Keith enjoyed his pregnancy the first time around. It was 1996, he had just turned 20 and in his final year of university. Although the pregnancy was a surprise following a one night stand, he eventually came to appreciate how his body transformed to bring his twin sons into the world. Yes, it was also a surprise that he was having twins - that was an awkward conversation with his parents to see if they could help him out while he balanced his studies with being a new single dad.
His sons, Ben and Brad, were a joy to raise, seeing them grow up to become strong, capable and level-headed men. Brad, his youngest son - "only younger by two minutes!" - moved out of the family home after finishing his Masters, so now, at the age of 50, Keith has an empty home.
He appreciated the free and quiet space at home without the sons for the first couple of weeks. However, it got boring after a while, so he downloaded Tinder, as recommended by his older son, and started seeing what his options were. He managed to have some cute little dates, both with guys around his age, and some younger guys, but they all fizzled out after the first date.
So, he decided to just go out one night and see what happens. He was eyeing this beautiful, muscular Latino man in the corner of the bar. "He's great", Keith thought to himself. After a little bit of Dutch courage, he went up to the guy, offered to buy him a drink, and started chatting. The guy, Leon, was a charmer, and they hit it off quite well. After a while, Leon offered Keith to go back to his apartment nearby.
He was finally going to tell his sons over lunch today the big news. He was hoping to just get through this pregnancy without telling them, but the sons were adamant on coming over because they were sure he wasn't looking after himself properly.
He didn't even need to say anything. By opening the door to welcome his sons in, their eyes immediately fell on Keith's humongous belly.
"Holy shit, Dad!" Ben said after a period of stunned silence.
"You said you wanted an empty nest?" Brad said, confused.
"Well, I did, but.. things changed." Keith replied.
As they sat down at the dining table, Ben immediately dove into questions. "So how far along are you?"
"22 weeks?! You look like you could drop at any moment!"
"Who said I was having one?" Brad and Ben both looked at each other, shocked. "I should've known multiples ran in my family. I mean, I had you two, right? So, yeah..."
"Ok... so are you having twins again?"
"I wish... I'm having..." he struggled to say the number out loud, so he raised his fingers.
"FOUR?!" Brad and Ben screamed together.
Ben said, "What the hell? And at your age too? That's insane, Dad! Have you gone to a doctor?"
"Yes, I've gone to an obstetrician twice a week because this is such a high risk and rare pregnancy. Not many guys get pregnant, let alone have multiples..."
"Yeah, and be 50 years old while doing that!" Brad interjected.
"Exactly.. and everything is going well so far. The four are happy, healthy and growing normally."
"Yeah, but how are you going? This is crazy to go through this by yourself." Ben worried.
"I'll be fine, Benny. I got through my first pregnancy with you two just fine. It'll be fine this time around - just double the love." Keith chuckled.
"You're insane, Dad... Right, I'm moving back in." Ben said.
"No, you're not. Your room is now the nursery for the quads."
"That's fine. Brad's room is still there, right?"
At that moment, Leon meandered his way towards the dining room, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, his tight abs, Adonis belt and bulging pecs and arms prominently showing. "Hey babe, I can't seem to find the... Oh, mierda, forgot your sons were coming today!"
Brad and Ben's jaws dropped when they saw Leon. Keith awkwardly glanced towards them, then looked back at Leon. He sighed at the whole situation, then groaned as he got up and hugged Leon at the waist. "Boys, this is Leon. Leon, this is Brad and Ben, my sons."
Suffice to say, the rest of that lunch was... interesting.
