Pretty Boy

Jacob and I were good. We were really good. We each went to different colleges in Iowa but it was easy enough for us to visit each other. I studied creative writing and Jacob studied advertising and communications. We recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary. It was kind of amazing, 10 years since Jacob had come out at the end of football season and we’d become an official couple. Five years since we’d got married. I proposed to Jacob as soon as we graduated from college in the apartment we’d been living in together for the final 2 years of college. I’d been thinking about proposing for ages. I knew that by the time Jacob got up the guts to propose to me, we’d be starting to go grey. And I wasn’t that bothered about him proposing to me, I just wanted to marry him. I thought about it for a long time, wondering whether I should make it a big thing or not. In the end, I decided that Jacob probably wouldn’t like it being a big event, so one evening after we’d eaten dinner, I took his hands in mine and just asked him. Jacob had been stunned for a moment but then he’d leant forward and kissed me. “Yes,” he’d whispered. “Thank you for having the balls to ask. I’ve been hoping you would.” I’d grinned and kissed him again.

So now we’ve been married for 5 years. And it’s been pretty great. Jacob works at an advertising agency and I work at a publishers in the graphic novels department. We’re both in great place, career-wise, but there was something missing at home. Jacob and I had discussed having a family near the beginning of our relationship, just to make sure we were in the same page when it came to having children. But beyond agreeing that we both wanted them, we hadn’t really talked much more about it. But we were 27, almost 28, and I was starting to think I wanted to start the adoption process. At least, I wanted to have a child before we were 30. Jacob hadn’t brought it up in the last couple years and I knew that if we were going to discuss it, it was something I’d have to initiate.

I always get home ebfore Jacob in the evenings because he works half an hour later than I do and he has a slightly longer commute. But its just enough time for me to get dinner started. I don’t always cook for when he gets home. Sometimes I wait and we cook dinner together. Or we just get take out. But I wanted tonight to go to plan. I’d make dinner, we’d sit and eat together, and I’d bring up the idea of starting the adoption process.

“I’m home!” Jacob called about 5 minutes before the time I was expecting him and I called out that I was in the kitchen. “Smells good,” he said, crossing the kitchen to place a kiss to my lips. We lived in a small 2 bedroom house that we’d managed to buy after saving for a couple years. I loved it. We’d knocked through a couple of the walls downstairs to make the living room and dining room more open but we’d kept the rest of the layout the same. We’d decorated and after several years, we finally had the house just as we wanted it. At the moment, the spare bedroom was half guest room, half storage but I knew that would be easy enough to fix up.

“Hope you’re hungry,” I smiled, turning back to the stir-fry that was almost finished.

“Starving,” he said, loosening his tie. “Rough day.” I frowned softly and looked up at him.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Just long,” he sighed, leaning against the counter. “Everyone’s stressing over this account so it’s not exactly a fun environment right now.” He rubbed his forehead and I set my spatula down and moved in front of him. I took his hand and guided him to the table and made him sit. I straddled his lap and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“Maybe your day will pick up,” I said with a grin and Jacob blushed. I loved that I could still make him blush. I rocked my hips slightly and felt his jeans shifting beneath me. “I think it’s starting already.” Jacob rested his hands on my hips and tugged me into him.

“What about dinner?” he asked and I smiled softly and climbed off his lap to turn off the heat on the stove.

“It’s ready anyway, we can just reheat it once I’ve taken care of you,” I said, moving to stand in front of him again before sinking to my knees. I looked up at Jacob and smiled at him.

About 10 minutes later, I turned the heat back on and waited for the stir-fry to start sizzling again. Jacob had gone up to our bedroom to change as I cooked and I smiled softly. Jacob was back only a few minutes later, as I was dishing our dinner into two plates. Jacob came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Maybe I should start complaining about my day more often if that’s what I can expect when I get home,” he said, pressing a kiss to my neck. I laughed and turned around to face him.

“I dunno, I feel like I’ll see through that plan fairly quickly,” I said, picking up the plates and taking them to the table. “But I dunno…I kind of enjoy it too.” I grinned at him and licked my lips, making him blush again. Still so freaking adorable, even after 10 years.

