tell me again on a good day, part two | remus lupin x reader
summary the third trimester of your pregnancy draws to a close. remus dotes on you, worries for you, and holds your hand the entire time.
warnings fluff, slight nsfw at the very beginning (not smut so much as body worship?), pregnant reader, implied childbirth, dad!remus in action <3, established relationship
read part one
<3
Remus woke you up gently, the back of his knuckle cruising over the delicate skin of your face in slow, lazy lines. You stirred, already an early morning vision in his lovesick eyes, your twitching lashes a tell that gave you away even as you fought to seem still sleeping. You liked this game, curling up in his bed and willing him to watse the day away, using your pouting mouth and darling eyes as bribery. You'd be reluctant most mornings to open your eyes at all, but he found you could be persuaded.
He shifted forwards to kiss your cheekbone. "Good morning."
"G'mornin'," you said, eyes still closed. Your cheeks pinched with your smile, looking even more kissable than before. "Time is it?" you forced through a yawn. He kissed you again, this time on the apple of your cheek.
"5.30," he answered dutifully, kissing the side of your nose.
You frowned. "Why'd you do this t'me?"
He kissed just under your eye. "Do what?" he asked.
"Wake me up s'early,” you mumbled, though you were eating up his affections, smiling wide.
He pressed a gentle kiss over your closed eye.
"You can go back to sleep, if you like," he whispered, flattening the small hairs bordering your hairline to place the final kiss of his journey on your temple. "I'm all finished."
"Don't believe you," you said, laughing as his arms came up behind you, his hands cupping your breasts and bringing them against your chest.
"Good. I was lying," he admitted, pulling your back to his front.
Being pregnant meant lots and lots of changes. The most obvious ones occurred in two places. The first, your bump, which was now heavy enough to stress you out, and the second, your tits. Remus Lupin was a simple man, and he liked many, many things about you. If one of these things were your breasts, that was between you and him. And he made it between you and him often.
You let your head fall back on his shoulder. He looked down at you, your eyes so big from this angle, and kissed a triangle on your forehead. You smiled. His hands teased the edge of your sleep shirt and then he was pulling it up, over your chest. You held it up, so openly eager it made him impossibly want you more. He was gentle with you, weary of your breasts' tenderness that you complained of every now and then, ghosting the pads of his fingers over your chest.
You shuddered into his back. He grinned and did it again.
-
The exclusive Potter summer barbecue was in full swing, or as full swing as a party of five adults and one and a half children could be. There was a small paddling pool sequestered in one corner of the greenery with a bin-bag handmade slip and slide, where Harry was covered in fresh smelling suds, throwing himself down the slippery path and screaming in glee when his father copied him.
The barbecue itself was at the opposite end of the garden being tended by Lily, looking radiant in a tennis hat and a pair of shorts that showed off her lovely milky legs.
Sirius loitered by the barbecue, squawking in indignation when he tried to shut the lid and Lily clamped the greasy tongs around his hand. "Be thankful they aren't hot," she warned him.
Remus chuckled at this where he was sitting on the picnic table next to you, his laugh so boisterous it moved the wood of the table.
"I wouldn't mess with her," he said.
"No," you agreed, grinning, "me neither."
"Remus! Go and collect us some more beverages!" Sirius called, though it was hardly necessary. The garden was so peaceful you would've heard him if he whispered, the only sounds were the sizzle of cooking hot dogs and the lazy trickle of the hose pipe.
"I'll do it. Escape the heat for a few blessed seconds," you offered, climbing to your feet with a barely contained moan
"Alright, be careful," Remus said, legs stretched out in front of him. They were giving him trouble this week so you wanted him to soak in as much summer warmth as he could.
You were opening the fridge when you heard laughter drifting towards the patio doors. Sirius climbed through, the ends of a chuckle following him.
"What's funny?" you asked, smiling at him.
"Potter's giving it large about me forcing pregnant women to do things for me," he said, coming to stand near the fridge. You moved out the way, hand on your stomach.
