A Special Anniversary

Zacky sighed as he watched Brian, once again, tuning his guitar. The man payed more attention to that damn instrument than he did to his own husband.

It was their five year anniversary, and Brian was acting like it was just another day. Like nothing special was happening.

Zacky had to admit it: Their marriage had lost it’s spark over the last year or so.

Watching as Brian smiled down at the guitar while he played a few notes, Zacky finally had enough. He slammed down the box of macaroni he had in his hand and walked off upstairs. Unfortunately for Zacky, it turned into a dead sprint as he reached the top of the stairs.

The nausea was back. Again.

Unaware Brian had heard him get angry and slam down the box, then follow, he was surprised when he felt hands stroking his back gently as he prayed to the porcelain gods.

“Zee, baby, how long have you been getting sick like this?” Brian asked as the heaving finally let up and Zacky relaxed.

Wiping his mouth with the damp washcloth, Zacky replied “About two weeks now. I thought it was something I ate at first, or a stomach bug. I don’t think it’s something I’ve been eating or a stomach bug anymore.”

Brian nodded softly and thought back over the past two weeks.

Zacky had been more tired than usual, sleeping in a lot later than normal, and had been throwing up several times a day.

Brian had no idea at first what could be causing Zacky’s sickness, but then a thought dawned on him.

“Baby...Do you think you’re pregnant?” he asked softly, watching as Zacky’s eyes grew wide and stared at him in disbelief.

“No. N-no. I can’t be pregnant. We’ve been using protection. Haven’t we?” Zacky asked, still staring up at his husband.

Brian started nodding, then thought back about a month and stopped.

“What? Brian, what’s wrong?”

“Do you remember when we went to Jimmy’s birthday party last month? We got pretty buzzed and stayed over in his spare room?” Brian asked.

“Yeah. We woke up with huge hangovers and two cups of Jimmy’s miracle hangover cure waiting for us in the kitchen. What does that have to do with anything?”

Brian sighed softly and said “We had sex that night, babe. Remember? You kept begging me to suck you off so you could go to sleep, then you begged me to fuck you.”

“What’s your point here, Bri?” Zacky asked, growing annoyed rather quickly.

“We didn’t use a condom. And we had sex twice that night.”

Zacky’s eyes grew wide, and he quickly got up, brushing his teeth and cleaning himself up before going into their room and pulling on his shoes, jacket, hat, and grabbing his wallet, car keys, and cell phone.

“Baby, where are you going?” Brian asked, walking out of the bathroom.

“We are going to the store to buy a pregnancy test.”

“We?”

“Yes. We. Get your shoes on.” Zacky told him, grabbing his cigarettes and putting one in his mouth, lighting it quickly and taking a few drags from it before handing it to Brian, who took a few drags of his own and handed it back.

Brian was ready just two minutes later and the two left the house, taking Zacky’s car to the small drug store just down the road from their house.

Zacky demanded Brian stay in the car, and went inside alone, going straight to the family planning section and grabbing three boxes of male pregnancy tests of different brands.

Each box had one test, so he figured that his chances were good that he would get a definite answer.

Tossing the boxes on the counter, he also bought two packs of cigarettes, knowing he and Brian would probably smoke all of them before the night was over.

Paying for the items quickly, he went back to the car and the two headed home, with Brian simply staring at his husband.

They’d talked before about having children one day, but they both figured they were still at least two or three more years away from that.

Once they were back home, Zacky quickly cut off the car and near ran into the house, and up to their bathroom, slamming the door and opening the boxes, taking out the tests from each box.

He read the instructions on each, then did as told, peeing on the end of each one for five seconds, before he was done and lined them up, waiting for them to be done.

He walked out of the bathroom and found Brian sitting on the end of their bed, waiting for him.

“How long before we know?”

“About five minutes.” Zacky replied, standing awkwardly in front of his husband for the first time in almost fifteen years.

Brian opened his arms for his husband, and smiled softly when Zacky stepped into his open arms, sitting down his lap and laying his head on his shoulder.

They stayed like that until one of them looked at the clock, seeing it had been almost ten minutes.

“We’ll do this together, okay?” Brian told him, smiling when Zacky nodded and took a deep breath before going into the bathroom, Brian holding his hand.

They each took a test, leaving the third on the counter, and looked at one another.

“One line is negative, two is positive.” Zacky told him softly before looking down at the test he held in a death grip.

Brian looked at his own, and saw the two, vivid blue lines on the test he held, causing a smile to break out on his face.

Zacky did the same, and saw the same two blue lines, tears forming in his eyes.

“Together?” Brian asked.

Zacky nodded softly as Brian counted down from three.

“Three....Two....One.”

“Positive.” they both said aloud, at the same time, startling the other.

Zacky dropped the test in his hand and picked up the third, studying it for just seconds before he dropped it onto the counter again, tears running down his face.

“Holy shit, Bri....We’re having a baby.”

Brian dropped the test onto the counter and picked Zacky up carefully, carrying him into the bedroom, and kissing him deeply as he laid Zacky back on the bed.

“This is a much better anniversary present than what I planned.” Brian said, a huge smile on his face.

He looked down at Zacky and saw the big, teary smile on his face, making his own split even bigger.

“Oh? What did you get for me, then?”

“I was going to ask you to marry me again. I wanted to renew our vows tonight.”

“What? Oh, Bri, that’s amazing. I love you so much!” Zacky said, hugging his amazingly sweet husband tightly.

Brian laughed softly and sat up a bit. “I think this is cause for us to postpone it to next month.”

“Just wait until the guys find out.” Zacky said with a soft laugh.

That triggered something in Brian’s head, which made a huge smile spread over the man’s face.

“Get your phone out and get ready to take a picture.”

Zacky did as told but didn’t understand until Brian laid all three tests down on the bed in front of him.

Smirking, Zacky snapped the picture of the three positive tests and looked to his husband.

“Who all should I send it to?”

“Matt, Jimmy, Johnny, and our parents. For now.” Brian said with a smile.

Zacky did as told and smiled, laying on the bed next to his husband, waiting for the many texts and calls to come flooding in demanding explanation or simply conveying congratulations.

Brian wrapped Zacky up in his arms and kissed his husband lightly on the lips, whispering softly “Happy anniversary, baby.”

Zacky smiled and pulled Brian closer. “Happy anniversary, sweetheart.”

The two then lay in silence for nearly five minutes before the first phone call arrived, disturbing their peace and calling them back to reality.