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None of them expect it - that much is clear. They all just stand there… staring at it, wondering if it’ll just magically go away.
It doesn’t.
Or rather… she doesn’t.
“Dude, what is that?” Luke asks, peering from around Bobby’s shoulder.
“It’s a baby, Luke,” Alex says incredulously, though he’s no less confused. Luke smacks the back of Alex’s head.
“I know it’s a baby, dumbass,” he says. “What’s it doing here?”
Bobby squats down until he’s kneeling right over the carrier where a baby girl is sitting, asleep and snoring. There’s a card nestled in the folds of her dress so he plucks it out and unfolds it. He can feel all the blood leaving his face as he reads each word.
“Bobby?” Reggie asks quietly. “What’s wrong?”
Bobby blinks down at the paper before looking at the baby again - she’s so small with soft, wispy blonde hair and the tiniest hands and feet he’s ever seen. “She’s mine.”
“What do you mean ‘she’s yours’?” Alex asks. Bobby wordlessly hands him the notecard, never once tearing his eyes away from the baby. “‘ Bobby, I’m sorry to tell you like this but I just can’t handle it. Her name is Carrie. Take care of her for me, Monica. ’”
The four of them fall silent for a moment.
“Monica?” Reggie says finally after what feels like hours of silence. “Who’s that?”
“I… just some girl I hooked up with last year. She told me she was on the pill,” Bobby whispers, rubbing his face roughly with his hands. “I’m so stupid.”
“Hey, no you’re not,” Luke replies, placing a firm hand on Bobby’s shoulder. “Shit like this happens, okay? Medical mishaps and stuff.”
“I think you’ve been watching too much Chicago Med, ” Alex starts, “but Luke’s right. You’re not stupid.”
“What am I gonna do?” Bobby breathes, blinking rapidly to try and fight the tears that threaten to fall. “I-I can’t take care of a baby. I can barely take care of myself, I still don’t really know how to use the laundry machine!”
“Hey,” Luke says, bending down until he’s level with Bobby. He pats his cheek gently, forcing him to look him in the eye. “You won’t have to do this alone.”
“Yeah,” Reggie says, patting Bobby on the back. “You have us.”
Alex reaches out of the doorway to the small duffel bag sitting next to the carrier. He unzips it and peers inside, rifling around for a moment. “Hey, there’s some stuff in here,” he says. “Whoever this Monica chick was, she didn’t leave you hanging completely.”
Then, the baby - Carrie - does something that none of them were expecting. She opens her eyes, takes one look at the four of them, and starts wailing.
The noise is so loud, it could wake the dead. All four of them recoil, Luke clamping his hands firmly over his ears. “What’s it doing that for?!” he calls.
Bobby looks helplessly at her, hands hovering but not touching because oh god, she’s so small, what if he breaks her? “I don’t know!” he replies.
“Dude, take her inside and shut the door before we get another noise complaint!” Reggie says, backing away from the carrier.
Bobby carefully grips the handle of the baby carrier and lifts the screaming baby - Carrie, apparently - into the apartment, holding it almost a foot away from him as she wails. Luke quickly shuts the door and leans against it, eyes wide.
Carrie is still crying, her face turning pink and tears streaming down her face. Oh, God.
“What do I do?!” Bobby asks, looking around frantically at Luke, Reggie, and Alex - all of whom look incredibly out of their depth.
“Try picking her up!” Alex says. “She’s probably just scared!”
Bobby places the carrier on the coffee table and tries to unbuckle her safety belt but the stupid latch just will not budge . He knows he’s beginning to panic and he needs to calm down - but how else was he supposed to react five minutes after finding out he’s a father ?!
A pair of hands brushes his away and quickly unlatches the buckle before picking Carrie up and bouncing her up and down. Bobby looks up to see Reggie cradling Carrie close, his left arm expertly cradled under her butt and her head leaning on his shoulder. Her cries calm down to slow whimpers as she rests her cheek against Reggie’s shoulder.
Bobby, Alex, and Luke all turn to Reggie, triplet looks of confusion and awe on their faces. Reggie raises his eyebrows, thumb gently rubbing the light, downy hair on Carrie’s head. “What?”
