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When Chris followed the huffing and whining coming from your room, a amused crept up his lips when he saw you standing in front of the closet. Hugged in a pair of leggings, the only pants you were willing to wear lately, you were angrily tugging at the grey NASA sweater, but the fabric refused to go over you prominent bump. Your hair was sticking out in every direction and your breathing was obviously more labored from the useless efforts you were putting into fitting in your favorite piece of clothing.
Reluctantly, he looked away to walk back in the living room and reach for his bag. He was back in the room less than thirty seconds later, hands behind his back. Hearing the ruffling of his soft sweatpants, you let your arms fall heavily on each side of you.
“I am a whale,” you sighed, defeated, “soon I won’t even be able to walk through the door.”
Your astronaut of a boyfriend chuckled softly as he stopped to stand behind you and placed a hand over your belly. “You look magnificent and you’re the average size of a 30 weeks pregnant woman, only ten time more beautiful than the others,” he grinned, gently kissing your neck before placing his chin on your shoulder.
You chuckled tiredly, leaning your cheek against his, “and you’re biased because this is your human I’m growing in my belly.”
“Actually, you’re not completely wrong since it has been proven that men’s level of testosterone, estradiol and HGH decreased during their partner’s pregnancy, which consequently turn them more nurturing and softer.” He ran his hand across your belly, a dazed smile on his lips as he turned his face to nuzzle your cheek.
“Is this you trying to scientifically explain why you’re tuning all gooey and took a bit of baby weight?” you giggled. Chris gasps, faking offense which caused you to laugh even harder. “Well, flash news, Doctor Beck, you’ve always been a teddy bear and since you considerably lowered your workout schedule in the past eight months, there’s no need to blame your hormones. I’m the only one allowed to do that in this home.”
Chris laughed heartily, the sound so soothing to your heart you couldn’t fight the wide grin that tugged at your lips. Your mini-you must like the sound as well because he did not waste one second to manifest his presence and kick right under his father’s palm. A soft chuckle ran past your lip as you place your hand over his as your eyes connected with Chris’ in the mirror again.
“I don’t fit in your sweater anymore,” you pouted.
“I know, stardust,” he said before gently bringing the hand he was hiding behind his back forward, covering your front with a very similar sweater that had the neckline you loved so much but which obviously was one if not two sizes wider. “Which is why I brought that from work yesterday but I forgot to give it to you.”
The excited gasp that fell from your lips was quickly replaced with a heartfelt laughter before you turned around and cupped Chris’ face. “I knew I chose you for reproduction for a reason,” you squealed excitingly, covering his face with pecks. His laughter quickly joined yours as he held you as close as your belly allowed him to.
“Now how about you put on this very comfortable sweater and I’ll cook you your favorite food so we can have a nice evening?” Chris smiled, bumping his nose against yours.
You frowned in confusion, slightly pulling away, “but it’s Sunday night. We always go out on Sunday nights.” The underlying hint of sadness made his heart grow heavy in his chest.
“I know, Stardust. But this one has been keeping you awake most nights for more than a week, and he’ll be here soon, you need to rest.” The concern on his features was too evident. Chris probably was as tired as you, having tried everything to help you fall asleep: warm baths, lower back massages, relaxing music (which was a terrible idea because it probably got on both your nerves), buy a second pregnancy pillow, but nothing seemed to have the little one inside of you to allow you to rest.
“I’m good,” you assured him, “I promise I am. And, like you said, soon he will be here and we won’t be able to have our Sunday nights out, please.” Your pleading tone tugged at Chris heart, making all his will to take care of you being replaced by his urge to make you happy.
Chris sighed, desperately trying not to smile when you used your cute little voice to plead him again. “You’re not playing fair here,” he groaned, his lips automatically curving up when you started to beam in victory.
“It’s not me, it’s your low level of testosterone,” you teased, causing him to snort a laugh before you kissed the tip of his nose. “Let’s go to the planetarium, for old times sake!”
The memories of your first date started rushing back in Chris’ mind, the blue dress you wore that day that took his breath away, how you hang on each of his words with deep interest, how flustered you were when he told you that you were more beautiful than everything he saw up there in space.
“Come on, you know you want it,” you chuckled, repeatedly pecking his lips which caused him to chuckle as well.
“Anything to please you,” he yielded, his fake defeated sigh covered by your excited squeal.
After helping you getting out of the first sweater, he put it over his t-shirt and put the new one over your hair, kissing your nose once your head appeared again. Once comfortable in the oversized sweater, you quickly finished getting ready and he switched his sweatpants for jeans before you head out, matching like the annoyingly cute couple that you were.
