Chapter Text
When you came home and found the small home you shared with your boyfriend empty, you weren’t terribly surprised. Pran tended to spend most of his time awake in the house up in the large tree in the small, fenced-in backyard. His time up there was usually drawing but sometimes he slept or read. “What do you want for dinner?” you called up to him, craning your neck to be able to see him.
“I don’t care,” he said, not looking away from his drawing. The leaves of the tree rustled softly as he shifted to get more comfortable.
“Great, thanks,” you said before heading back inside. Pulling out three veggie dogs and a bag of mixed vegetables, you began cooking both without much thought. You had purposefully neglected to tell Pran that you had run to the store after you had gotten off from work or that you had picked up pomegranates for him. The tree’s shadow moved again in the window and you figured that Pran had just gotten down and was about to come inside. The creak of the back door told you that your guess was correct and Pran’s footsteps entered the kitchen a moment later. He looked into the pan and then opened the fridge, getting himself a bottle of water.
Pran drank his water as the vegetables steamed and the veggie dogs sizzled. You were both silent as you turned off the stove entirely and made your plate. Pran made his plate and took it outside, sitting down at the table you had put on the small porch a few years ago.
“I have to stay late for work tomorrow so don’t wait for me to eat,” you told him as you sat down across from him. He shrugged and you took that as a sign that he was in a pretty good mood. What you had to say next would probably ruin it. “Okay, heads up. We have to have a serious talk. Now or later.”
He paused in his eating and looked at you with furrowed brows. “Later,” he said and returned to eating. You also continued eating and there wasn’t much fanfare for the rest of the night. Pran cleaned the dishes while you showered and began winding down for the night.
It was 3 days later while you were both sitting in bed when Pran said, “Now.” Your stomach knotted up in anticipation about how terribly he was going to take the news.
You were still straddling his thighs as you said, “Okay. So I know I’ve been pretty content with this whole relationship but I kind of want to take it to the next level. I’m not talking about marriage. I don’t need some court document saying that you love me. It’s just, I want a baby.”
Pran froze underneath you and you watched his face anxiously. Your stomach was still churning as he gently pushed you out of his lap and left the house without another word, the front door closing loudly behind him. You sighed and got up slowly, trying to calm your racing heart and the disappointment in your gut. You were both almost 29 now and you had put almost 6 months worth of thought into this.
Despite knowing exactly where Pran was going—Jeremy’s apartment—you don’t try to call him. You knew you needed to give him time to process this and make a decision.
Jeremy called you the next day while you were at work and asked, “What did you do?”
You made an indignant noise before retorting, “Is that any way to talk to your friend?” There was a heavy sigh on Jeremy’s end and you said, “Alright, alright. I told him I wanted to have a baby.”
Jeremy made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat and said, “No wonder he’s still at my place. Usually, he goes back home after a couple of hours. Can’t you just tell him that you didn’t mean it? I don’t even get why you’d want to ruin your life even more with children.”
“But I did mean it and most children don’t ruin lives. You didn’t ruin your parents' lives,” you said hotly. Jeremy just sighed again and you jumped as there was a tap on your shoulder. “I’ve got to go. Talk to you later,” you said quickly before hanging up.
You got back to work as the lunch rush came in. Even between baking pastries, making food, and brewing coffee you still managed to think about how permanently you may have fucked up your relationship with Pran.
It was a whole week before you saw Pran again. He was sitting on the couch in your living room when you came home from work. You paused in the doorway for a split second and then continued onward. “We’re having salads for dinner,” you told him. You pulled out the salad greens and began chopping up some more vegetables to go in them. Pran watched as you did all of this and made his plate when you were done, taking it outside to eat. You followed him and he didn’t even acknowledge your presence.
Pran washed the dishes and you showered as he did so. You almost screamed when you pulled back the shower curtain and Pran was sitting on the toilet. “Can you pass me my towel?” you asked.
“No,” Pran said and you wrinkled your nose. Still, you got out of the shower and grabbed your towel before wrapping it around yourself. You had half a mind to snap at Pran to get out if he was just going to sit there. At least, that was the case until Pran said, “Serious talk. Now or later?”
Your eyes widened as you said, “Give me like ten minutes to change, and then I’ll be ready.” Pran got up without another word and left so that you could get dressed. You quickly toweled off, put on some lotion, and then got dressed in your pajamas. Pran was sitting on the bed when you opened the bathroom door and he looked up at you as you came out of the bathroom.
“Okay. What’s up?” you asked, sitting next to him. Your knee brushed gently against his and seeing as how he didn’t pull away, you pressed your knee against his to help comfort him a little.
He was silent for almost five minutes and you were worried he wasn’t going to speak at all before he said, “I don’t want children.” Your breathing stopped and your stomach turned sour as you forced back tears. Pran continued before you could find words to speak. “But if you want them, we can have them.”
You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding in and smiled a little bit. “Okay,” you said, your mind still kind of reeling. “That’s good, great.” You weren’t quite sure how to accurately express what you were feeling. However, you figured a kiss wasn’t a bad way to go.