“Since when were you so good with kids?” Bobby asks breathlessly.
“Um… since always?” he says. “I practically raised my niece and nephew when my brother got deployed.”
“Oh,” Bobby replies weakly, dropping down into the armchair and rubbing his forehead. “Cool. Reggie’s a better father than I am to my own daughter .”
“You’ve been a father for less than three minutes, dude,” Alex says. “It’ll take some time.”
Bobby stands up, quietly letting out a long breath before walking over to Reggie who is now gently rocking Carrie back and forth. He ducks his head slightly and watches as she blinks at him, all big brown eyes and chubby cheeks. “She’s so small,” he says softly. “I don’t… I don’t…” I don’t wanna hurt her.
“Here,” Reggie says quietly, nodding towards Carrie’s hand which is lying on his bicep, curled around the fabric of his flannel. “Just touch the back of her hand.”
Bobby swallows nervously and reaches out with his index finger, gently stroking the back of Carrie’s hand. Surprisingly, she doesn’t recoil. She doesn’t burst into flames or shatter like glass like Bobby expects - she just keeps looking at him with those eyes that he knows he would already do anything for.
“I found her birth certificate,” Alex says. Bobby turns but doesn’t take his hand off of Carrie’s. He’s holding the duffle bag in one hand and a plastic folder in the other. He pauses - Bobby can practically see him trying to do the math in his head. “She was born six months ago.”
“Is there anything else in there?” Bobby asks. He knows he could just walk over and search through the bag himself, but he feels glued to Carrie now. Like she’ll disappear if he takes his hand off her.
Alex puts the birth certificate down and continues sifting through the bag. “Uh… clothes, a couple bottles, and like one half-full jar of baby food.”
Luke glances at the label on the jar and wrinkles his nose. “I’d cry too if I had to eat mashed peas and broccoli.”
“You cry whenever I make you eat something that doesn’t involve dino nuggets,” Alex replies dryly, dropping the jar back into the bag. “That’s all there is in here.”
“What about diapers?” Reggie asks. “Or formula? Toys?”
Alex frowns, shaking his head as he zips the bag back up. “Nope. Looks like we’ll have to go to the grocery store tomorrow.”
We.
Alex says it so casually, without even thinking . Bobby can feel the tears threatening to spill out of the corners of his eyes again as he thinks about just how lucky he is.
He has the best friends in the world.
“Thank you guys,” he says after a moment. His voice is choked and gruff - he can’t hold in his tears anymore. “I know this isn’t… what any of you want.”
Bobby shuts his eyes, leaning back against the sofa as he lets himself just cry . This morning when he’d woken up, his biggest issue was buying new strings for his guitar. Now he’s in charge of an entirely new life . Suffice to say, he’s more than a little bit overwhelmed.
He feels an arm curl around his shoulders and he sinks into it automatically, smelling the familiar scent of Luke’s cologne and fresh laundry detergent under his nose as he buries his face in his shoulder. He feels two more pairs of arms circle his back - it doesn’t do much to calm his tears, but it makes the heavy weight in his chest feel about a thousand times lighter.
He doesn’t stop crying until he feels one more hand settle on his shoulder. He sniffs and looks up, wiping his eyes roughly with the heel of his hand as he locks eyes with Carrie. She’s staring at him with the most judgemental look he’s ever seen on a baby. She’s reaching her little hand ( so, so little) out in front of her so she can stroke the fabric of his t-shirt.
A watery laugh escapes his lips and he wipes his nose with the back of his wrist before reaching out and taking Carrie’s hand between his thumb and index finger.
“I can do this,” he whispers, rubbing the inside of Carrie’s palm. “ We can do this.”
They don’t have diapers.
They don’t have diapers and that is becoming a huge issue because there’s currently a very disgruntled and soiled baby lying in the middle of their rug.
“Dude, you’re the baby expert,” Alex says, nudging Reggie’s shoulder. “Do something.”
Reggie wrinkles his nose and takes a step back. “Don’t look at me, man. My sister-in-law always kept the house stocked. Why don’t we just go to the store?”
Luke pockets his phone and shakes his head. “The nearest Target closed like 15 minutes ago and the 24-hour one is like a 20 minute bus ride away. We can’t take her on the bus smelling like Reg after those hotdogs we had last week.”
