Page 141 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

Gavin pulled back slightly, looking confused. “I thought three bedrooms was our goal?”

Ben looked from Gavin to Tina. “Well, I was thinking about it and, ya know, room for us, room for Tina, spare room that can double as an office… I just thought one more might be a good idea.” He knew Tina probably wouldn’t live with them forever, probably would move out before the baby needed its own room, but, well, hell. Maybe he’d revisited the kid idea on his own already and hadn’t bothered to talk to Gavin about it. “Plus, ya know, if Mom and Anna ever decide to visit at the same time—come out for the holidays or something—it’d be good to have the extra space.” Hey, that was a good point, right?

Gavin seemed to think so. He nodded like he agreed, at any rate. He turned to Tina. “Why don’t you come with us, Teeny?”

Ben tried to nod encouragingly, but he had no idea how well he did.

Tina shrugged and ran a hand over her belly. “I better not. I’ve got a bunch of schoolwork to catch up on if I’m gonna finish before the baby comes.”

Right. Gavin had set her up in a cyberschool program too. Even Ben had to admit Tina was pretty responsible. He doubted she would’ve gotten pregnant in the first place if she’d had even the slightest information how babies were made and how to prevent it. She’d been working every day on her assignments and seemed to take it all very seriously. Her parents might be nutjobs, but they’d done well with the homeschool stuff. Tina was ahead of the game in most subjects, all but science.

“You sure?” Gavin asked. “Might be good for you to get out of the house, take a little break from your studies.”

When Gavin looked at Ben, he knew it was his turn to supply some enthusiasm. He did his best, but he secretly agreed with Tina. She had a lot on her plate and getting the school stuff out of the way was a solid plan. Mature, even. “Yeah, Tina. And you’ll wanna see your potential room and all, right?”

Tina smiled, but she shook her head. “Nah, you guys go on. I get out every day on my walk, and it’s not like you’re going to actually buy it today, right?”

Yeah, Christ. She was a smart kid and she was doing a bang-up job with all of her prenatal care, eating right, exercising, the works. Ben was getting dangerously close to genuine affection toward her.

“Okay,” Gavin said, looking like he didn’t agree but didn’t want to argue. “We’ll take lots of pictures if we find one we like.”

“Awesome.” She beamed at them. “I’m gonna do my yoga as soon as you leave, then get to work.”

Ben nodded and then said, “We gotta get if we’re gonna meet Joe in time.”

“Right, yeah.” Gavin pulled on his jacket, kissed the top of Tina’s head, and went to the door. “We’ll be back in time for dinner.”

“Go. I’m fine.” Tina laughed and waved a hand at her brother. “I don’t want you to see my big butt while I do downward dog.”

Ben smiled at her, thinking she was all right. He still worried about the parents showing up, still worried Tina might change her mind and head for more familiar ground once the baby came, but he did his damnedest to ignore the anxiety and let her prove him right or wrong. It’s not like he could stop any of it from happening, so why bother?

“Should we take my car?” Gavin asked.

Ben hated Gavin’s car. It was great for Gavin and other tiny people, but Ben felt like he was folding himself into a clown car when he tried to get into the front seat. Even when he put it all the way back, his knees still jammed into the dashboard because he had to scoot down to keep his head from bumping the roof. Those little Bugs were not designed for anyone over six feet tall.

It was time for Ben’s auto response. “Sure, babe. Whatever you want.”

Gavin smiled at him, and they headed for the parking lot.

Whatever you want had become Ben’s mantra. It always seemed to do the trick.

It worked a few days earlier when Gavin and Tina had wanted to order pizza after eleven at night. It worked when Gavin wanted to go buy some stuff for Tina and the baby. It worked when Gavin thought a baby shower with all their queer friends was the best idea ever. Whatever you want kept the peace, and it made good on Ben’s promise to not be an asshole. It would probably drive Ben into an early grave, but what the hell.

Sure, Ben thought pizza might be a bad idea because Tina kept getting heartburn and spicy food seemed to bother her after the fact, but he didn’t want to see Gavin roll his eyes or call him bossy. Tina sat up all night after that, popping Tums and looking for safe remedies online, which made him feel worse. And making their friends buy presents for a kid they didn't even know seemed… rude? Weird? Ben didn't know, but something. Not to mention their crowd could be anywhere from risqué to downright filthy. Maybe Tina would like getting a bondage teddy bear or rubber sheets. Ben doubted it. He doubted she’d even need a shower because Anna was sending them a metric fuckton of her old baby gear. Not that he didn’t want to buy a few things for the baby—new people should have new things—but he wanted to see what they actually needed to buy. The frilly extras could come later. But he didn’t say that either.

Chapter Eighteen

Gavin

Gavin sometimes forgot how small his car actually was. He watched Ben cram himself into the front seat and felt a little guilty. “Maybe we should take your bike…” He’d been less eager about hopping on the back of the bike ever since Tina showed up. Something about having someone who needed him made Gavin think twice about doing things that could end him. Still, Ben looked pretty damned uncomfortable.

“It’s all good,” Ben said as he tried to buckle his seat belt.

“Well, maybe we should think about getting a bigger car.” He started it up and pulled out of his parking spot. “It’ll be hard to get a car seat in the back of this.”

Ben fiddled with the seat position and then looked frustrated before he finally gave up. “Yeah, good idea.”

Come to think of it, Ben had been pretty agreeable for the last several days. Weeks, maybe. It was nice. Really nice, actually. Gavin couldn’t remember the last time they argued over anything. Which was weird. Yeah, their fighting had reached new levels for a bit there, but before that, even in their earlier days, they’d have little flare-ups about stupid shit all the time. Gavin wasn’t sure how he liked this new, excessively compliant Ben. He liked the peace, sure, but… he’d gotten used to Ben being a voice of reason in his life, and Gavin felt like he was on his own now in a way. Just the thought made him uncomfortable.

---