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Lingering at the foot of their bed, Glam had lost track of how long he had been staring at his wife, still deep in sleep.
Snoring loudly, she was strewn out haphazardly on the bed, one arm cradling a pillow saturated with dried up drool. Her long orange locks were splayed all around her, light tangles from all the tossing and turning in her sleep. He sighed in content, feeling fortunate to wake up next to such a beautiful sight every morning.
With her tank top bunching up around her midriff, his eyes wandered down to her rounded stomach, a part of him still unable to believe that a child - their child - was growing in there. It was amazing how quickly the months had passed. He swore it was only yesterday that they saw those two lines that told them they would be parents. So much had changed since then, but there was still so much to prepare for.
As he let the thought resonate with him, Vicky began to stir where she lay, heavy eyelids struggling to open. Standing tall before his gradually waking wife, he held up the tray he had been carrying, as if ready to put on a good show. Then, he greeted her with his usual wide smile, tilting his head like an eager puppy. “Good morning, Victoria!”
“Glam?” She grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What the hell? How long have you been standing there?”
He peeked over at the clock. “Approximately three minutes and seventeen seconds. You looked so at peace that I didn’t want to wake you.”
Now fully conscious, Vicky propped herself up with her elbows to get a better look at him. “What’s all this?” She eyed the tray skeptically. “Breakfast in bed? You said you didn’t like the mess.”
“I thought we could make an exception.” He chirped, carefully setting the meal down in front of her, “I’ll change and clean the sheets after I finish with my lessons later.”
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for those?”
“I made sure to schedule my students past the afternoon today. I wanted to spend my time with you this morning.” He settled down next to her, caressing her unruly hair. “Enjoy.”
With her husband hovering at her side, she studied the contents of the tray- two slices of buttered toast with scrambled egg whites and spinach, a bowl of sliced fruit, topped off with a cup of hot tea. It was the usual hearty breakfast Glam liked to prepare, but she took a pause at the small platter sitting on the corner.
“An extra side of sausages?” She squinted at him.
“I know you’ve been craving it lately.” He replied nonchalantly, clasping his hands together. “There’s no harm in occasional indulgences.”
Although still unsure of his intent, she couldn’t argue with such a loaded meal in front of him. So she dug in, practically shovelling the food in her mouth without any regard for etiquette. In her current state, her appetite had become almost insatiable, but luckily her husband always stepped up to meet the demand. He was more than happy to watch her enjoy the food he made, especially if it also meant giving their child the nutrition they needed.
Once she finished her breakfast in record time, Vicky tidied up the empty plates, stacking them onto each other where they would fit. She was about to try standing up with the tray when Glam took it from her hands.
“I’ll take care of that.” He insisted in a sing-songy tone, setting it on the floor next to them.
Fed up with the special treatment, she threw her hands down in frustration. “Okay, what’s the deal? Why are you doing all this?”
“The doctor wanted you to keep physical activity to an absolute minimum.” He reminded her, rearranging a few pillows before lightly guiding her to recline again. “I know that you’re not happy with that advice, so I want to make sure it’s still a pleasant experience for you.”
“We talked about this, Glam.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. I don’t need some smartass doctor telling me I can’t-” As she readjusted herself to argue, she winced in pain, immediately catching her husband’s attention.
“Are you alright?” He asked, setting a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Yeah, just my back killing me again.”
“Is there anything I can do to make it better for you?”
“Come on, you know you don’t have to spoil me.” Vicky grunted, squeezing her lower back in a feeble attempt to roll out the knots.
“Here, allow me.” He said, reaching both hands out to the offending area on her body.
“Glam, don’t worry about it. I can- oh, fuck.” She moaned, melting into the message her husband had started just above her hips. “Damn, that’s fucking good.”
He continued to rub her lower back, slowly working his way up to her shoulders. She had to admit, it was a relaxing sensation, one that she desperately needed. Pouting, she folded her arms over her chest. “Okay, okay. I get it. I’ll take it easy for the day.” She pointed her finger up at him, almost like brandishing a weapon. “But I’m back on my feet tomorrow.”
“That’s fair enough.” He complied after a moment, “But you still need to take things easier than usual. I would hate for any harm to come to you or the baby.”
Vicky whipped her head over her shoulder to face him, ready to argue, but seeing the genuine concern in his eyes, she backed down. “Fine.” With a heavy sigh, she sneered at her stomach. “Not even born yet and you’re already giving me trouble…”
“It’ll be good for the both of you, Vicky.” He assured, giving her shoulder one final squeeze before pulling away.
“Yeah, yeah.” She rolled her eyes again, though it was difficult to stay mad at someone as well-meaning as her husband. “I guess it’s back to reading.” She gestured to the nightstand with her thumb, where a tall stack of parenting books was resting- the ones Glam had collected over the past few months. There was a thick, pastel colored book she didn’t recognize at the very top, earning an eyebrow raise from her.
“Hey, what’s this?” She asked her husband, certain he had something to do with it.