Sirius peered into the fridge curiously. "What are you drinking?"
"Anything, I'm not picky."
He looked over his shoulder with a humorous smile. "I certainly hope you aren't drinking anything."
"Anything soft," you conceded.
Sirius nodded, pulling out cans of pop and glass bottles of juice. They soon began sweating with condensation on the counter as Sirius depotted them into glasses filled with ice.
You let yourself sit heavily on one of the breakfast bar stools. You'd found yourself extremely tired these days and took reprieve in getting off of your aching feet.
It was odd to describe, but you felt the silence turn from amicable to awkward.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask, what do you work as?" Sirius said. Something in his voice was wrong, fake where he was usually kind, if teasing.
"I'm a catering assistant at the local care home."
"A glorified sandwich maker?"
It hurt your feelings. You laughed it off. "I guess so."
Sirius stopped pretending to look for other things in the fridge and settled on his elbows on the island in front of you, handsome face turning mocking.
"Baby Y/L/N will come out making shit lasagna and dry roast dinner then."
You couldn't work out his game. "Only if we're lucky."
His eyes narrowed incrementally. "Yeah, we. Remus uses that word a lot too, especially talking about the baby."
You bit back a smile. "It's no secret."
"But it's not his."
"No."
"One night stand?"
You felt your heart beating in your chest. He knew this already, it had been one of the first things he'd ever learned about you, third only to your name and your pregnancy. "Yeah."
"Isn't that a little… irresponsible?"
You flinched, picking at the thread work on your flowing shirt. "Sure."
"He," you assumed this to be the one night stand, "doesn't know about-" he gestured to his own stomach.
"I-" you swallowed, face bright red, "I didn't catch his name."
The drinks were really sweating now, leaving fat rings of moisture on the glossy, dark countertop that shone like planetary rings.
"He's poor as dirt, you know," he said lightly, bringing a drink upto his mouth.
You felt your humiliation turn.
"Excuse me?"
"That can't surprise you," he said, eyebrows raised. "There's no cash payout coming."
You felt the anger in you collect into a fine point, like water dripping down to form a needle sharp icicle, frozen solid and one bad shake from crashing to the ground. "Fuck you. Fuck you, you're supposed to be his friend. How can you think like that? Like I'd only be with him for money?"
Sirius' peaceable expression turned smug. He opened his mouth to speak and you beat him to it, shooting to your feet. "If you really think that he has nothing to give because he isn't still eating off of mummy's silver spoon, you're not his friend. You're a pompous, shallow-" his mouth began to curl downwards into a frown and you smirked, guiltily pleased to be hurting his feelings, "snobby bastard!"
"There you are," he said, nodding to himself. "That's what I thought."
You faltered. "What?" you demanded.
"Me and you are cut from the same cloth, dollface. Just wanted to see how deeply the similarities ran."
You stilled completely. "If you don't fucking-"
"Y/N!" Remus said, staring at you from the doorway in shock. "What's wrong?"
"Your friend is a bastard, that's what's wrong."
Remus looked between you and Sirius, a deeply uncomfortable look on his face. He approached you slowly as though you were a wild, aggressive animal, and couldn't blame him for it. You felt like you could grab his dark-haired friend by the neck and squeeze.
He carefully wrapped his fingers around your upper arm. "Shh, it's alright. It's really important that you don't get so stressed out, remember?"
You were still so angry, angrier still that he was talking to you like this, though you knew that had you been in your right mind you would've found it endearing. You bit your tongue as hard as you could and would later forgive yourself for rolling your eyes at what you perceived at the time as condescension.
"You go back out into the garden and I'll sort it," he said, eyes flicking back to Sirius. Sirius looked as though he were a moth pinned.
You nodded, striding out of the kitchen and into the garden, listening to their voices floating out through the patio doors. If you strained your ears, you could hear the louder of their words from where you stood midway down the grassy garden.
"- is wrong with you? She's 7 months pregnant. You can't fucking wind her up like that."
