You And I: Family Time

Connor II

While Aiden played on the playground with the other kids, I sat on a nearby park bench with Troye, my arm draped lazily over his shoulder as he rested his head on my shoulder.

"Do you ever think about doing it again?" He asked suddenly.

"Doing what again?"

"Getting another kid." I sat up a little straighter and looked at him.

"You want to?" He nodded, his eyes not leaving mine.

"Yeah. I feel like I've missed so much of Aiden growing up, if we have another kid, I could be around a bit more, especially since I'm not doing a tour for the next few years." I bit my lip. I was eager to grow our family too but I didn't want that to be Troye's only reason for getting another kid. I didn't want to expand our family just so that he could feel better about missing out on Aiden growing up.

"Troye, I know you missed out on a lot, but I don't think being there for another child will make up for it." I was cautious with my words but he still looked hurt.

"That's not what I mean. I've always wanted a big family. I just mean that for our next kid, I want to be there more, for the milestones."

"You really want this?"

"Of course. Connor, we both grew up in big families. Remember how much fun we had growing up?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "I've always imagined a big family with you."

"So, what do you say?" Our conversation was cut short then.

"Daddy!" Aiden had been swinging on the swings and tried to jump off, landing on his knees. There was a mother who was nearby and got to him quicker than we did.

"Its okay, honey. Your daddy is coming." I heard her say to a crying Aiden.

"Hey buddy, I'm here." I said getting to him first. I crouched down and pulled his hand away from where he was holding his knee.

"It hurts." He whined. I had to fight the urge to gag when I saw the blood seeping from his grazed knee.

"Oh that doesn't look very good. Let's go get you cleaned up." I cooed, gently picking him up and sitting him on my hip, being careful not to get any blood on my shirt. "Show daddy what you did."

"That looks like it hurts, buddy." Troye said. Meanwhile I turned to the mother who was waiting nearby, a confused look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise he's not your son." She aplogised to me.

"Oh no. He is my son. Troye is my husband so we are both daddy to Aiden." I waited for the look of disgust to cross her face as it did when we told anyone that Aiden had two dads. But it didn't come. Instead her confusion faded into realisation and acceptance.

"Oh. Sorry." I just smiled at her.

"It's okay. Thanks for looking after him, we should probably get him cleaned up."

"Of course. It was lovely to meet you Mr...?"

"Mellet-Franta. Connor Mellet-Franta."

"Right, lovely to meet you Mr Mellet-Franta." She smiled as she turned away to find her own child. Beside me, Troye was still talking to Aiden, trying to calm him down.

"You okay, buddy?" I asked, using my free hand to wipe tears from his cheeks.

"My knee hurts, papa."

"I know, we'll go get it cleaned now, okay?" He nodded and buried his face in my neck as we walked back towards the car where I'd stashed a little first-aid kit for times just like this.

"That was one in a million." Troye commented as we walked.

"Hm?"

"That lady not even batting an eyelid at our being married."

"They're getting more frequent." I replied. "I think people are slowly starting to more readily accept gay marriage."

"Thank god." I had to laugh at Troye's relief as we got to the car.

"Can you open the trunk? I'll sit him on there." Troye nodded and pressed the little button on the back of the car that opened the trunk. When we'd moved back to New York and adopted Aiden, we'd both sold our own cars and bought a new 'family-friendly' car. We figured that since Troye did a lot of work from home, we only needed one car anyway.

"Where's the first-aid kit?"

"In the glove compartment." I replied distractedly, setting Aiden down carefully on the back of the car. He was still sniffling a little and his hand went to cover his knee as soon as he was able to. "Hold on, sweetie. Daddy's just getting something to make it feel better, keep your hand off, okay?"

"Okay." Troye handed me the little bag and I opened it, quickly locating the band-aids and antiseptic wipes.

"This might sting a little bit, do you want Daddy to hold your hand?" I said to Aiden, opening one of the wipes.

"Yes please, daddy." He held out his clean hand to Troye who took hold of it. I made quick work of wiping off his knee, my heart breaking to hear his little whimpers of pain but I knew it had to be done. "Papa, I don't like it."

"I know, sweetie, I know. Almost done." I gave the knee a last wipe and then stuck on a band-aid, securing it down tightly. "There. Does it feel better now?"

"Yeah." He sniffled a little as he nodded. "Thank you papa."

"You're welcome." I kissed the top of his head as I packed up the first-aid kit.

"Do you want to get a lollipop to make it feel all better?" Troye asked and I looked up at him, one eyebrow raised. "What?"

"More sugar?" I questioned.

"Sorry. I guess I'm not used to being a parent just yet." He was sincere in his apology but the damage was done, Aiden was already jumping up and down at the thought of getting a lollipop.

"It's okay. You'll get used to it again pretty quickly. Especially with this little munchkin running around." Laughing, I scooped up Aiden, throwing him over my shoulder. He giggled and beat at my back with his little fists.

"Papa! Put me down!" Troye was laughing now too and held open the back door of the car so I could set Aiden in his car-seat.

"You've got to sit in the car now, otherwise we can't get your lollipop." I said when he tried to wriggle out. Instantly, he sat back in his seat, even helping me to click his seat-belt in. "You want to drive, babe?"

"Sure. It's been a while, it'll be good to get back behind the wheel." I tossed him the keys and he hurried around to the other side of the car, climbing into the driver's seat.

Twenty minutes later, we were sitting in a little cafe, Troye and I sipping coffee while Aiden enjoyed his bright blue lollipop, occasionally sticking out his tongue to show us how blue it was getting.