Comfort

No, don't cry, I hate it when you cry

Alex had a baby. It wasn't his baby, mind you, but it was a baby. Alex wasn't very good with kids, he tried with them, but he was too rough around the edges and his resting bitch face usually made kids cry. Ben used to make fun of him until he realized that his friend was bothered by the fact that kids didn't really like him.

"It's alright, Alex!" Ben would say, "Kids just gotta get used to you!"

But they never did. Most would hide behind their parents or cry or even just ignore him. It hurt, to tell the truth, because Alex one day wanted kids of his own. He never brought it up, the future was in the distance, but it was always the first thought in his head was that would happen. 'Would my kid have the same reaction?' or 'what do I have to change to get kids to not cry?'

That was why he was so nervous. His sister, who had just turned 21 at the beginning of the year, had her first kid with her husband of a year and a half. The little girl was nearly 10 pounds, with a round chubby face that was constantly flushed pink, and dull blue eyes that were already framed by a shocking amount of hair for a newborn. They had left the hospital around a week before and had been staying at his parents house. The baby crying was starting to get annoying, but the baby, given the name Astella, was cute and Alex could forgive her.

But Alex hadn't been prepared for this. He was holding her. Now, he assumed that at some point he would be holding his niece and caring for her, but only 3 weeks after her birth? Dispite being large for a newborn she was so, so small. The poor, nervous teenager felt like he was holding porcelain, very warm, soft porcelain, which was only adding to his nerves. His sister sat next to him, hand on her still inflated stomach.

"Loosen up!" She laughed, "you look like you've got a ruler taped to your back."

"But she's so... so... fragile." Alex looked down at her. She was sleeping, chest rising and falling in a peaceful rhythm. He smiled softly. "I feel like I'm gonna break her or somethin'."

"She'll be fine." The baby stirred. "She's waking up."

"Oh shit."

"Language."

Sobbing. Little heart broken sobs that shot daggers straight into his heart. He couldn't take it. He had talked to the guys about it, the pains of babies crying, and the only person who couldn't seem to understand the pain caused by a sobbing baby was Gray. He had openly said he and kids didn't get along and that babies screaming like banshee's only spiked his already high anxiety. The other had agreed with him though. A baby crying was the most awful feeling, especially when it was you who was holding it.

"No, don't cry, I hate it when you cry."

Astella continued to cry, big, fat tears rolling down her big, fat face. Her legs kicked out, as much as they could, and her head lulled when Alex was trying to get his useless sister to help.

"What am I supposed to do?!"

"Think on your feet!"

Alex jumped up, adjusting the little, screaming, girl to be resting on his shoulder. He began bouncing and walking around, and while it didn't stop her crying it did quiet it. He continued to do this into the kitchen, where he grabbed one of her bottles, filled earlier, and brought it back out to the living room. He sat down slowly, making sure he was fully adjusted before repositioning Astella, who was still crying. She bad begun to drool in the process. His sister nodded with approval as he wiped the baby's mouth before slipping the nipple of the bottle into her mouth. At first she resisted, was too content with crying, before she registered what was happening and began to suckle.

Silence followed.

"She's... not sobbing."

"Nope."

"I got her to stop?"

"Yea, you did, lil' bro." The recovering mother smack his shoulder, gently. "You're gonna make such a good dad one day. If that's what you want."

More silence followed. At first, she had thought she had scared her brother at the idea that he could be a dad. That was until she saw the smile on his face. Wide and dopey, filled with excitement, and matched with a blush falling over his cheeks and soon his ears.

The siblings sat like that for a while, side by side, with a happy, hungry, baby girl curled up in the youngers arms.
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Yall...

Babies are great when they are still really young and they just lay on you all warm and soft... it's when they get older i start having problems.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story!

maybe check out my account and see if you like any of the others 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

Thanks for reading ❤