mpreg jackrry, part 8
Nov. 5th, 2017 12:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ferryboatpeakJack is more than relieved to get a text on Monday that says mango week. He resolves to take it down a notch, to be cool. Harry’s obviously got other shit going on and Jack seems to keep doing the wrong thing. There’s mango salsa on his fish taco at lunch; he sends a photo. That seems safe enough. Harry asks if he’s coming to the 20-week ultrasound and Jack relaxes a little.
When he finally sees Harry two weeks later, all of a sudden he looks pregnant, two small worn holes in his Patterson Dental t-shirt stretched tight over his belly. Jack says something like, “Sorry again about golf,” as they wait for Harry’s name to be called.
“Don’t worry about it.” Harry scootches down in his waiting room chair and leans his head back against the wall. “He had to find out sometime. It wasn’t going to be pretty no matter what.”
“Can I ask…” Jack trails off.
Harry groans. “We’ve been friends since college. Hooked up a couple of times last year” -- Jack grinds his teeth, but quietly, so Harry won’t see -- “and I didn’t… I wasn’t too smart about it, I guess. He thought it was more and I didn’t realize, or didn’t want to realize, maybe. It’s kind of been weird ever since. I haven’t, like… brought anyone around since then, so this” -- Harry gestures at his belly -- “it’s sort of like, well, now it’s obvious it’s not him and me, so.”
Jack says something about how that makes it particularly awful that he was the one to let the news slip to Niall, and Harry kind of quirks his mouth to the side and says actually it wasn’t the worst, if you weren’t there Niall would have probably started getting ideas about adopting the baby, gonna make an honest man of me. Jack can’t quite manage to laugh.
Harry changes the subject. “We find out boy or girl today.” When Jack doesn’t immediately respond, still thinking about Niall being hung up on Harry, Harry adds, “I can ask them to just tell me if you don’t want to know.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to know?” Jack asks, surprised.
“Some people don’t,” Harry says. “People like a surprise, I guess.”
“I think we’ve had enough surprises,” Jack says.
Everything’s in order on the scan, all fingers and toes accounted for and organs measuring right and heart still pumping away. “Hey, is that…” Jack points at the screen. “It is NOT,” Harry insists. “He’s right,” the technician says. “It’s a boy.” [LIZ THIS IS FOR YOU, this baby may have Jack’s red hair but i thought you would appreciate him inheriting his other father’s purportedly enormous balls, readily identifiable on an ultrasound even by a layperson.]
Jack pumps his fist. Harry sighs. “He’s going to wear all the pink he wants.”
“Well, sure,” Jack says.
Harry looks surprised. “...you don’t mind?”
“Why would I mind? Dress him however you want.” After a moment’s reflection, Jack adds, “I mean, as long as you’re cool with me getting him a kilt. And a Pats jersey.”
“He’ll have to wear his Packers jersey every other Sunday.”
“Deal.”
“When does he wear the kilt?”
“Special occasions,” Jack says, with great dignity. “Weddings... funerals… beer pong...”
Harry tilts his head, considering. “I bet you look good in a kilt.”
“I look awesome.” Jack does not know much, but he knows this with great certainty. His kilt has definitely gotten him laid at at least two weddings.
“I’d like to see that sometime,” Harry says, smiling crookedly at Jack,
The next week Harry kind of nervously asks if Jack will come to partner week at his prenatal yoga class, and of course Jack is gonna say yes to anything, despite being definitely Not Into Yoga. Harry says something about how the class is going over some stuff that’s useful for labor and Jack says “um… am I going to be there?” and Harry gets flustered, “only if you want to be, you don’t have to, not a big deal, i can find somebody else…” and Jack’s all “of COURSE i’ll be there, I want to be” (he’s not 100 percent sure whether he actually wants to, but if Harry asks, Jack’s going to do it).
Harry of course is Very Into Yoga and seems right at home in this studio full of people who are varying degrees of pregnant, and Jack is kind of enjoying how everyone assumes they’re a couple, and everything’s grand until the class actually starts. Turns out prenatal yoga involves a lot of sitting knee to knee and looking into each other’s eyes and trying to synchronize their breathing and poses where Jack presses on Harry’s lower back, which Jack assumes are probably all unexceptional things for everyone else in the class, who appear to be actual partners and probably touch each other all the time, but for Jack, who hasn’t touched anyone (and in particular hasn’t touched Harry) for 22 weeks (papaya), it is kind of a lot and he spends the class focusing real hard on not getting an inappropriate erection.