Bobby runs the edge of his fingernail against the pad of his thumb. For such an adorably dainty baby, she sure does stink. “Uh…” he looks around frantically before his eyes fall on a cardboard box in the corner of their living room that looks a little worse for wear. “I have an idea.”
He walks over to the box and pulls out a black Sunset Curve t-shirt in the smallest size they carry before walking back over to Carrie who looks suspiciously close to crying. “It’s okay,” he murmurs, smelling the shirt once to make sure it’s clean, which… he supposes it’s clean enough. “We’ll get you clean.”
Luke winces. Bobby can practically feel his eyes boring holes into his back as he undoes Carrie’s soiled diaper. “I feel like I should look away,” he says. “This seems sacrilegious.”
“You know what else is sacrilege? Getting baby shit all over our new carpet,” Bobby replies, reaching for the box of kleenex on the coffee table. “We have tons of shirts.”
“Hey,” Reggie says softly, eyebrows furrowed. “Don’t swear in front of the fucking baby!”
Alex rolls his eyes, grabbing his fanny pack and keys off the kitchen counter. “Okay, that’s it,” he mumbles, and for a moment Bobby wonders if he’s decided this is all too much for him - if this is him walking out. “I’ll head to the 24 hour Target and get some diapers.”
“Ohh, I’ll come!” Reggie says, grabbing his leather jacket off the coat rack. “I’m suddenly craving sour patch kids.” The front door shuts behind them but Bobby and Luke barely register it.
Bobby secures the shirt in place with a few of the safety pins that he keeps pinned to the front of his pants - it had become a habit to keep them there after freshman year of college when Luke had split his pants in the middle of their set. It’s not the most secure diaper in the world but it’ll hold until Alex gets back with real diapers.
“So,” Luke asks, sitting cross legged on the floor beside Bobby, “how are you holding up?”
Bobby shrugs, pulling the edge of the make-shift diaper up so it covers Carrie’s belly button. “Um…” he mumbles, the corner of his lip lifting the tiniest bit when he sees Carrie look up at the ceiling, eyes wide and mouth agape. She seems mesmerized by the fairy lights they’ve hung up for whatever reason. “Fine? Maybe? Considering I just found out that I’m a dad like less than an hour ago.”
Luke nods, reaching out and rubbing the inside of Carrie’s soft wrist with his finger. “I think you’re handling it pretty well,” he says. “I probably would’ve passed out.”
Bobby laughs but the feeling dies quickly. He looks at Luke, jaw tightly clenched. “I’m scared, Luke.” His voice is barely above a whisper as he says it - almost as if he’s afraid that Carrie will hear and judge him.
Luke looks away from Carrie and nudges Bobby’s knee with his hand. “What are you so scared of?” he says, a cheeky smile forming. “We’ve played crowds of hundreds, been booed offstage, almost died like twice… raising a kid? That’s child’s play.”
Carrie makes a gurgling noise, a spit bubble forming around her lips. Both Luke and Bobby turn to look at her. She looks extremely disgruntled by the lack of attention she’s receiving. Her little furrowed eyebrows are so adorable that Bobby can’t resist - he picks her up and settles her down in his lap gently, hands firmly holding her under her armpits.
The moment he picks her up, Carrie relaxes, leaning forward and placing her little hands on his chest. Bobby sighs softly and nods, dipping his head down and gently brushing his nose against the top of her head, breathing in.
Child’s play. Right.
Going to Target with Reggie is always more than a little challenging. He gets distracted and wanders off and ends up filling their cart with things they absolutely don’t need every single time without fail. But having Reggie there with him while Alex tries to figure out what brand of diapers would fit Carrie best is actually pretty comforting.
“So these ones are the cheapest… but those ones are eco-friendly,” Alex says quietly, eyes hopelessly flicking between the two packs. “I didn’t know diapers came in so many sizes. ”
“Get the eco ones,” Reggie says. “They’re a little more expensive but you can flush them - that way we won’t have to keep gross diapers in our bathroom.”
Alex nods and puts the cheap diapers back, spinning the plastic pack in his hands nervously. “Okay. What about size?”