"Mate, it wasn't like that-"
Harry shrieked, jumping out of the paddling pool to track slate grey footprints in the paving stones. James followed him closely, a small plastic jug full of what now was likely tepid water and bits of grass, raining water down on his son's head.
"Dad!" Harry shouted. "Stop!"
"What? You want more water? How can you still be thirsty? You've drunk half the pool!"
"DAD!"
You smiled at the interaction, momentarily forgetting what you'd left behind until Remus' stoney voice peaked again.
"That's not up to you!"
"I know that," Sirius said. You had to concentrate to understand what they were saying, and some words escaped you.
"I could've told you… not fucking… Sirius, for God's sake!"
"Jesus, Moons, you're-" there was a deal of unintelligible words here, "it's not like I thought she was a sleeper agent!"
"I'm going to fucking tackle you," Remus said.
"James tried to warn him," Lily told you, bringing you back to yourself.
You frowned. "What?"
Lily tilted her head towards the shouting. "James guessed he would try pushing your buttons. Sirius can be so overprotective when it comes to Remus, and he sees a lot of himself in you. James, he told SIrius it was a bad idea to mess with a pregnant woman, but he didn't listen."
Lily sighed, though a smile warmed the edges of her mouth, her eyes on her small family. "When we were young, Sirius did something - stupid. Really stupid. He hurt Remus badly… it's not my business to say, and to this day I don't know everything, but you remind Sirius of himself, so I think he needed to know for his own piece of mind that you were in it sincerely."
You dug your nails into your thigh. "I don't appreciate the mind games."
Lily nodded. "James did scold him, but still- Sirius isn't mean willed, but he thinks with his heart and not his head."
You deflated suddenly, slouching. "I'm still mad," you muttered.
Lily shrugged. "You don't have to forgive him for being a dick. Make him suffer a little bit. Tease the godparent role."
You laughed, your furious heartbeat tampering down just slightly. You began to feel lightheaded and went back to the picnic bench, scalp already burning hot once again. You craved the cold drinks you'd left behind, and no sooner had you had the thought than a fine, ring laden hand was putting one down in front of you.
"Truce?"
"You started it," you muttered, chasing the straw with your mouth.
Sirius watched you swig with an apologetic grimace. "I did. I'm sorry, I wouldn't have tried to get a rise out of you if I knew the rise was going to be so aggressive."
You sighed through your nose. "Not to pull the pregnant card or anything, but I'm literally pregnant. How else would you expect me to react?"
"Right, you're right. I should've known better, that's on me. And I'm sorry for not asking directly, but I'm a firm believer in showing instead of telling, and I think you are too."
You looked down at your chipped nail polish, flustered. "Yeah, I guess I'd say that too."
"Like I said earlier," Sirius said, tapping his forehead, "we're cut from the same cloth. If Remus were gay, you'd have a cause for concern, we're so similar."
"I go both ways," Remus said, pushing into the bench next to you so your damp legs were pressed together. "Y/N did it better. You okay?" he asked, directing the last part at you.
"Fine, now I know your idiot friend doesn't really think I'm a gold digger."
Sirius chuckled. "I didn't ever think that."
"You're not?" Remus asked, faux disappointed. "How will I un-win the lottery now?"
"I could be persuaded to pick up the shovel," you joked back.
"I'm the one who's supposed to be doing the shovel talk," James said, sweaty and breathing hard. He threw himself down next to Sirius. "That bugger's fast."
"Why am I being so heavily scrutinised today?" you groaned, dropping your face into Remus' shoulder. "I thought you guys liked me."
"I never said the shovel talk was for you. Remus, if you ever hurt her-"
"I do like you! I just wanted to see how far you'd go to defend our Remus here," Sirius said, wiping his wet hands in James wetter arm and cringing.
"What made you think I wouldn't?"
He looked guilty at this. Ultimately, you couldn't blame him for being skeptical. You were pregnant with someone else's baby and in a relationship of only a few months - it wasn't a traditional scenario. But just because it was unconventional didn't mean it was wrong, or doomed to fail, at least in your own eyes. You'd forgive Remus' friends for taking a little while longer to come around, especially when Remus never seemed to question for a second that you were what he wanted.
