30. Ned #2
“Wonderful.” Abbot goes into the dining room. Ned hears a clink and Abbot reappears with three glasses and a bottle of whiskey, untouched since the last time Ned saw it.
“If I don’t get married, do I get a lawyer?” Pat asks.
“I don’t know. Do you think you need to?” Ned asks.
“She said we could. That I could think about it. And I could decide if I want to be involved.” Pat lets out a bark of a laugh. “Involved?”
“Some guys wouldn’t want to be,” Ned says.
“This is so big. This is so much. It’s a baby. Oh, shit. I’m going to have a kid.”
“You are,” Ned agrees.
“Like an actual little kid that’s mine,” Pat says.
“That’s how it works,” Ned says.
“Holy shit,” Pat breathes. And then he grins. “Ned! I’m going to be a dad!”
“You’re going to be great.” Ned opens the whiskey to pour a bit into each glass. “You’re going to have a little kiddo, and you’re going to be their dad, and Pat, it’s just the best thing ever. Cheers to that.”
Abbot’s smiling too as he clinks his glass against theirs, and Pat’s grinning a dumb, goofy grin.
“Pat, it’s hard as hell and it’s so awesome. You get to tell your folks, and you get to watch them be so excited, and you get to meet this little person.”
“Peggy was so cute,” Pat says.
“She was,” Ned agrees. “And you’re at some point going to be staring at this little tyke and having the biggest feelings in the world, and in that moment they’re going to vomit into your mouth.”
“Wait, what?”
Ned grins at him. “What did you say to Claire this morning? Besides proposing?”
“I had no idea what to say,” Pat says. “I figured there was a good chance she was just coming up to dump me, honestly. Except then she’s telling me about fucking October and no, I have no idea what I said. I think I blacked out. And then I called you.”
Yes, and then lit out across the city to find him, too. Ned can see why, and he leans over to squeeze Pat’s shoulder. “You’ll be okay.”
“I will?”
“You will. And Claire will. Just tell her you’ll be there. Whatever this is like for you, it’s a hundred times more intense for her. So make sure she knows she won’t be alone, and for fuck’s sake don’t try to propose again, alright?”
“I’ll be there for her,” Pat echoes. “Is that it? That’s all I have to do?”
“Well, get ready to pay for a hell of a lot of stuff too,” Ned says. “But you and Claire are good. So keep it that way. That’s the most important thing, right?”
That’s what he and Abbot are banking on, isn’t it? That the strength of their relationship they carried into this latest mess will hold steady for them. It can for Pat and Claire too. “Besides, you have until October to figure out all the details,” Ned says.
“That’s so much time,” Pat agrees and then grips his thighs. “That is only a couple months, what the actual fuck? I’m going to mess this kid up so bad and then they’ll have daddy issues and make terrible fashion choices as a teenager and—”
“You get to have this little buddy who adores you, and who you think is the coolest kid in the world. And it’s so hard, but they’re so hilarious, and Pat, you’re going to be great at it.”
“You will,” Abbot says and at that, Pat finally relaxes.
“Claire’s wonderful,” Ned says. “We like her a lot, and your parents will too.”
“You do?” Pat asks.
“We do,” Ned says. “There are worse people to be doing this with.”
“Better timing, though,” Pat says.
“Sure, but where’s the fun in that?” Ned asks.
“Fun.” Pat sits in silence for a long moment, staring into some middle distance.
Abbot sets his glass down, most of his whiskey untouched. “Liesl texted while I was in the shower. She wants to come over. That likely means she’s already on her way.”
Ah, the real world. Yes, this weekend was always going to end at some point, and apparently now it has.
“It’s not all that fun,” Pat says softly. “I’m so into her. What if this messes all of that up?”
“Don’t let it,” Ned says.
“Okay, suddenly you’re the calm one about relationships?”
Ned ignores him. “Go call Claire. If she’s driving home, she’s probably also obsessing over the talk you two just had. Tell her you’re good, and you and her are good, too. And ask if she needs anything from you right now, okay?”
“Okay,” Pat obediently echoes. “I can do that.”
“Baby steps,” Ned says. “Ha. Literally. Focus on what you can do right now.”
“You should tell him to listen to himself,” Pat says to Abbot, but he stands and pulls out his phone as he walks back to the kitchen.
Ned lets him go, giving him some privacy, and leaning into Abbot when he comes to stand next to him. “We’re going to be uncles.”
“I suppose we are.”
“I’m happy for them. Though it’ll be a hell of a lot harder than if they were together for a while first, but they’ll be alright.”
“I suppose we do know something of backward timing,” Abbot says.
“Worked out for us, didn’t it?”
“I’d say so.”
“We’re really married, huh.”
“Signed the paper and everything,” Abbot says.
“Feels weird.”
“Does it?”
Ned lifts a shoulder. “Feels kinda the same, too. But good.”
“Yes, good.”
“We’re good?”
“We are.”
“And now we just…” Ned gestures, his ring catching the light. “Go to work tomorrow?”
“Well, I’ll change the bedsheets today, first.”
Ned laughs and meets Abbot in a soft kiss, wanting to linger here in this soft happiness of the weekend. The rest of the world is out there, waiting for them, and he doesn’t want it to come rushing in to ruin the last, buoyant joy of their short days together.
Abbot takes his elbows, holding him for a long time, and for one final moment, Ned lets the world fade away: Pat’s voice in the kitchen, the cars on the street outside, the thought of work and the coming week.
They’re really married. It’s…it’s alright, actually.
Not as scary as Ned had feared. It’s still Abbot, and that’s been the best thing about Ned’s life for a good long while now.
Ned wants to linger right where he is, but time spills forward and their kiss ends and Abbot squeezes his arms and lets go when a knock sounds at the door, sending Baxter barking again.
“That’s Liesl,” Abbot says.
And it’s Pat, pocketing his phone and looking marginally calmer. “You two did some damage on takeout,” he says.
Ned feels his smile grow fixed. All that money he spent during the high of the weekend. The bill’s going to come back to him now that he’s settling down to Earth.
Yeah. Great. Life, coming right for them. “Guess the honeymoon is officially over.”
“I suppose it is,” Abbot says.