Howard was woken by a sharp nudge in the small of his back.
"Your baby is crying," Vince muttered into the pillow.
"Why is she always 'my' baby at three in the morning?" Howard asked, forcing himself out of bed.
"Because I was up at five with her yesterday and she's been hanging off my nipples since then," Vince said shortly and put his leg out of the bed to kick Howard as he walked past.
He plodded heavily into the nursery and turned on the light. Polly had kicked her blanket off and was screaming pitifully at the top of her lungs. He sighed and picked her up gently. He swayed from side to side gently and she quietened down slightly. Her nappy was full and leaking slightly out of one leg. Lovely.
With a practised ease, Howard opened her nappy and cleaned her carefully. She was still snuffling slightly and looked as though she was thinking about peeing on the changing table. Again. The trick was to get the fresh nappy under her bottom as fast as possible after lifting the dirty one out from under her. She scowled at her widdly will being thwarted and he tickled her round belly, making her giggle.
"There's my good girl," Howard said tiredly and stroked her cheek with one finger.
He felt Vince's hand touch his arm.
"I thought you were sleeping?" he asked.
"Couldn't get back to sleep," Vince replied groggily.
He rested his head against Howard's shoulder and wrapped his arms around him. Together they tucked Polly back into her cot and sang her back to sleep. Howard kept his opinions on the appropriateness of 'Are Friends Electric' as a lullaby to himself. Polly didn't seem to mind anyway. They crept out of the room and back into bed quietly.
"While we're up," Vince ran a hand over Howard's bare chest suggestively.
Howard snored loudly and Vince sighed before curling into his side to sleep.
*
They woke up late the next morning to find Naboo looking after Polly in the living room.
"Thought I'd let you sleep," he said and they smiled gratefully at him, "Don't get used to it, yeah? She getting a bit hungry too."
The shaman passed the infant back to Vince. He adjusted his shirt and Polly started smacking her lips preemptively. Naboo cleared his throat in embarrassment and left the room. Howard still wasn't quite used to Vince with breasts, much less functioning ones. He hadn't been sure whether to be turned on or bemused when Vince had modelled his new lingerie collection. Some balance between the two, perhaps. Bemusedly aroused.
"I can't wait until she's able to eat proper food," Vince said, balancing the tot on his knee as he sat nursing on the sofa.
Howard kissed him apologetically and looked down at the blonde, peach fuzzy head suckling at Vince's chest.
"She could be a great brass player," he said, noticing her circular breathing as she suckled.
Vince gave him an icy look.
"Sorry," Howard said and daydreamed about teaching his daughter the trumpet.
*