He put his hand in your hair and shouted in alarm. "Your head! Here, let me go find you a hat," he said, jumping to his feet.
James laughed, shoulders shaking. "I don't know why you're so worried," he said to Sirius.
You smiled to yourself, pleased.
-
“I think you like me more pregnant,” you said, shivering at Remus’ cold fingertips on your tummy.
He shifted closer, hot breath against your skin.
“I’ve only really known you pregnant,” he pointed out,
You'd considered this at length. “Will you stop fancying me once I'm not pregnant anymore?"
“Don’t know. Will you have another if I say yes?” he joked
“You want more?”
“I want yours,” he said, kissing your tummy. “But seriously, no! I will not stop fancying you once you have the baby."
You rolled your eyes, resting your hand in his soft hair.
-
Your water broke in Sirius' living room two weeks before the due date. Never before had you seen him so worried, and never so tender as he helped you down the stairs. Remus stuttered behind you, pale faced as Sirius guided you into your seat.
Remus stood in front of your open door. Lily was screaming at James to get out of the front seat, because in what world did he think he would be allowed to drive right now? They swapped seats, and you realise your hands were shaking, really shaking as the contractions came sharper and quicker.
Your face pinched, in the midst of a wave of pain, as Remus clipped your seatbelt around you. "That's it, keep breathing doll. You're doing so well, so well."
James sat half in Sirius' lap to avoid crushing you. Remus grabbed onto the door handle, about to swing it shut when you grabbed his hand, eyes wide in panic.
"If you do this with me," you said frantically, chest rising and falling with the fear of it, "I- I can't help but feel like I'm taking something from you. You're so young. Your first kid won't be yours. I want you to have a perfect life - I want you to have everything," you confessed, half-misery, half-agony.
Remus stared at you with his lips parted, hands still on the door handle. Lily was shouting at him to shut the door, to finish this at the hospital, but Remus didn't budge.
"Taking something from me?" He rushed into the words, syllables skipping. "Sweetheart, you're giving me something- you're giving me everything. I want you. I want this life. I want you and I want baby and I want us to live in a brownstone and have stupid Sunday lunch and all of our friends will be jealous because we're gonna be so fucking happy! I don't care who made her with you, she's yours, and I promised I'd take care of you both a long time ago. Why can't you see that for me, you're not a factor in my perfect life, you're the first requirement?"
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry,” you said. You were crying steadfastly, but ignoring the tears. “I wish we’d met before,” you confessed finally, scared and confused, a contraction rocking through you again.
“I don’t!” he shouted, so loudly that everyone was shocked. “I love you now. I want this now.”
“Remus!” James said finally from Sirius' lap, in as no nonsense a voice as he'd ever employed. “Get in the fucking car!”
You stared at him, the hints of a smile on your face.
Remus kissed you once as quickly as he could and shut your door, rounding the car to climb in the front seat. He was instantly bending over the back of his chair, pressing his hand to your shoulder.
“We’ll, wasn’t that dramatic?” Sirius asked. He was swiftly elbowed from both sides.
“It’s alright, me and James had the same argument.” Lily said to you.
“You did?” you asked, trying to hold onto your emotions. They slipped like water in your hands, clouded away by the pain in your abdomen.
“No.”
Remus groaned. “Nice, Lils.”
“How far away is the hospital?” Sirius asked.
“I don’t know,” Remus said.
“You don’t know? You’re about to have a baby and you don’t know where the hospital is?”
“Sirius,” James said, grabbing his dark-haired friend by the scruff of his neck. “Shut up.”
“I know where the hospital is!” Remus protested.
You felt another oncoming contraction and bent over, hands pressed to your chest, moaning in pain as quietly as you could manage. James patted your shoulder.
“How bad is it? How far apart are they?” Lily asked you.
You shook your head, you hadn’t been counting.
“Remus?”
“5 minutes,” Remus answered her.
