He closes the door, and begins to change. Aphmau wolf whistles as he takes off his shirt, and Garroth pulls the blankets over her face. She groans and thrashes in protest, and Garroth and Laurence only laugh as a response.
“Stop objectifying our husband,” Garroth scolds, letting her eyes peek out. “He’s not just a slab of meat, you know.”
“How can I not objectify him when he looks like that?” Aphmau whines, glaring at Garroth. “I married him so I would get to ogle him for the rest of my life!”
“Maybe I shouldn’t get into the pajamas, since our pearl likes looking at me shirtless so much,” Laurence says with a smirk, and as tempted as Garroth was to say yes, he wanted to win this fight.
“Only people who follow the dress code can get in this bed,” Garroth informs him as Aphmau finally wiggles out from under the blankets. Laurence chuckles and finally obliges, and crawls into bed next to Aphmau. He leans over her to kiss Garroth, and Garroth leans into it.
“Did you use my chapstick?” Garroth asks as Laurence ducks down to kiss Aphmau. “That tasted grapefruit-y.”
“You taste fruity,” Laurence responds, reaching for the remote and starting the movie. Aphmau cakes, and Laurence snuggles in, reaching around Aphmau to tuck his hand into Garroth’s curls.
“You suck, Laur.”
“Ah, ah, you’re stuck with me.”
“Shut up, the movie’s starting!” Aphmau says, and Garroth leans down to press a kiss to Aphmau’s head.
“I love the two of you, you know.” He responds, and both turn to look at him, love filling their eyes. “I wouldn’t rather have silly squabbles about matching pajamas with anyone else.”
“Shut up, dork,” Laurence says, no hint of malice on his face or in his voice.
Aphmau sniffles, and both men turn to her with concern as tears start to swell in her eyes.
“Pearl, what’s wrong?” Laurence asks, wiping away a tear.
“I’m just so happy,” she murmurs, grabbing Garroth and Laurence’s hands. “I picked the best men in the world to have children with.”
Garroth smiles, and kisses her, as Laurence buries his face in Aphmau’s bun. “Me too, darling,” he responds.
“You all are the biggest dorks ever,” Laurence says, slightly muffled from his spot in Aphmau’s hair.
“We love you too, Laur,” Aphmau responds, and he lifts up his face to smile at the two of them.
“I love the two of you and our children with my whole being, you dorks.”
They all giggle, and settle into comfortable silence to finally watch the movie.