The dunkirk tech bros, who are all some combination of confounded/sympathetic/inappropriate about Jack’s situation, are united in their enthusiasm about the “it’s a boy” announcement. They all toast to Jack’s son, and then Fionn kind of ruins the moment by saying, “But you’re not together, right? How do you know for sure it’s yours?” (Socially-awkward-bordering-on-blunt programmer Fionn is maybe probably somewhere on the spectrum, which is why he does so well with people like Barry, who just decide he’s their friend and treat him that way whether he likes it or not.)
Jack realizes he hasn’t thought about this issue in… a while? a few weeks? (since pear? avocado?) “The timing works out...” he says.
“Yeah, but you only saw him that one night, right?” Barry says, on the scent now. “Guy like that, could have gotten laid every night that week.”
“Aren’t there ways to find out?” Fionn asks. He’s already got his phone up, googling.
“Careful what you search, bro, you’re gonna get targeted ads like you’re some player,” Barry cackles.
“Too late,” Fionn says, scrolling. “Hey, they can do a blood test, like now, or you can take a saliva sample from the baby…”
Jack cuts him off. “I’m not going to make Harry take a blood test,”
“Yeah, easier to just do the saliva thing,” Barry says. “You could be totally off the hook, right?”
“Sure,” Jack says. “Sure.”
When he finally sees Harry two weeks later, all of a sudden he looks pregnant, two small worn holes in his Patterson Dental t-shirt stretched tight over his belly. Jack says something like, “Sorry again about golf,” as they wait for Harry’s name to be called.
“Don’t worry about it.” Harry scootches down in his waiting room chair and leans his head back against the wall. “He had to find out sometime. It wasn’t going to be pretty no matter what.”
“Can I ask…” Jack trails off.
Harry groans. “We’ve been friends since college. Hooked up a couple of times last year” -- Jack grinds his teeth, but quietly, so Harry won’t see -- “and I didn’t… I wasn’t too smart about it, I guess. He thought it was more and I didn’t realize, or didn’t want to realize, maybe. It’s kind of been weird ever since. I haven’t, like… brought anyone around since then, so this” -- Harry gestures at his belly -- “it’s sort of like, well, now it’s obvious it’s not him and me, so.”
Jack says something about how that makes it particularly awful that he was the one to let the news slip to Niall, and Harry kind of quirks his mouth to the side and says actually it wasn’t the worst, if you weren’t there Niall would have probably started getting ideas about adopting the baby, gonna make an honest man of me. Jack can’t quite manage to laugh.
Harry changes the subject. “We find out boy or girl today.” When Jack doesn’t immediately respond, still thinking about Niall being hung up on Harry, Harry adds, “I can ask them to just tell me if you don’t want to know.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to know?” Jack asks, surprised.
“Some people don’t,” Harry says. “People like a surprise, I guess.”
“I think we’ve had enough surprises,” Jack says.
Everything’s in order on the scan, all fingers and toes accounted for and organs measuring right and heart still pumping away. “Hey, is that…” Jack points at the screen. “It is NOT,” Harry insists. “He’s right,” the technician says. “It’s a boy.” [LIZ THIS IS FOR YOU, this baby may have Jack’s red hair but i thought you would appreciate him inheriting his other father’s purportedly enormous balls, readily identifiable on an ultrasound even by a layperson.]
Jack pumps his fist. Harry sighs. “He’s going to wear all the pink he wants.”
“Well, sure,” Jack says.
Harry looks surprised. “...you don’t mind?”
“Why would I mind? Dress him however you want.” After a moment’s reflection, Jack adds, “I mean, as long as you’re cool with me getting him a kilt. And a Pats jersey.”
“He’ll have to wear his Packers jersey every other Sunday.”
“Deal.”
“When does he wear the kilt?”
“Special occasions,” Jack says, with great dignity. “Weddings... funerals… beer pong...”