Reggie falls silent for a moment, looking down at the pack in his hands before gently taking it and putting it back on the shelf. “Carrie’s probably too big for size one diapers,” he says, reaching up to the highest shelf and grabbing a different pack. “These should work.”
Alex nods and watches as Reggie throws them into their shopping cart. “You really know your stuff,” he says, walking alongside Reggie as he commandeers the cart. “You never told us you spent so much time with your niece and nephew.”
Reggie shrugs, pausing in front of a row of baby powder brands before picking up the cheapest bottle and throwing it into the cart. “It was just something I did to get out of the house,” he replies quietly. “You know what my folks were like before the divorce. They fought constantly. It was exhausting. Spending time with Grace and Ollie was a nice distraction.”
Alex smiles, though it feels bittersweet. “You could’ve told us,” he says quietly. “We would’ve understood. Maybe even offered to help out.”
“I… it just felt like something I had to keep to myself,” he replies, staring at a pack of reusable diapers for just a second too long. “But thanks, Alex.”
Alex nods and stuffs his hands in his pockets. He stays quiet as they make their way to the candy aisle, humming along quietly to the random pop song playing on the radio. He doesn’t say anything when Reggie begins piling junk food into the cart - usually, he would chide him and tell him to dial it back… but he doesn’t feel like doing that tonight.
Plus, he saw Reggie put dark chocolate Kit-Kats in the cart and those are Alex’s favourite.
They don’t run into a problem until they’re lining up to pay. Reggie pulls out his card to pay and Alex raises his eyebrows.
“Dude, you don’t have to do that,” he says, pulling his wallet out of his fanny pack. “I brought cash.”
Reggie just shrugs and gives Alex a wan smile. “My dad just put money in my account,” he says, forcibly shoving Alex’s wallet back into his fanny pack. “I’ve got this.” He pauses, reaching for a pack of gum from the shelf next to the cashier and throwing it into the cart alongside the mountain of snacks and baby supplies. “Gotta love divorce guilt.”
Alex nods and focuses on re-zipping his fanny pack until they reach the front of the line. He’s so busy placing items on the conveyor belt that he doesn’t notice who exactly is standing behind the register until…
“Alex?”
Alex’s head shoots up at the sound of a familiar voice, his hand wrapped around a tube of diaper rash cream. Standing in front of him is Willie, the cute guy from his art history lecture. The one he’d been subtly crushing on all semester. This could only happen to Alex.
Even in his regulation red polo, he looks fantastic - something Alex is sure only Willie could pull off. His long brown hair is tied into a low bun, although there are strands of hair escaping, framing his face perfectly. His soft, brown eyes are crinkled slightly, accompanying his warm smile. Alex just about wants to die .
He’s in the middle of Target at 11pm, buying diapers, rash cream, baby powder, wipes, and a mountain of candy… in front of the cutest guy at UCLA.
“Willie!” Alex exclaims just a touch too loud. “H-Hi!”
Willie smiles as he scans one of the many bags of sour patch kids from Reggie’s stash. “How’s it goin’?” he asks. “Late night candy run?”
Alex laughs sheepishly. He can feel Reggie staring at him with that stupid smug look on his face so he just elects to ignore it. “I… something like that,” he says, voice dipping down into a whisper as Willie picks up the pack of diapers.
Willie’s eyebrows raise in surprise but he doesn’t say anything, scanning the diapers and placing them in a paper bag. Alex is helpless to watch as Willie’s scans all of their items (including the diaper rash cream) and places them into multiple paper bags.
“Uh…” Willie looks between Reggie and Alex. He looks no less friendly, but confusion has taken over his features now. “Is that everything?”
Alex sighs. “Yeah.” He’s going to be single forever.
“Actually,” Reggie says, reaching behind Alex and squeezing his shoulders playfully. “I forgot to get, um… pickles. Alex, how about you stay here for a sec and I’ll go get them?”
Before Alex can protest, Reggie is already running off. He can almost see the mischievous smile on his face, even with his back to him. He fights the urge to stomp his feet petulantly (he’s not a child) and turns to Willie, smiling awkwardly. “Sorry.”
Willie shrugs, his smile softening. “It’s chill. It’s pretty dead tonight anyway.” Alex looks around the empty registers and nods.