You gripped the edge of your seat, shaking your head as if there was water in your ears. “I’m having a baby,” you said, voice warped with pain.
“Yeah, sweetheart, you are,” Remus said.
"I don't have my baby bag."
"Don't worry about that, we'll drop you off and go get it," James said. Lily hummed her agreement. "You just focus on not giving birth in my car."
-
You didn't have your baby in the car, much to James' delight. You had her in a hospital bed on the maternity ward with Remus' hand in yours. Only after did you realise you'd squeezed fingerprint bruises into his hand. He hadn't complained once.
You held your baby, finally sleeping, in your arms. Remus kissed your sweaty forehead, staring at you like you were the prettiest girl on planet earth.
"Well done, sweetheart," he said, hand pressed gently to the crown of your head.
You couldn't help looking at baby like she was an alien. Remus sat on the edge of your bed to wrap his arm around your shoulder comfortingly. Despite the labour process being completely over now you were in agony, so tired your eyes kept sliding shut.
"Don't let me drop her," you begged him.
"I won't," he promised. He kissed your cheek, your temple, the top of your ear. "I'm so proud of you."
"Thank you for doing this with me," you said, feeling an awful lovely heat in the corners of your eyes as you met his. "Thank you, Remus."
He touched his forehead to yours. You both closed your eyes, you arms pulling baby in closer.
"I love you," you whispered.
He laughed through each word as he said, "I love you too."
"Why is that funny?" you asked, shifting away from him.
"It's not funny, I'm just so happy," he said, eyes moving to your sleeping daughter.
"Me too," you said hoarsely.
James burst through the door with a thousand balloons on pretty, bursting ribbons and a thermos. "We got soup! Congratulations on your baby!" he almost shouted. Lily shushed him with a lack of any real heat, rounding his pillar or iridescent baby balloons to gawp at the baby in your arms.
"She's so cute!"
"She looks like you," James said to Remus, grinning like a fool.
"Ha ha," he said dryly.
Lily pulled the blue padded chair to the side of your bed and squeezed your upper arm kindly. "She's beautiful."
"I know. I can't believe I made her."
"I can," Lily said easily. She looked at your face, an assessment. "Don't you want a shower, lovely?"
"I'm too afraid to put her down."
"Me and James can have her for a little while, if you'd like? Or I'm sure we can find her a bassinet, somewhere," Lily said, pouting in sympathy. "I know it's scary."
You looked at Remus. You could see in his face that he trusted these people completely and you trusted him, so you passed your little bundle of love into her arms. Lily handled her with all the expertise of the adoring mother she was.
You let Remus practically lift you out of the bed and seat you on the edge of a plastic sticky chair so he could grab the baby bag. He swung it over his shoulder and leaned down so you could wrap your arm around his neck, propped up and walking on numb legs to the shower room.
"Will you come in and help me?" you asked him worriedly.
He shouldered the door open and led you in. "Lean against the wall if you feel weak, okay?"
You nodded. He locked the door and turned to the shower. It was old-school, one button and one temperature with a timer. You had to press the button every other minute. He frowned at this but said nothing, folding out the bench against the wall and returning to your side.
"Let's get you out of these," he said softly. And so you shed his hoodie that had barely fit and still didn't, your trousers and your bloody underwear, cringing.
"Are you in a lot of pain?" he asked. You really were, but he sounded so worried that you lied and shook your head.
"Everyone bleeds a bit after they have a baby," you tell him, looking down at your weird tummy with your arm hooked over his shoulder for balance as he kneeled down to take your socks off.
He stood up and squeezed your shoulder. Everybody was squeezing you after giving birth, like you were a postnatal stress ball. And if they're stressed, imagine how I feel! you thought. His hand ran down your arms to catch your fingers, pulling you by the hand gently across the wet room to sit on the shower bench.
"Remember when you asked me if I'd still fancy you when you're not pregnant?" he asked, pressing his palm into the heavy button.