Harry tilts his head, considering. “I bet you look good in a kilt.”
“I look awesome.” Jack does not know much, but he knows this with great certainty. His kilt has definitely gotten him laid at at least two weddings.
“I’d like to see that sometime,” Harry says, smiling crookedly at Jack,
The next week Harry kind of nervously asks if Jack will come to partner week at his prenatal yoga class, and of course Jack is gonna say yes to anything, despite being definitely Not Into Yoga. Harry says something about how the class is going over some stuff that’s useful for labor and Jack says “um… am I going to be there?” and Harry gets flustered, “only if you want to be, you don’t have to, not a big deal, i can find somebody else…” and Jack’s all “of COURSE i’ll be there, I want to be” (he’s not 100 percent sure whether he actually wants to, but if Harry asks, Jack’s going to do it).
Harry of course is Very Into Yoga and seems right at home in this studio full of people who are varying degrees of pregnant, and Jack is kind of enjoying how everyone assumes they’re a couple, and everything’s grand until the class actually starts. Turns out prenatal yoga involves a lot of sitting knee to knee and looking into each other’s eyes and trying to synchronize their breathing and poses where Jack presses on Harry’s lower back, which Jack assumes are probably all unexceptional things for everyone else in the class, who appear to be actual partners and probably touch each other all the time, but for Jack, who hasn’t touched anyone (and in particular hasn’t touched Harry) for 22 weeks (papaya), it is kind of a lot and he spends the class focusing real hard on not getting an inappropriate erection.
The dunkirk tech bros, who are all some combination of confounded/sympathetic/inappropriate about Jack’s situation, are united in their enthusiasm about the “it’s a boy” announcement. They all toast to Jack’s son, and then Fionn kind of ruins the moment by saying, “But you’re not together, right? How do you know for sure it’s yours?” (Socially-awkward-bordering-on-blunt programmer Fionn is maybe probably somewhere on the spectrum, which is why he does so well with people like Barry, who just decide he’s their friend and treat him that way whether he likes it or not.)
Jack realizes he hasn’t thought about this issue in… a while? a few weeks? (since pear? avocado?) “The timing works out...” he says.
“Yeah, but you only saw him that one night, right?” Barry says, on the scent now. “Guy like that, could have gotten laid every night that week.”
“Aren’t there ways to find out?” Fionn asks. He’s already got his phone up, googling.
“Careful what you search, bro, you’re gonna get targeted ads like you’re some player,” Barry cackles.
“Too late,” Fionn says, scrolling. “Hey, they can do a blood test, like now, or you can take a saliva sample from the baby…”
Jack cuts him off. “I’m not going to make Harry take a blood test,”
“Yeah, easier to just do the saliva thing,” Barry says. “You could be totally off the hook, right?”
“Sure,” Jack says. “Sure.”
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Date: 2017-11-05 04:36 pm (UTC)i also love the tech bros obviously, and fionn maybe being on the spectrum (and his friendship with barry works because barry just TREATS HIM NORMALLY. AHHH.) also the highs and lows of this, of jack taking on more and more responsibility and then getting pressure from his boys to get himself off the hook. i feel like i need to pop popcorn for the next installment lmao
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Date: 2017-11-05 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-05 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-05 05:16 pm (UTC)i'm rubbing my hands together with glee anticipating the paternity test angst that's about to arise. also harry just casually asking jack along to staring-into-each-other's-eyes-and-touching baby yoga. harry loves unbroken eye contact.
this is my favorite thing: The dunkirk tech bros, who are all some combination of confounded/sympathetic/inappropriate about Jack’s situation, are united in their enthusiasm about the “it’s a boy” announcement.
also HARRY GETTING FLUSTERED ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT JACK WANTS TO BE THERE AT THE BIRTH. WOULD HE HAVE ASKED NIALL INSTEAD. WOULD NIALL HAVE GRIPPED HIS HAND VERY TIGHTLY AND POSSIBLY PASSED OUT AND/OR BLURTED OUT A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL, AND HARRY WOULD'VE BEEN LIKE 'NIALL I THINK WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT THIS BUT MAYBE NOT RIGHT NOW' just some options. i'm glad jack's going to be there though lol.