Alex has always hated awkward silences. He’s always hated silence in general - years of silent family dinners and the cold-shoulder treatment will do that to a person. He always feels the need to fill the silence with something. Anything. The only thing about that is… he’s not very good at it.
“So, uh… did you finish the reading for Wednesday?” he asks, keeping his eyes locked on Willie and not on the bags chock full of baby products. “I-I couldn’t really get through it. It was pretty dense.”
Willie chuckles. “Yeah, I did. I actually kind of liked it. Diego Velazquez is one of my favourite painters,” he says. He pauses and Alex feels slightly scrutinized under the intensity of his gaze. “If… If you’re having trouble with the reading, maybe I could help you out sometime?”
Alex raises his eyebrows. “Wh… really?” he asks, tilting his head to the side.
Willie nods, brushing a loose strand of hair behind his hair. “Yeah. We can book one of those study rooms in the library and go through it together,” he says. “If… you’re interested that is.”
“Oh! I-I’m interested!” Alex says without thinking. As soon as the words pass his lips, he regrets them. “I mean… i-interested in studying. With you. At some point.”
The quiet chuckle Alex receives isn’t malicious or mean in any way, it’s… soft. Kind. His laugh alone makes Alex feel like he could trust Willie with his life. “Awesome,” Willie replies. “You doin’ anything tomorrow?”
Alex is about to agree when he remembers… he doesn’t really know . He’d just agreed to help Bobby with the baby - oh, god, the baby - so he expects his days are gonna start looking different from now on. “I-I’m not sure.”
“You’re not sure?” Willie asks, raising his eyebrows.
Alex cringes. “I… things in my life just got kind of complicated. It’s a long story.”
“Does it have anything to do with the diapers and pacifiers I just packed alongside the six-pack of coca-cola?”
Alex deflates and looks down at the conveyor belt, nodding slowly. “Yeah.”
Willie hums. He looks around the practically empty store before pulling a scrap post-it and a pen from under the counter. He scrawls something on it quickly before sliding it toward Alex. His fingers are long and his knuckles are a little knobbly. Alex quietly wonders what it would feel like to hold them.
He’s so busy looking at Willie’s hand that he doesn’t actually look at the paper properly. On the paper are ten digits, neatly scrawled out in black ink. Alex looks up at Willie then, eyes wide as he pulls his hand back.
“That’s um… that’s my number,” Willie says shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. “If things get a little less complicated, maybe we can schedule that study date.”
Alex can’t control the grin that spreads across his cheeks as he gently folds up the piece of paper and shoves it into his pocket. He nods. “Yeah! Yeah, that sounds… that sounds great.”
Willie smiles at him - he looks so damn good under the fluorescent lights that it’s a little bit ridiculous.
Reggie returns not long after Alex tucks Willie’s number away, a jar of pickles and a bottle of chocolate sauce in hand. Alex raises his eyebrows slowly.
“Sorry about that.” He doesn’t look sorry at all . “There was a sale.”
“On pickles and chocolate sauce?”
Reggie just shrugs and puts them on the conveyor belt, smirking widely as Willie scans the pickles and chocolate sauce and places them in their bags. He hands Willie his card once their total is calculated. While Willie is distracted with the card reader, Reggie turns to Alex, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly. Alex can feel himself blush as he looks away, turning his focus to lifting the two heavy paper bags.
“Thanks for shopping with us tonight,” Willie says, smiling at the both of them before turning to Alex. “I’ll see you in class, Alex.”
Alex is so distracted by Willie’s smile that he barely notices the wall behind him until his back bumps against it. He feels Reggie slip an arm around his shoulders and guide him out of the store. He’s still so dazzled that he doesn’t even have the capacity to feel embarrassed.
“So,” Reggie says as they make the short trek to the bus stop, “what happened while I was gone?” He takes one of the bags from Alex’s hands and rummages through it, pulling out a Twix bar and unwrapping it with his teeth.
Alex smiles, ducking his head as he thinks of high cheekbones, soft smiles, and brown eyes. “I… nothing,” he says, biting down on his bottom lip. “He gave me his number.”
