Work Text:
Henry is playing with Arthur in the living room on the floor, while Alex does some work on his laptop. Well, at least he tries to (his little family is really cute and it can be distracting). At some point, the little one throws away one of his toys.
"Want me to get it for you?" Henry asks, but instead of even looking at his dad, Arthur is already crawling towards the toy.
Their son beams when he finally gets a toy.
"You got it!" Alex shouts with a smile on his face. His kid grins at him.
Alex decided that he wants to capture as many important moments in Arthur's life (and every other kid that Henry and him will have). Henry decided that he needs to see those moments with his own eyes. That's why they are not taking their eyes off their son. Arthur seems happy with the attention he receives from his dads, although he is getting a lot of it.
What they didn’t realize is that it's actually hard to have a little human that can move on its own.
“Oops, sorry little guy” says Alex as he almost trips over his own son in the kitchen, where he shouldn’t be, because he left him sleeping in the living room.
Similar thing happens to Henry, when he is reading on the couch and something touches his leg.
“Jesus! Oh, hey little buddy.” he smiles down at Arthur and the latter giggles.
“Your hands are really cold. come here.” Henry picks his kid and they both cuddle under a blanket. Artie has his head tucked under his dad's chin and as he drifts to sleep his tiny hand grabs his T-shirt.
They start teaching him to walk by standing behind him, placing their hands around his upper arms, and gently pulling one arm forward and then the other.
Then they decide to slowly remove their hands from his arms, but he always ends up on his butt or his face. The first time that happened Henry wanted to get him to hospital to check for any injuries. It's safe to say Artie wasn't the only one who needed to be reassured.
While getting a hang of walking, Arthur slowly is taught how to talk.
His parents decided to talk to him more often, while using simpler words, so he could repeat some of them.
"Hi, hello, I love you." says Henry to his son. "Love you." He points his long finger at the boy's small chest.
At that moment Alex walks in, planting kisses, his stubble brushing over both of their temples.
"I think I'm going to shave it." says Alex.
He picks up Artie to give him one last kiss and goes to the bathroom. He remembers seeing one of these videos where dad shaves his beard and kid cries, he really hopes his son won't cry at the sight of him.
Turns out his child has different plans.
He comes back downstairs and takes him from Henry.
"Hi, little one." he greets Artie while smiling at his confused face.
The small boy looks between his dads and bursts into tears. Even though the reason for his crying is connected to his papa, he still buries his head in his shoulder.
“Oh no baby, don’t cry, it’s okay” says Alex, patting Arthur’s back.
“I think I should take it from here.” Henry reaches over and Alex reluctantly, with huffed ‘fine’, hands him their child.
That night, it’s Henry’s turn to put their son to bed. They have their, sort of, night ritual where Henry reads or plays piano for Artie, meanwhile Alex sings him a lullaby which his dad used to sing for him and June.
They know Arthur probably doesn’t understand anything from the stories he is being read to, but they don’t stop and the interest in his eyes shines the same.
Right now, Henry has his kid in his arms, swaying back and forth, just admiring the little boy. Turns out it’s been quite some time and Alex started looking for him. When he walks to the room, he doesn’t say anything. Instead he presses his chest to Henry’s back and he wraps his arms around two people, who are the personification of his happiness.
It happens when Ellen and Leo came over.
“Pa-pa, can you say it? Come on, two syllables, pa-pa.” Alex encourages his child, but he is just looking at him and then his gaze switches to his grandma.
“He is looking at me like he needs help,” says Alex’s mom. “give me him”
He passes him to her.
“Hi, little sugar.” she whispers to her grandson and he smiles.
After a few seconds a small ‘hi’ can be heard from… Arthur, of all people. Everyone whips their heads towards him.
“Oh my god” whispers Henry.
“Oh my god!” exclaims Alex, planting kisses on Artie's face and he is soon joined by his husband.
After that situation their son doesn’t speak much. Sometimes he says simple words like ‘yeah’, when he is in a particularly good mood.
Until one evening when Alex comes home.
Henry and Arthur, who is in his arms, are looking out the window at the car which just pulled up.
“Look who is home.” Henry says as Artie squeals from excitement spotting his papa coming out of the vehicle. “That’s right, it’s your papa.”
The boy keeps babbling with a big smile on his little face and the front door opens.
“Hey, my babies!” Alex greets them.
Arthur points at him and says “pa-pa”. At that moment Alex feels like he is about to cry or maybe he already is. It takes him a few seconds to stop looking at his kid in disbelief, after which he walks up to him and scoops him in his arms. He kisses the little’s head and yes, he is definitely crying right now.
This weekend it's Artie's first birthday party. Yes, the whole weekend. Everyone is getting there at different times or even on different days.
"You're gonna be so spoiled for the next few days." says Alex to Arthur who is staring at him from his highchair as he is finishing making dinner.
June and Nora came yesterday late at night, but are out, because apparently they need to "upgrade the present for their precious nephew".
The next one to be there is Pez. Henry opens the door, meanwhile Alex walks out of the kitchen with the celebrant, who doesn't want to be carried at that moment. Seeing Pez makes him wriggle more.
As soon as Arthur is set down, he starts crawling towards the front door. In the process he changes his mind and stands on his legs. He takes two small steps before he falls down and crawls again.
When he reaches Pez he is immediately in their arms.
"I won!" They yell as Artie laughs.
Later that day Henry bakes and it was supposed to be easy, it's just a cake, Henry did a lot of them. The point is it's not a normal cake. This one is so special. Arthur, his precious son, turns one year old and Henry wants everything to be perfect.
"It's going to be perfect I swear." Alex tries to assure. "Even if it's not, he won't remember that, baby"
"There will be pictures, he'll see those"
It turned out amazing and everyone is in awe.
"I don't get it. How can you be really good at baking, but suck at cooking?" tells him Bea after she tastes frosting straight from the bowl.
At the birthday party, looking at their child taking a handful of a cake presented in front of him, Alex and Henry wonder if it's too early to think about another kid. They don't say that aloud though.
A few days after, Henry slept in, because he could. He can smell pancakes and coffee, while walking down the stairs. As he is entering the kitchen, he hears the most adorable giggles.
He was right, Alex is, in fact, making pancakes. He is also making their son laugh.
"Good morning, love." says Henry to his husband, kissing his cheek.
"Morning, baby" Alex responds and gives him a cup of tea and a plate of pancakes.
He sits down next to Arthur. David is slowly pacing towards him. Looking down at his pleading eyes, Henry decides to give him a little piece of his breakfast.
At some point Artie makes grabby hands.
"What do you want, darling?" his dad asks him.
"Da-da" the little boy responds.
"Yes, that's me, hello." Henry says tearfully, while his son smiles at him and repeats "dada".
Dad spends the rest of the morning hugging his kid to his chest, meanwhile papa gives them their space, but not before he takes a picture. He had to change his home screen anyway.