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When Alex wakes up it's still dark outside. He wants to go back to sleep, so he starts searching for Henry, because he just sleeps better, when he is cuddling his husband. Instead of his shoulder, he meets his hip, which means that Henry is awake and he is sitting.
“Babe, you can put him down, you know?"
Henry isn't surprised that Alex is awake. He knows when he is actually sleeping.
“Technically, yes, but he is just so small.” Henry responds, still looking at little Arthur in his arms.
“Nothing will happen to him. The crib is right besides our bed. We will hear him cry.” Alex tries to assure him.
“Technically, yes, but what if we won't wake up, because he wouldn't be loud enough?”
“Yeah, technically, technically I don't care. Practically your sleep is really light, so you will wake up. Trust me, I know you.”
Henry isn't convinced
“Look” tries Alex “I know it makes you anxious, but at some point you'll have to put him down, because you need sleep. There also will be a time when you will have to go to England, while Arthur will still be too small for this trip.”
Henry still isn't convinced.
“What if” Alex says “we will move the crib closer to bed? It can be behind our headboard. You'll see him with a corner of your eye.”
“Okay.” says Henry after a moment of silence, in a small voice
So Alex ends up moving their furniture at around 3 AM. Just normal adult life. When everything has found its new place, they finally try to get more sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He wakes up again, but this time it's morning. The first thing he sees is Henry. He truly loves this view. Alex notices that his husband is already awake.
“Did you get any sleep, H?” He asks.
“Yes” Henry answers, his eyes on Arthur.
“Henry…”
“I really did sleep. Just not too much.”
Alex sighs.
“I would say not enough.”
“You know I never get enough sleep.” Henry says.
Silence falls between them, so Alex decides to kiss his sweetheart.
“I promise nothing will happen to our son. He is in the same room as us. He is not some kind of Rapunzel.”
“Well... We know my grandmother is some sort of a witch, so she could actually fly to our home to kidnap him. She would raise him like she wants in Great Britain, in a big tower. We would never hear from them again.” Henry tells Alex seriously.
“Hen, I was just joking.” They both snort at that.
After a few moments, Alex breaks the silence.
“I understand why you are anxious. I think it'll be hard for me to go back to work. To leave the house in general.” He confesses.
“Because of the time when your dad left?” Henry guesses, to which Alex just nods. “I know you could never leave us love.”
“Yeah, I know, but I'm still scared. I don't know why.”
Henry takes Alex's hands in his and kisses them.
“Wait, when you'll go back to work, I'll have to go back to shelter. We can't leave him alone.” Henry says sounding more anxious than before.
“Sweetheart, you're your own boss. You can take him once or twice to work. Remember when Jocie had to take care of her niece and you told her to just bring her to work? You can do the same with Arthur.”
“I'll have to pin some paper on the door saying "don't interrupt, kid is sleeping".”
“Exactly.”
“Or I can put sign "warning turkeys". It will be more effective.” Henry smiles
“Oh, fuck off.”
They both laugh at that, relieving some anxiety. That is the time Arthur decides to remind them that he exists by waking up. Henry doesn't move, he is looking at Alex. The latter takes it as a sign to take their baby out of the crib and hold him close. They shift their positions, so that their backs are against a headboard. Henry puts his head on Alex's shoulder as they are watching Arthur looking back at them.
“Hi.” Says Alex to the little one in his arms.
He starts softly touching his cheek with his index finger. This motion makes the kid smiles and looks at his papa and dada smiling at him.
“I think we can do this.” Henry tells his husband.” Besides basic human things for example eating, he just needs love and I know everyone in the whole world knows how much we love him. If they don't, they are really stupid.”
“Yeah, you are right.”
“Of course, I'm right.” Henry jokes.
Alex kisses his cheek, because how could he not?
“We will do it together, babe. Like we always do.”
“We also have our families and friends. I'm sure I can call one of them and this person will be at our door in a few hours.”
“They are like superheroes” Alex turns to Arthur and says “Do you hear that? Your family is full of superheroes! How cool is that?” The boy in his arms just looks at him, not understanding anything. But that's more than enough.
The young dads are aware that they'll have to get out of bed, but not yet. Now all they want to do is to cuddle with their little pride and joy. They want to show him how much they love him and how much he means to them, even if he won't remember anything when he grows up. The world can wait.