Can you do one for jonah? Where he is 22 and you 24 and he has a kid. Like you've been dating for a little while and now you meeting his 4 year old son for the first time and you get along with him realy wel and jonah is in chock cause his son is really shy and takes a lot of time to warm up to people and when the boys see you with the kid for the first time they tell him the same thing. Xxx thnx love you blog and writing its soooo good and i just thought this would be realy cute
So, I disappeared from The Internet this weekend for my best friend’s graduation, and my cousins’ first birthday. There were almost as many babies at their party as there were adults, and it was so, so great.
Which really made me want to write Dad!Jonah. I usually never skip around in my inbox, but special circumstances and all… Plus, this request just made my heart so happy. I hope you love it as much as I loved writing it!
You aren’t exactly certain how you got here.
Here being frozen ten steps inside an arena holding a four year old.
It might’ve started months ago. When Jonah, in an uncharacteristic display of nervousness, stumbled over his words and rambled for long enough you were positive he was breaking up with you, before finally confessing, “I have a son.”
And you, instead of asking any of the questions a normal person might have about that, said the first thing that crossed your mind, “Like an actual human child? Not, like, a puppy or something?”
Or it might’ve begun the moment you met him, standing in the doorway of Jonah’s, previously very off-limits apartment, months after you first found out about him, feeling more nervous than you could ever remember being. Jonah clearing his throat to introduce you to, his very much actual human child, Ezra.
You were stuck, immediately, by their resemblance. The miniature of the man you were already more than half in love with playing with crayons on the floor. His mess brown hair and adorable pointy chin, refusing to lift his eyes even after Jonah coaxed, “Hey, buddy, remember how we talked about my friend coming over to visit. Do you think you could you say hello?”
Ezra in turn, mumbled something way too quiet for you to hear, and curled even further around his coloring book.
Jonah, in some mixture of embarrassment and resignation, tried to explain, wincing, “Sorry. I know I said he was a little shy...”
And you completely ignored him. “Hi Ezra,” You folded yourself down to the floor, keeping your distance on the opposite side of the living room, crossing your legs and speaking as softly as you could, “It’s very nice to meet you.”
Ezra, for one perfect second, glanced over with his gorgeous hazel eyes, an exact copy of his Daddy’s, that you pretended not to see.
“Ezzie,” Jonah tried again, but you knew, somehow, that acknowledging him would be a mistake.
“Your Daddy told me sometimes you get overwhelmed,” You smiled Ezra direction, gently, “When I was little, I used to get scared sometimes too, so my dad taught me the Here game, do you know that one?”
Ezra shook his head, and you caught Jonah settling into the doorway, letting you do this. Trusting you to do this with his son, and that trust made you feel like you could do anything.
“Would you like to learn?” You kept going, and finally heard Ezra‘s voice, so sweet you melted at his single syllable, “Yes.”
“Okay,” You uncrossed your legs, taking up just a little bit more space, “The point of the Here game is to remember where we are. So, where am I, Ezra?”
He looked around the room, his tiny eyebrows exactly as expressive as Jonah’s, a little lost but still following you, an expression you were already utterly familiar with, “Here?” Ezra asked.
“That’s right,” You nodded, “But more importantly; I’m here,” You tapped your nose, “And here,” You wiggled your feet, and waved your hands, slowly, “And here. And where are you, Ezra?”
Ezra’s eyes got wide, and he tapped his feet against the floor, “Here?”
“Yup, you’re there,” You encouraged.
“And here?” He held his palms up, curling and uncurling his fingers.
“I’d say so,” You grinned.
“And here?” He poked his own forehead, and giggled, possibly the best sound you’d ever heard, and you’d been receiving private concerts from his father for weeks.
“You’re totally here,” You crossed one foot over the other, beaming.
Ezra smiled back, “What about Daddy?” The question, and the way he looked up at Jonah, full of confidence and trust and admiration, made all the butterflies in your stomach soar.
“I’m right here,” Jonah answered, immediately, deserving of all those emotions in his son’s eyes. But Ezra protested anyway, “Nooo, Daddy. Where are you?”
Jonah smirked, then, looking over at you before obediently shaking his feet and wiggling his fingers at his son, “I’m here?”