Warm water sprayed over your skin. You sighed into it, momentarily distracted by pleasure. He drifted over to the baby bag and pulled your pyjamas out, new and blue and picked out by him in the supermarket. You'd been uninterested. "Any will do, Remus." He hadn't agreed, had stood there running fabric between his fingers for half an hour.
"You've come to a verdict?"
"Well, I definitely do still fancy you," he said, having retrieved your clear toiletries wallet. "Though I'd tell you that just so I never have to see you have another."
"Suffered, did you?" you asked sarcastically, tipping your head back under the spray.
"I never want to see you in that much pain ever again," he said seriously, rolling up his sleeves.
He took your shampoo into his hands and poured out a generous dollop, rubbing it into a bubbly lather. You aimed your head from under the spray and let him run his fingers over your hair and then through it, hands so gentle you felt your eyes growing heavy. You made a pleased sound in the back of your throat, prompting him into leaving two sweet kisses over the side of your face.
He smoothed everything away from your face and had to hit the shower button again to start the water up.
"We'll adopt the next one," you said agreeably as he massaged the soap from your hair.
"Good idea," he murmured back, voice impossibly warm.
He passed you a loofah covered in fresh smelling shower gel. "Be gentle," he reminded you. You were, scrubbing weakly at your arms, your bump, your legs as he ran a sweet smelling conditioner through the ends of your hair.
You winced as you went, watching a small stream of rust disappear down the drain. Remus hit the button a few times like that might help and told you to lean back and let the conditioner wash out, drying his arms off with your towel before standing in front of you with it opened wide. You stood, fighting fatigue and aching, for him to wrap it around you tightly.
You couldn't figure out why but you suddenly, desperately wanted to hug him. You tucked the towel in so it wouldn't fall and reached for his arms.
"What? Sweetheart?" he asked, reciprocating your hug even if he couldn't figure it out. His hands came tight around your shoulders though he was careful not to press against your front.
He smelled like himself, a little like sweat which was shamefully nice, and his arms were familiar around you. It was a small pocket of paradise, his arms a tiny haven.
"I love you," you told him. Even though you'd already told him barely a half hour before.
"I love you too. More than you know," he said back instantly, the flesh of his palm wiping a firm, grounding line up your spine. "How do you feel? A little better?"
You weighed your options. "I'm really, really tired."
He pulled your head from his shoulder and cradled your cheeks in his hands. "I know. You can sleep as soon as you're dressed. Alright? Let's get you dressed and get back to baby."
He mostly left the drying off to you, though he watched carefully as though worried you'd topple over. He stuck a postnatal pad into your underwear without you having to ask, and it made your chest really, really ache, in a good way, kneeling in front of you to help you step in.
"It won't hurt so terribly after you've had a good sleep," he assured you, helping you into the soft, cotton drawstring trousers he'd picked out.
He tied the strings gently around your bump and you grimaced. "When does this insipid thing go away?" you asked mock bitterly, mostly joking.
He rubbed the hill of your bump with his thumb. "Don't be cruel. That insipid thing did a brilliant job."
"The stretch marks feel unnecessary," you argued.
"I like them," he said, ducking down to retrieve the oversized top he'd laid aside.
"You're biased," you said, arms aching as you raised them high to let him dress you in the shirt like a child. It was nice to be treated so tenderly.
"I'm not biased," he refuted, chuckling as he straightened out your hem. "You're beautiful."
He nodded to himself in triumph and you rolled your eyes, wanting to kiss him. Instead, you sat on the closed lid of the toilet, determined to put your own socks on as he shoved everything back into the baby bag. He rolled his sleeves back down and put the baby bag over his shoulder again. He looked weirdly right with it on. Maybe you could convince him to be the nappy bag holder in the relationship. Maybe even the nappy doer. That would be nice.
He had this look on his face like he knew what you were thinking. You hooked the second sock over your ankle and stood back up.
"I feel better and worse. I feel less disgusting, but I don't feel very well," you confessed to him.
"I'll get you some food and then you can sleep," he said firmly.