Reggie whoops, the sound echoing down the empty street loudly. Alex laughs, unable to control his own joy. “Hell yeah!” he exclaims, practically hopping up and down. “You are so welcome.”
“Shut up,” Alex mumbles, his words betrayed by the bright grin on his face.
It turns out a lot more can happen in an hour than either Alex and Reggie thought. They can hear the cries coming from their apartment in the hallway .
They rush to the door and Alex pushes it open, finding Bobby cradling Carrie and nervously bobbing around the apartment while Luke frantically types something into his phone. Alex quickly pushes the door shut and drops one of the paper bags on the floor. “What happened?!”
“I don’t know!” Bobby exclaims. “She just started crying again and Reg wasn’t here to do his baby magic so I picked her up, but she… she won’t stop!”
“Is her diaper dirty?” Reggie asks, voice raised over the sound of Carrie’s yowls. For such a tiny baby, she has one big set of lungs on her.
“No, she smells fine,” Bobby says. He feels on the verge of tears too. Alex looks at Luke who’s glaring at his phone.
“What are you doing?” Alex asks.
“I’m trying to google why babies cry, but…” he trails off, looking up at Alex with eyes so wide and a pout so intense that it makes Alex wanna cry as well, “there are so. Many. Reasons.”
“She could be sleepy or tired,” Reggie suggests, checking his phone. “It’s past midnight, I’ll bet she’s not used to all the changes yet.”
Bobby nods and sits down on the couch, gently bouncing Carrie in an attempt to calm her. “Yeah… yeah, that makes sense.” He looks down at Carrie and then back at Reggie. “What do I do?”
“What about a lullaby?”
Luke’s head jolts up at the word ‘lullaby’ and a wild grin takes over his features. “I got it!” He runs over to the corner of the living room - the spot they’ve all affectionately dubbed The Music Corner - and grabs his acoustic guitar. “So, are we feelin’ something up-tempo or--”
“--Anything, dude, just play something before we get fucking evicted!” Alex exclaims, nervously looking out the peephole.
Luke raises his hands in surrender before playing a C chord on his guitar, strumming a familiar tune. It can barely be heard over Carrie’s wails but it makes all four of them grin.
“Can you,” Bobby starts, laying Carrie down in his arms and making sure to support her head and neck with his arm - he thinks he saw that in a movie or something once. “Can you hear me?”
“ Loud and clear,” the boys respond in a whisper, all surrounding Bobby on the couch.
“We gotta get,” Reggie continues, pulling an exaggerated face as he sings to Carrie. “We gotta get ready!”
“‘Cause it’s been years!” Luke replies - with perhaps too much gusto.
They launch into a four part harmony that feels so natural it’s almost like breathing. Gradually, Carrie’s cries slow and her eyes grow wide, mesmerized by the sounds of their voices. Eventually her eyelids begin to droop and her breathing slows to a quiet snuffle, her mouth falling slightly open as she snores adorably. It’s the sweetest sight Bobby’s ever seen.
He lets out a quiet breath once she’s fully asleep in his arms, her cheek pressed up against his bicep. He can’t help but smile when he looks at her, moving his thumb to gently brush against her ear. Maybe they won’t be so bad at this.
Suddenly, all the colour leaves Bobby’s face. “Shit.” He looks around the living room, trying to keep his arms as still as possible.
“What?” Alex whispers, looking around the room too.
Bobby curses again before looking down at Carrie who, thankfully, remains unbothered. “We don’t have a crib,” he says. “Where’s she gonna sleep? I can’t hold her all night.”
The reality of just how unprepared they are for this hits them all at the same time. Their apartment is far from baby-proofed (even though Alex had put foam on all of the sharp corners to keep Reggie from bumping his head - that boy likes to bounce ).
Everywhere they look, there’s a precariously balanced dangerous object, a choking hazard, or something wildly inappropriate that no baby should have to see. It’s almost comical how ill equipped they are to be co-parents to an infant.
“Uh… we could…” Luke looks around before walking to the cardboard box that Bobby had taken a shirt from earlier. He quickly empties all the shirts onto the floor and presents the empty box, grinning like he’s just invented fire. “Ba-da!”
Bobby looks at him incredulously. “You want my baby to sleep in a box?”
