More Than Us (Ianthony)

Chapter 01: Five Years

Anthony Padilla stood outside of the bathroom, propped up against the wall with his hands in his pockets as he patiently waited for his husband to emerge. His heart was pounding, he was sweating, and his hands were trembling from within his pockets. Him and his husband had been in this situation so many times before, but it always manages to give their nerves a run for their money. Anthony leaned his head back onto the wall and let out a quiet sigh, wiping some cold sweat from his brow and praying to whatever god that might've been listening. For about five years now, Ian and Anthony Padilla have been trying to conceive a child. Neither of them thought it would've been possible, but about a year after they were married, Ian had to go to the hospital for horrible stomach pains. Anthony thought it was something like appendicitis, but the doctors found something other than an infected appendix. During an MRI, they had found that Ian was one of the few 20% of fertile males and that he had unintentionally conceived a baby. Ian and Anthony were overjoyed to know that they were going to be fathers, but their parade didn't last very long. The doctor then went on to tell them that Ian had an ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy in which the egg implants within the fallopian tubes instead of the uterus, and needed to be operated on immediately to remove the fertilized egg. After the operation, Ian was devastated, but Anthony remained hopeful.

"Now that we know you can get pregnant, we can actually try to have a baby now. We'll make an appointment with an OBGYN, get some tests done, and create an intercourse schedule just to maximize our chances." But it wasn't as easy as Anthony had imagined. Over the next five years, the couple had tried everything that their doctor had told them to, but nothing seemed to work. Each time Ian thought that he might've been pregnant, he was only to be let down by a blue negative sign. Anthony would then comfort him and they would continue to keep trying in hopes of seeing a pink positive sign on one of the white sticks. Anthony's heart jumped up into his chest when he heard the bathroom door swing open. Ian stepped out of the bathroom with a mutual look on his face and walked over to Anthony, wasting no time to wrap his arms around him and lay his head on Anthony's right collarbone. Anthony let out a gloomy sigh and hugged Ian back, resting the side of his head on Ian's forehead.

"Negative?" Anthony asked. Ian nodded and started to cry, squeezing Anthony even tighter.

"We're never going to have a baby..." Ian whispered, his voice cracking. Anthony's heart shattered into a million pieces.

"We'll have one soon, Ian. I can feel it. We just need to keep tryi-"

"No." Ian stated in between sniffles. "I'm done trying, Anthony... I can't take anymore letdowns..." Anthony pet Ian's hair a little and kissed his forehead.

"Ian, honey I know you're upset, but I know how much you want a baby. You can't just give up when things look bleak. I know that we've been trying for like five years, but think about it. You were actually pregnant at one time and if I can get you pregnant once, I know that I can do it again." Ian smiled a little, but it then faded into another frown.

"I-I'm so sorry Anthony..." Ian whispered.

"Sorry? For what, honey?" Ian wiped away some tears with his sweater sleeve.

"I'm sorry that I haven't given you a child yet. I feel like I'm letting you down." Anthony squeezed Ian tighter.

"No, honey! No! You're not letting anyone down, baby. Don't think that! It's not your fault. If anyone should feel let down it should be me. I'm the one that supplies the baby makers, so maybe it's something that I'm doing wrong." Ian chuckled a little. "What?" Anthony laughed back.

"Baby makers... Really?"

"Well, I didn't want to come out and say "semen" in the middle of a sad moment, so what else was I supposed to say?" Ian shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know..." Anthony continued to hold Ian in his arms for about another five minutes until Anthony broke the silence.

"So, are we still going to try for a little guy? Or do you still want to hold off for a while?" Ian let out a deep sigh and was silent for a moment.

"I... I think I want to hold off on trying for a while. I want to have a baby more than anyone on this Earth, but just I feel like I need to take a break before I can try again. I just..." Anthony interrupted him with a small peck on his lips, leaving Ian wide-eyed when he pulled away.

"I understand, baby. We'll take a break for a while and then try again when you're ready." Ian smiled and kissed Anthony for a few seconds before pulling away and departing from Anthony's embrace.

"Are you hungry? You haven't eaten anything since you've been up." Anthony asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. What did you make?"

"Waffles and eggs for you and a bowl of oatmeal for me. It's on the table ready for you to eat."

"Sounds great to me." Ian said, walking towards the kitchen. Instead of following him, Anthony retreated into the bathroom to use the toilet. While he was washing his hands, his eyes fell to the four white sticks laying on the counter that Ian had used only fifteen minutes prior. He expected to see a blue negative sign on all of them just as Ian had told him, but he saw something quite different. On each stick was a pink plus sign. Anthony's heart jumped. He grabbed all four of the sticks and examined them closer to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. They weren't. All four of the sticks were positive. At first, Anthony was mad at Ian. He thought that Ian was hiding his pregnancy from him, but then he thought for a moment. Ian wouldn't go as far as crying and saying that he didn't want to try again just to keep a secret from Anthony. He would've probably started laughing before he even came out of the bathroom and he would've made sure that the positive tests were disposed of. So, why would Ian think that the tests were negative? Anthony grabbed the test box from the trash and read over the instructions carefully to see if there were any clues. The box read:

"Please allow two minutes for the final results." Anthony then gasped silently with the realization. Ian is FINALLY pregnant with their first child, technically second, and he doesn't even know it because he was too impatient to let the test finish. Anthony wanted to scream and jump with pure joy, but he didn't want Ian to hear him. So, he just silently squealed and did a happy dance.

"I'm going to be a dad!" Anthony whisper exclaimed, feeling tears of happiness fill his eyes. After all of these years, they were finally going to have a baby and the "mother" was totally clueless. "Oh! I gotta tell Ian! I gotta tell him!" Anthony whisper yelled, thinking briefly of how to tell him. "I have the perfect idea..."