There were two reasons you had decided to have your nights out on a Sunday. First, because you were often suffering from this dumb thing called Sunday Night Blues and Chris had thought replacing it by this tradition could help you actually enjoy Sundays again (and he was right, as usual). Secondly, most people rather spend their Sunday nights at home to prepare for Monday morning, which meant any places you would go were completely deserted and allowed you to enjoy them more freely.
The planetarium was the primary example. It was always crowded with children and students during the day, people who would talk during the projection or wet kisses from the horny teenagers behind you filling the silence. But at night, the place was almost empty, the few remaining people were already leaving because the place was about to close. But dating a national hero had its perks, especially when it comes to anything space related. The janitor always made an exception for you and allowed you to stay as long as you wanted.
You tugged at your intertwined hands for Chris to follow you to your favorite seats, the one that allowed you to lie back and cuddle. “What’s tonight program?” you asked, you head resting on his chest as one of his hand drew soothing patterns on your arms and the other one rested on your belly, the baby clearly jumping in excitement which caused you to hiss in pain.
“Summer skies,” Chris whispered as the room turned dark, planting a kiss on your forehead. “You alright?”
You hummed, snuggling even closer to him, “I’m perfect,” you said softly, already feeling your entire body relaxing when the familiar voice-over started filling the room. The entire ceiling was dark until one star appeared, then another one, and another one, until the entire room was painted with constellations, each of them described and narrated by the voice.
A gentle smile tugged at your lips, the familiarity of the room combined with the sweater softness and Chris’ comforting smile slowly started to numb your muscles and after a couple minutes without feeling the baby kicking whatever organ he had access to, your eyelids grew heavier. You allowed yourself to close your eyes just a few minutes, lulled by the deep, soothing voice and reassuring hold around you. Just a couple minutes.
When you opened your eyes, a dim light was filling the room, allowing you to see without being blinded. You blinked a couple times, confused at to why the stars had disappeared and the voice stopped talking. Lifting your head, you were met with Chris soft eyes and amused smile. “Hey there, sleeping beauty. How was the nap?” he whispered.
It took you a couple seconds too long to understand what he was saying until your eyes grew wide, “how long was I out?” Your voice was deep and thick with sleep.
Chris lifted his wrist to look at the time, “almost three hours, it’s past eleven.”
“What?” you groaned, “oh shit, babe, I’m so sorry I… I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t sleepy! I just closed my eyes and that voice is so soothing! And you! You’re so soft and warm,” you started whining, embarrassment creeping up your face.
Chis leaned closer to bump his nose against yours for you to look up. “Y/N, it’s alright,” he spoke, his smile as soft as his voice, “I felt the baby stop moving when the presentation start and less than five minutes later, you were out like a light. You needed the rest. And quite honestly, watching you sleep is way more interesting than any summer sky.”
You felt your heart expanding in your chest at his word and cheeky grin and you automatically buried your face in his neck, knowing he wouldn’t miss how how your cheeks had gotten. “Baaaabe,” you half-whined, half-giggled, the embarrassment of being caught sleeping when you had assured you were not tired replaced by the embarrassment of still being flustered every time he turned sappy, which was all the time.
You felt his chest rumbling with a deep chuckle as he nuzzled your hair, “yes, stardust?” he teased, his cheeks starting to hurt from having smiled without interruption in the past three hours. Seeing you so peaceful and finally resting in his arms was something he would never grow tired of watching. You giggled again, the sound echoing in his heart as you willingly seek for his comfort and snuggled even closer to him, your hand playing with the string of his hoodie.
“That pizza place we love closes in less than an hour,” you mumbled.
He smiled, “I know, that’s why I ordered your favorite and had it delivered here, Stan is keeping it warm for us to bring it home.”
You pulled away to look at him, scoffing in disbelief, “you really are a national hero, Christopher Beck,” you beamed before cupping his cheeks to crash your lips against his. He chuckled against your lips and you felt his cheeks growing warm under your palms. Gosh, it was so easy to get that nerd flustered as well.
After helping you up, you both thanked Stan for the private session and the pizza before walking you home. Chris helped you out of your shoes and leggings but you refused to take off the sweater as you curled up against him on the couch, happily munching away on a slice of your favorite pizza.
“Oh by the way, do you wanna hear something funny?” Chris asked. You hummed around a mouthful, nodding eagerly. “Our son fell asleep as soon as he heard about the milky way. So you’re not the only one I bore to death with my nerdy stuff,” he laughed, clearly more amused than upset about the whole situation.
You laughed heartily, quickly finishing your bite. “You know what? I don’t mind that you tell him all about your boring nerdy stuff if it can put us both to sleep so fast,” you teased.
He grinned, leaning to peck your lips, “you love it when I talk nerd to you.”
“Why do you think I allowed you to put a baby in me, Doctor Beck?” you chuckled, pecking him again, not missing the soft purr coming from the back of his throat at the name. “I love it and I love you.”
“I love you too, stardust.”