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“I’ll be fifteen minutes, tops.” Ben promised. “I swear. Cheers for doing this Cal, I’ll make it up to you!”
Ben pressed his lips to Callum’s cheek, just as he did all those months ago, when this all kickstarted. The butterflies still remained. Both of them reckoned they always will. Before he got to the door, with one arm in the sleeve of his jacket and the other still bare, he turned around to his daughter, who was playing peacefully with her dolls, braiding their hair to perfection.
“Lex, you be a good girl for Callum and I’ll get you some sweets on the way back.” He said, pointing his finger at her before blowing a kiss in her direction after she motioned a salute at Ben. Callum taught her how to do that.
Ben stepped out of the door barely a foot before he looked back and saw Callum sit on the floor next to Lexi, seemingly ready to mess one her dolls hair up. Again.
“I can’t even do your hair Lexi, and you’ve got a bigger head!” Callum exhaled, sat with the doll held between his kneecaps and his brows furrowed in complete and utter concentration.
“Well you need to get better, Callum.” Lexi stated, almost as if it was a matter of fact. “For when you and daddy give me a new baby brother of sister.”
Callum stopped moving in shock. For a second, he probably even stopped breathing. Lexi giggling at the side of him quickly sobered him up from his thoughts.
“You can just brush their hair. You’re better at that than daddy!” She said, handing him a miniature brush that looked even smaller when he held it.
They worked well together. Callum would brush through the dolls hair, causing them to shed all over his legs, but it was worth it, and then he would pass them to Lexi who would sit in silence with her tongue poking out of her lips ever so slightly whilst she braided their hair. She was a clever kid, for her age, and everyone was so proud of her. When they had made their way through all her dolls (and there was plenty of them), she decided that she had had enough of them, and wanted to do something else. Callum thought he had gotten away with it when he tried to sit somewhere a little more comfortable than the floor, but Lexi clearly had other ideas. “Dance with me!” She shouted over the sounds of the latest number one.
Callum groaned as he stood back up, towering over her. He had two left feet, so this could only end badly. “That’s not dancing!” Lexi said, breaking into a full on dance routine that she had clearly already rehearsed. “Even daddy dances with me. Watch, follow me.”
So he did. He stood behind as Lexi remembered all the steps of her dance routine, actions to go with the lyrics of the song and a bright smile on her face as she twirled around, helped by her pink socks on the laminate flooring. “Got it?” She asked once she had finished.
“Think so, yeah.” Callum commented, nodding once and smiling.
With that, she rewound the song, starting it at the beginning again, ushering Callum to join in with the dance. To say it was difficult, with two left feet, was an understatement. But with a wide smile on his face, he copied the young girl to the side of him, stumbling over every so often, and with their final twirl, Callum caught Ben staring at the two of them, leaving against the door frame with a smile on his face as though his life depended on it.
“Great dancing Lex.” Ben commented, walking back into the room, still smiling. “You’ll have to keep teaching him I’m afraid.”
Lexi ran over to Ben, curling her arms around him. “He’s rubbish isn’t he daddy? Did you get me sweeties?” She asked, clearly only focused on one thing. Sweets.
Ben gave her a white paper bag filled to the brim with all her favourite sweets and she left him and Callum alone, walking over to the table and emptying it all over. Callum sat down on the sofa, with Ben following seconds later, their thighs touching and producing warmth between the two of them.
“You look shattered.” Ben whispered, putting his hand on Callum’s thigh, moving it up and down in a relaxing motion. This just felt natural to them now, it felt right. After all this time, the both of them felt like they could truly belong.
Callum huffed out a laugh, tilting his head across the back of the sofa. “You can say that again. She’s an amazing kid, don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with her, even if she does knacker me out.”
With a wink, Ben nudged Callum in the side. “Takes after me then.”
“Shut up.” Callum exasperated through a quiet laugh.
“Seriously though, she loves ya.” Ben paused as he looked at Callum. “And so do I.”
Callum turned his head towards Ben, the two of them staring at each other now. Callum noticed that Ben was actually blushing, and that was something that was a rarity in itself. “You what?”
Ben bit his lip before speaking again. “I love you. I’ve known for a while, but seeing you with Lexi then, I just had to tell you. It felt right.”
Callum smiled shyly and leaned forward, taking Ben’s lips in his own, both of them sharing this moment. “I love you too.” Callum whispered, his eyes shut, like he didn’t want to see Ben’s reaction.
“You do?” Ben asked.
“Well, you’ll do for now, I suppose.” Callum responded, grin spread across his face.
“Cheeky shit!” Ben laughed, grabbing Callum’s face with both his hands, climbing over and straddling him, pressing longing kisses to his face.
It felt right for both of them to love each other. It was natural.