“A book of potential names.” He picked it up from the stack, offering it to Vicky. “I found it while I was running errands yesterday. I thought it would be a good time to start considering a few options.”
Curious, she took it into her hands, studying the cover for a moment. “Have you looked at any of ‘em yet?”
“No, I wanted to hear your opinion first.”
Shrugging, she opened it up, Glam peeking over her shoulder as she flipped through it.
“How about this one?” He piped up, pointing to a name at the top of the current page. “It means ‘powerful in battle’.”
“Eh, cool meaning but the actual name?” She scrunched her nose in disgust. “No way.”
“Well, this one sounds nice.”
“Please. That’ll get our kid bullied.”
“How do you feel about this one?”
“Way too long. Imagine calling that out for dinner.”
“How about this one?”
“Ugh, forget it.” Tossing the book away, Vicky crossed her arms. “These names are lame. I’m not going through hell carrying a baby for nine months just to call it ‘Tom’.” She looked up at her husband, brows furrowed in annoyance. “There’s gotta be something better out there.”
“We can always come up with a name on our own.” Glam suggested. “Sometimes, couples find one based on something significant to them, like their shared interests, first meeting-”
“First meeting, huh? Let’s see what we got here.” Victoria puckered her lips, looking upwards as she tried to come up with a list of words. “Hot dog. Keys. Motorcycle Crash. Hospital… nope, not finding any good names there.” She began to laugh, peering down at her swollen stomach. “But that’s gonna be one hell of a story to tell you someday.”
Glam’s eyes twinkled at the thought of reliving that memory with their future child. “We will have plenty of great stories to tell them.”
“You bet.” Vicky agreed, a mischievous smirk on her face. “And a lot of great music to show ‘em too.”
Glam thought to himself for a moment before chiming in with, “Why not start now?”
Without waiting for a response, he rose from the bed to retrieve something on the other side of the room. A little frustrated by her limited range of movement, Vicky craned her neck for a better look. “What are you doing?”
Smiling, he returned to her with a walkman in hand before wrapping the small headphones around her stomach. She shook her head in amusement, a laugh escaping her. “You’re ridiculous.”
“At this point in development, the baby should be able to hear external sounds.” He explained, powering up the music player. “The auditory stimulation would be good for them.”
On that note, Vicky remembered some of the books she and Glam looked through, how expecting parents would play classical music so their kids would grow up to be geniuses. She groaned at the idea. “You’re not gonna play Mozart or something, are you?”
“Never.” He pressed play on the device, and they could just barely hear a familiar drum intro coming from the headphones.
“Twisted Sister, huh?” Vicky chuckled in relief. “Yeah, I guess I should’ve known.”
Allowing herself to relax, she sunk into her nest of pillows, closing her eyes. Glam laid down next to her, face pressed up against her stomach. He wrapped a hand over it, tracing the curve with his thumb. Although faint, the two listened to the song playing from the headphones.
We’re not gonna take it!
No, we ain’t gonna take it!
We’re not gonna take it anymore!
Glam’s eyes lit up as he felt a flutter of strong kicks under his hand. Ecstatic, he glanced up to see his wife’s reaction, but her face was twisted in a deep grimace, fists clutching the blankets at her side. His grin immediately faltered. “Victoria, is something wrong?”
She batted a hand in the air. “I’m okay. Just feels like the kid is trying to break my ribs or something.”
Concerned, he sat up, softly stroking her thigh. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’ll survive.” Despite the pain, her lips quirked up in a smile. “I’m just glad somebody’s a fan.”
“Well, I’d expect any child of ours to have impeccable music taste.” Glam silently wondered if they would develop his knack for playing it, too, but only time would tell. Still, this was a good start, already getting a reaction to the band that had changed his life. After a moment, he gently set a hand on the bump. “It runs in the family. Don’t you think, Dee?”
Vicky paused, raising a brow at him. “What did you say?”
“Dee.”
“What, like David or Diana…”
“Nope. Just Dee.”
“That’s the Twisted Sister guy, right?”
“Yes.”
She snorted, “You would wanna name our kid after him.”
“Yes.” He continued, “It’s a unique name, unlike the others we had browsed through. It has personal meaning to at least one parent. And it can be used regardless of the baby’s gender.” He took hold of her hand, squeezing it gently. “But it’s only a suggestion. We won’t go through with it unless you like it too.”
Vicky hummed to herself, tapping at her chin as she considered the idea. “Dee.” She repeated, slowly nodding in approval. “Vicky, Glam, and Dee.”
“That sounds like a reasonable family unit.” With that statement, he felt a light kick under the hand still resting on Vicky’s stomach. “It seems like we’re all in agreement then.” He looked over at his wife, full of pride and excitement. “Our firstborn child will be called Dee.”
“Firstborn?” She hollered out, incredulous, “Our only. After this little demon, I am not doing this shit again.”
Enamored by her brutal honesty, he planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. “We’ll do whatever works best for you, Vicky.”