Remus did a once over of the room and then a once over of you, hair ruffled and looking like maybe he could use a shower himself. My poor boy, you thought, reaching out to comb his hair with your fingers. Your fingertips chartered a featherlight touch from his hairline to his chin. You stepped forward and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw and then stepped back.
"You need to eat, too," you said.
He smiled wide. "I will."
"Taking care of me includes taking care of you."
"I know, sweetheart. Me and you are a team. Me, you and baby, now."
"I think James had soup," you informed him as he pushed open the door.
The ward hallway was louder but cooler in comparison. The air felt nice on your damp face.
"You want soup? I'll get you soup. Give me five minutes and you'll be drinking out of that thermos, babe."
And he did. You sat with the thermos in your hands on the bed, a sullen James on one side and a smirking Remus on the other, baby in his arms.
"So, what's her name?" Lily asked, sitting at the end of your bed. Everytime she moved her perfume coasted towards you in a warm, comforting wave.
Remus looked at you inquiringly.
"I was thinking…" you twisted the cap off the soup, twisted it back on, "Well, she wouldn't be here if it wasn't for love, right? So maybe something that means love."
Lily nodded. "That's wonderful. Really. We'll have to go through the baby names book when you're feeling better and mark them down."
"Eat my soup," James said indignantly after another lid twist. "Stop teasing me."
Remus held a slowly rousing baby to his chest and nodded. "Eat your soup," he whispered pointedly.
-
You squinted through closed lashes at your boyfriend. He was slumped in the chair he had been in when you fell asleep, baby pressed close to his chest. He was looking down at her and murmuring something too low to hear, but the sound of his voice alone made you smile.
"Remus," you mumbled, and yawned loud. "Ouch."
"We've been waiting for you for hours," he whispered. Then, looking down at baby. "Haven't we, sweetheart?"
You pushed up into a sitting position and winced at the ache between your legs.
"You want some ibuprofen?" he asked.
"No, I'm okay." Best he stayed still. How long do babies usually sleep? You reckoned she would be crying up a storm again soon enough.
He tucked baby's head towards his chest and smiled at you uneasily.
"What?" you asked, panicked quickly by his expression. "What?"
"Nothing! It's nothing bad."
"But there's an it?"
"I got you something, alright? Stop freaking out. Everything's okay. I'm just nervous to give you a present."
"Oh," you say. "Whew. Okay, a gift." You lie down on the elevated hospital bed with a pleased smile. "I like gifts."
He stood up, arm wrapped around baby securely. He fished for something in his back pocket. You took it quickly so he could have both arms around your daughter as he sat at the end of your bed.
You shimmied the little box open to find a gold-chain necklace inside with a small heart pendant hanging from it. The front was bare, the back engraved with only one word. ‘sweet’ in looping cursive.
You pulled it from the box and held it in your palm.
"You're supposed to get the mother of your child a present, after they give birth," he said hesitantly.
You closed your fingers around the chain and smiled so hard with so much happiness it forced a pleased exhale from your nose.
"You didn't have to get me anything," you said. It was beautiful.
"A gift for a gift," he proposed.
"Our daughter," you said, low, looking at him with a ridiculous amount of love as his golden brown eyes lit up like burning stars, "isn’t something you have to pay me back for. Ever. She wouldn't be here if I didn't have you."
He held his hand out. You knitted your fingers through his, felt the firm pressure as he pressed the pads of his fingertips into your knuckles and circled his thumb around your index finger, locking you in.
Baby started crying soon after. Neither of you held it against her.
<3
𝗆𝖺𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍
thanks for reading ❤️ to my followers, thank you for being here, I can't believe there are now 3k of you! also, I have never given birth/had a baby, so any inaccuracy is my inexperience, my apologies :3
marauders tag list @marimorena06 @glimmering-darling-dolly @siriuslystfu @thatblackravenclaw @thatonecomfyjumper @lupinlust @touchdeprivedwh0re @vi0letblu3s @mooncalvin @gaysnowrose @thatonecomfyjumper @set-myself-on-fire @decafcoffew @mischiefmanagers
