It was the first time in a long while that he’d felt helpless.
“They’ll be here in nine minutes,” Damien relayed upon hanging up. “What’s going on?”
While he’d been on the phone, xV and Glit had approached the bed, peeled back the blankets, and convinced Matthew to disrobe. Matthew had propped himself into a partially seated position, his legs tented and his torso elevated thanks to the support of his elbows. Sweat plastered his hair to his forehead and glistened on his chest.
Gwynn hovered nearby, his face ashen with worry. Harley and TD had politely turned their backs to the bed, preserving Matthew’s modesty. Damien was glad they had—Matthew was beautiful no matter how big he got, but now that pain consumed him, the gorgeous boy Damien knew had taken a backseat to a different person: small, painfully frail, and scared. It made Damien want to kiss him until his perfect boy returned, but his prince wouldn’t be awoken by true love’s kiss, and no amount of bibbidi-bobbidi-boo could magic him back to normal. All Damien could do was trust his friends and put his faith in the medical system.
“Oh,” xV said.
“Oh?” Damien whipped his head in xV’s direction.
“The baby’s about to be born,” Glit elaborated. Like xV, a mask of professionalism stripped the emotion from his face. “The ambulance isn’t going to make it—we’re not even going to have time to take him downstairs.”
“Ithurts,” Matthew hissed through clenched teeth. “Damien.”
“I’m here, baby.” Damien squeezed Matthew’s hand. “I’m here. You’re doing a great job.”
“Push,” xV instructed. “Push, Matthew. You’re almost there. Just once more and—”
Matthew screamed and crushed Damien’s hand with a viselike grip. Seconds later, his voice was joined by another. It was shrill and bright, and it did what Damien thought nothing could do—it took away his fear.
“Oh my god,” Damien whispered. He watched xV pat the small, goopy, human-shaped lump with one of their bathroom towels, then tie off its umbilical cord with a length of dental floss.
The baby had survived.
“Oh, Matthew, my sweet baby boy,” Damien uttered, astonished. He stroked the back of Matthew’s hand with his thumb in time to the rhythm of his heart.
Matthew sniffled. “Is the baby okay? Please tell me it’s okay.”
“Better than okay.” xV approached the bedside and laid the baby on Matthew’s chest. Matthew made a breathy noise of delight and wrapped the child up in his arms. “Taking you both to the hospital for a more thorough examination is in your best interest, but as far as I can tell, both father and child are healthy. Based on the limited information I have regarding Matthew’s general well-being and prior conditions, I’d hypothesis that a combination of a short, unusually intense labor and dehydration was to blame for the presenting symptoms.”
“That’s doctor-speak for ‘you need to drink some water,’” Glit concluded, extending one of the water bottles to Matthew. Damien took it from him, twisted off the cap, and presented the bottle to Matthew, who smiled at him in a shy but smitten way that made Damien’s heart sing.
He’d thought that the day he’d exposed Bankes for the snake he was, showered Whitcroft in penis confetti, and proposed to Matthew would always be the pinnacle of his existence, but seeing Matthew hold their newborn proved him wrong. Damien’s heart brimmed with love, then overflowed. The only thing better than seeing Matthew hold their child would be when he had both the baby and Emily in his arms.
“Is the baby a boy or a girl?” Damien asked while he imagined how over the moon Emily would be when they picked her up from her Grammie’s.
Matthew’s brow flattened incredulously. He pushed aside the umbilical cord.
Damien widened his eyes. “Right then. Boy. For sure.”
There came an excited noise from elsewhere in the room—TD was vibrating with excitement. “Can we look now?”
“No, you may not look at my infant son’s genitals. You’ll have to take my word for it.”
“No.” TD heaved an exasperated sigh. “I mean can we meet the baby?”
xV draped one of the towels over Matthew’s lap to offer him some privacy. “Look quickly—the ambulance will be here in a minute.”
Now that they’d been granted permission, the Single Dads flocked around Matthew. Gwynn stood proudly at his side, his eyes filled with tender adoration. TD stood close and cooed over the baby. Harley observed from behind them while Glit and xV finished several small delivery-related tasks, one of which was disposing of their used gloves.
“He’s beautiful, Knot,” Harley said.
Damien ran a hand through the shock of dark hair on his son’s head. “He is, isn’t he? He already takes after Matthew.”
Matthew smiled.
“What are you going to name him?” TD asked.