We ate in silence for a minute and then I glanced over at him. “Uh, there was actually something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about,” I said and Jacob looked up at him.

“Everything okay?” he asked and I smiled and reached for his free hand and entwined our fingers.

“Everything’s fine,” I smiled. “Great, in fact. But, um, I’ve been thinking about that second bedroom…” I watched something flicker over Jacob’s face but I couldn’t identify it before it was gone.

“Okay,” he said, prompting me to go on.

“And I was thinking maybe we could start trying to…fill it,” I said and Jacob gazed at me.

“Fill it with…” he whispered and I bit my lip for a second before answering.

“A baby,” I said and Jacob seemed to freeze for a moment before grinning and rising out of his seat to come and stand next to me. He quickly pulled me up and out of my seat and placed a deep kiss on my lips.

“I’ve been thinking that, too,” he whispered. “I think we’re ready. You’d be such a great dad.” I smiled up at him and stroked his cheek.

“So would you,” I said. “We’d be great together. You can teach him how to play football or catch. All the stuff I can't do.”

“And you can teach him to be confident and not give a damn what other people think,” Jacob whispered and I smiled. Though he’d got better, Jacob was still kind of shy. But he was happy to walk down the street holding my hand.

“You know, it might be a girl,” I pointed out and Jacob shrugged.

“So I’ll teach her to play football and you can teach her to be confident,” he said and I grinned.

“I love you so much,” I whispered, stretching up to kiss him.

--

Just over a year later, we had our child. We’d talked long and hard about which route we wanted to take. Whether we wanted to find a surrogate or whether we wanted to adopt. In the end, we went with adoption. There were so many unwanted children in the world and we so desperately wanted one. We decided it was better to take in a child who needed a home rather than find a surrogate. But then, once we decided on adoption, we had to decide on the age. We talked about finding a girl who was pregnant and who didn’t want her baby. We talked about adopting a baby that had recently been born. And we talked about adopting a child. We investigated all areas and we visited an orphanage to explore the options.

I just knew when I saw him. The little blonde boy who couldn’t have been more than 5. All the children in the orphanage were in a large playroom and were running around, laughing, screaming, shouting. And then there was the blonde boy, sitting calmly in the corner, reading. I felt my heart latch onto him and I took Jacob’s hand. I knew what I wanted. I wanted to give that little boy a home. So many people wanted to adopt babies, children who didn’t know that they were adopted. But I wanted this little boy because he deserved to know that someone wanted him.

Michael was shy at first, he hardly said a word, but after I bought a load of comic books home for him and Jacob helped him build a fort, he relaxed and opened up. It took a couple of months but finally, we felt like a family and the little blonde boy we adopted felt like our son. I usually read him a story at night until he fell asleep. And then I just watched him for a while. I stood in the doorway, not wanting to disturb him even though he was deep asleep by that point. “Hey, Mickey asleep?” Jacob asked me, slipping his arm around my waist and I smiled and nodded. “You know, I never thought I’d love someone else as much as I love you…but here he is.” I smiled and turned away from our son and looked up at Jacob.

“I know,” I whispered. “I love you both so much.” Jacob leant down and kissed me tenderly and we silently left Michael’s room, pulling the door to. We headed back downstairs and flopped onto the sofa, wrapped in each other’s arms.

“He asked me earlier why he doesn’t have a mommy,” Jacob said quietly and my heart tightened. I looked up at Jacob, trying to read his expression but I couldn’t.

“What did you say?” I asked and he smiled softly and shook his head.

“Nothing,” he said. “I sort of panicked and didn’t know what to say. But then Mickey just shrugged and said it’s cooler having two daddies because we can all play football together.” I laughed and tears pricked in my eyes as I shook my head and curled into Jacob’s chest. Michael hadn’t called either of us ‘dad’ yet and we’d been happy to let him get there at his own pace.

“You know what this means,” I whispered and Jacob hummed. “You’re going to have to teach me how to play football.” Jacob laughed and pressed a kiss to my lips.

“I’d be honoured, pretty boy,” he said, kissing me again and I smiled against his lips. Yeah, this was going to be a pretty great life.