“Yeah, you are,” You barely managed to drag your gaze away from him to look back at Ezra, “So, if I’m here, and you’re here, and your Daddy’s here,” You leaned back a little, letting yourself take up just a little bit more space, “Is anything really that scary?”
Ezra shook his head, deciding, “No,” then, tentatively, offering you a page of his coloring book, and you’ve been best friends ever since.
Which is, you suppose, how you actually ended up here, because when Ezra finished a drawing, signing his name the way you’ve been teaching him to, and insisted that Daddy needed to see it right now, you were totally helpless to say no, momentarily forgetting the band had to change their meet and greet today, to be earlier than usual to allow for some kind of pre-show interview later.
The roar of the crowd on the other side of what, frankly seems like way too flimsy, screens reaches Ezra’s ears a moment after it hits yours, and his arms around you neck and feet swinging by your hips, his usually endlessly restless limbs, freeze.
“Ezzie,” You lean back a little to run your fingers through his hair, sweeping it off his forehead, “Where are you?”
He blinks, once, twice, three times, then kicks his feet out again, tapping his fingers on your shoulder, whispering, “Here.”
“Good job,” You tuck him tighter against you, “I’m really sorry. I forgot Daddy’s working right now, and he has a lot of friends visiting him. So, we’ve got two options,” You meet his serious expression, “We can give him the picture later, or,” Ezra tilts his head up, listening intently to his choices, “Or,” You steel yourself, “We can give it to him now, with all his friends.”
Ezra’s mouth pulls to the side, his thinking face, a perfect mirror imagine of Jonah’s, “Now, please.”
“Okay, Ezra,” You straight up, “You’re here, and I’m here, and Daddy,” You turn the corner, a sudden hush falling over the crowd at the sight of you and, more importantly, Ezra in your arms, “Daddy’s right there, so nothing bad at all could happen, right?”
“Right,” Ezra holds his chin up, and you didn’t know it was possible to feel this proud.
Except, that feeling only grows, when Corbyn elbows Jonah, getting his attention and security’s to stop the seemingly never ending stream of girls, “Hey bro, let’s take a minute, your family’s here.”
“My,” Jonah frowns, turning around, then the corners of his mouth turning up when he sees his son.
“Hi Daddy,” Ezra giggles.
Jonah keeps smiling, “Hi guys,” He steps closer, wrapping his arms around you both, “I thought you were hanging out on the bus.”
“We made you a picture,” Ezra helpfully informs him.
“Oh, did you?” Jonah asks, honestly interested and patient in a way he only ever is for the two of you.
Ezra careful unfolds it, pointing to the shapes he’s colored to represent himself, Jonah, the dog he, with some cheeky encouragement from you, won’t stop asking for, and you, drawn into a glitter-pen family portrait where you’ve never wanted to belong more.
“It’s a masterpiece, bud,” Jonah declares, holding it up to the light, looking at it from all angles, “I think this is top of the fridge material,” Jonah winks, “Don’t you?”
You smirk, “Actually, I think we better frame it.”
Ezra giggles again, which makes Jonah the kind of happy that crinkles the corners of his eyes, and you didn’t know you could love like this.
You didn’t know, could never have comprehended what your life was missing, before these boys, and now you can’t even picture a world without their smiles. Corbyn was right, this is your family now, Jonah, and Ezra and all the hypothetical hazel-eyed siblings for him you hope for someday. Completely unexpected and so beautiful you’re certain in this moment your heart is beating inside of both their chests.
That sound is all you can hear until the rest of the world comes flooding back in; Zach answering something a fan asks, loudly proclaiming, “I know! I know! I was totally his favorite before she came along.”
“Whose favorite?” Jonah steps back to rejoin his bandmates, slinging an arm over Zach’s shoulders, “Mine or Ezzie’s?”
“Both!” Zach pouts, “Both of you don’t like people and loved me best, then she showed up,” He groans, “And now I’m nobody!” Which isn’t entirely true, but just makes Jonah laugh, and Ezra shrug, still wrapped around you like a tiny spider monkey, and suddenly you know;
It doesn’t really matter how you got here, only that here is where you were always meant to be.
For M.&C., I didn’t know what our family was missing before you came along, and now I can’t imagine life without you. You are both so, so loved and have me wrapped around your fingers, for always. Even when that means holding you until my arms go numb and getting frosting all over my favorite dress. You’re worth it.