Luke’s grin drops into a pout. “You got any better ideas, Papa?”
Bobby looks at the ground and sighs. He hates admitting that Luke is right . “Fine. But what about a mattress? She can’t sleep in a plain box.”
Alex walks towards the dining table and unlatches a cushion from one of their dining room chairs. “How about this?” he asks, squeezing the cushion a few times. “We could layer two of them for extra padding if it’s too thin.”
He walks over and drops the cushions into the box. They fit perfectly . Bobby gently lowers Carrie into the box, holding his breath the entire time. Thankfully, she doesn’t stir. As soon as she’s safe and secure, all four of them exhale. Alex rests his forehead on Bobby’s shoulder and rubs his back soothingly - something Bobby didn’t know he needed until now.
“I’m gonna have to tell my parents,” he whispers. “I don’t know how I’m gonna do that.”
“They’ll understand,” Reggie says quietly.
Bobby knows that they will. Realistically, he knows he kind of lucked out in the family department compared to Luke, Alex, and Reggie with parents who were borderline hippies and extremely loving, almost to the point of obsession. But telling them feels real. Too real. Part of him is expecting Carrie to be gone in the morning - nothing but a fever dream caused by eating too much cheese before bed.
But looking at her, sleeping so soundly in a makeshift crib wearing a diaper made out of his own band’s merch, Bobby realises… this is real. It’s extremely real.
He sighs quietly and rubs a hand over his face. “I’ll call them in the morning.” He shakes his head and walks to the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of orange juice and chugging half of it in less than five seconds. When he’s finished, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, glancing at Alex who’s staring down at something in his hand with a goofy expression on his face. He raises his eyebrows. “What’s that?”
“Alex got a cute guy’s number at Target!” Reggie says, in his enthusiasm forgetting about the sleeping baby laying in a box not two feet away from him. Bobby winces and they all pause for a second… but thankfully, Carrie doesn’t wake up. “His name’s Willie.”
Alex blushes and shoves the piece of paper back into his pocket. “I… h-he’s in my art history class,” he says, nervously tugging at the gold chain around his neck. “He was just offering to help me study and catch up on some readings.”
Luke smirks and sits down on one of their arm chairs, plucking out a quiet, gentle tune on his guitar. “I’ll bet he was offering to help you study.”
Bobby chuckles. He hasn’t seen Alex this worked up in quite some time; it’s a nice distraction.
“He was!” Alex counters, his face turning soft… somber. “Although, I’ll bet he won’t really want anything to do with me once he finds out about Carrie.”
That makes Bobby furrow his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” he asks, trying to push down the guilt growing in his chest. “Carrie isn’t your guys’ problem. She’s my kid.”
Immediately, three pairs of eyes turn to stare at Bobby - all of them at varying levels of sadness.
“Dude, we’re a family,” Reggie says, walking towards him and slinging an arm around his shoulders. “If she’s yours, she’s mine too.”
“And mine,” Alex says with a shrug - like it’s nothing.
“Ditto.” Luke shoots Bobby a casual finger gun. “Plus, you know what they say about babies.”
Bobby raises his eyebrows in question. He can’t dwell on the gravity of their words too much - lest he start crying all over again. “What do they say about babies?”
“People love cute guys with cute babies!” Luke says with a cheeky grin. “The four of us are cute. All we were missing was a cute baby! We have it made now.”
“My baby isn’t a device you can use to pick up people, Luke,” Bobby says, though he can’t help the smile that grows on his cheeks.
Luke shrugs, quietly strumming a Dm chord. “I beg to differ.”
Bobby rolls his eyes and finishes his orange juice. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Alex yawn. “You guys can head to bed if you’re tired.”
“Are you coming?” Reggie asks, ruffling his hands through his hair tiredly. Bobby shakes his head.
“Nah,” he says, looking over at the box. “I’ll stay up for a bit. Just in case.”
The three of them nod and descend into the hallway and into their respective rooms, calling out quiet ‘goodnight’s. The sound of doors shutting echoes through the living room and Bobby sighs quietly, walking over to the couch and sitting down.
He doesn’t end up going to his room that night. Instead, he lays down and stares at the ceiling until the sound of Carrie’s quiet snores lulls him to sleep.