Author's notes: Wow, okay, so much for being finished by the weekend, right? Right, sorry. I got sidetracked and got writer's block that I couldn't shake until just last night and, well, maybe I am putting the end off just a little bit. Anyway, this fic will definitely be finished up by the end of this weekend, even if I have to pay someone else to write the last one or two chapters for me. I swear this fic will be done before Christmas!
Right, so. This fic is already up on AO3 (because I had time to kill after writing a Derek/Stiles fic yesterday morning) and that's where everything will be put up after this is done. Ficlets will be posted there and I'll put my AO3 username in the final chapter, so it'll be easier for you guys to find it and you won't have to go to my profile to find the link.
And, wow, I'm so sorry that I skip time in this chapter. :(
I also apologize for any messiness or spelling/grammar errors you find! I know there are quite a few throughout this whole fic and, when it's all done, I will do another sweep through it and change all of the typos on AO3.
Oh! I'm going to write ficlets for James/Kendall, Kendall/Carlos, and some for Logan/Camille because reasons. I guess because I like being in over my head.
Also, I know it's weird what I did (you'll see) but, honestly, I'm too lazy to change my plot sooooo... heh.
And I'm so sorry that I kind of... made a shitty ending. I didn't know how else to end it, heh.
Characters: Kendall, Carlos, James Luca, Logan, Camille, Isaac, Jennifer, Carlos' parents, Alex, Logan's parents, Gustavo, Dustin, Kyle, Josh, Victoria, and new character: Ava.
Warnings: cuteness, happiness, all the good "ness" adjectives.
[April]
When Isaac's second birthday rolls around, everyone gathers at the Mitchell house to celebrate.
x x
"So," Camille says as she holds a spoon out to Isaac, watching as he eats the tiny bit of cake she gives him, "has James started to crawl yet?"
"Not yet but, god, I swear he's trying to! He'll push himself up and stay steady for a while but he hasn't tried to take a step yet," Kendall replies as he leans against the wall, watching Camille feed Isaac another piece of cake.
Shaking her head, Camille smiles when Isaac takes another bite and looks at Kendall. "That's so cute; I remember when Isaac started to crawl and walk. He would toddle, you know, and then fall over - which scared the shit out of Logan - but I wasn't worried. He always fell on his butt and never cried once until he pulled himself up on the bed frame and hit his head against it. Poor baby cried for ten minutes before we could calm him down and Logan wanted to take him to the emergency room but it was just a bump. He was up and walking the next day, like nothing had happened."
"Our kids are the cutest, huh?"
"Totally," Camille agrees and laughs again when Isaac starts to say mama. "I swear, you eat just like your daddy."
As if that where his cue to join them, Logan comes into the room and kisses the top of Camille's head before glancing at Isaac. "Dude, did you push your face in the cake again? I swear, we're going to have to take everything sweet away from you," he mutters and Kendall laughs, covering his mouth.
"It's just a little bit of frosting, calm down." Shaking her head, Camille grabs a napkin and wipes Isaac's face off. "There you go," she murmurs.
"I'm going to go find my husband and socialize for a bit," Kendall says, pushing off the wall before moving forward and clapping a hand on Logan's shoulder. He drops his hand a second later and walks into the living room, coming up behind Carlos, making a face at James, who has his head peeked around the other's shoulder.
Carlos turns around when he hears James giggle and smiles. "Hey baby," he says and leans up for a kiss, smiling brightly against Kendall's lips.
"How's everything going?" Kendall asks when he pulls away and he holds his arms out to James, who giggles when he takes him from Carlos. "Hey, buddy. Did you meet a lot of nice people? Yeah? Good."
"Everything is fine; Gustavo offered to start a college fund for Isaac and James," Carlos answers and rolls a shoulder.
Blinking, Kendall looks at Carlos and pulls his eyebrows together. "I hope you said that it's already covered."
"For James, yeah, but I can't speak for Isaac. He's going to find Logan and Camille after he's talked to everyone. You know, to make contacts or whatever."
"Did you tell your parents that Gustavo is going to let you and Logan run the new garage he's opening up?"
Carlos bites his lower lip and shakes his head slowly. "I haven't," he murmurs and then smiles when James starts to drool on Kendall's shoulder.
"What?" Kendall asks, blinking down at Carlos before turning to look at James. "Aw, dude, come on! This shirt is brand new."
Laughing quietly, Carlos holds his hands out and takes James, who started sucking on his fist at some point, so Kendall can peel his button-down off. "Welcome to fatherhood," he mutters and laughs again when Kendall hits his leg with the sleeve of his shirt before tossing it away. "Here, take the baby back."
"He's going to drool on my undershirt!"
"That's what you get," Carlos sing-songs before handing James back to his father and moving away before Kendall can even say a word.
Kendall takes a deep breath and walks around with James, cooing to him before stopping to talk to a few other people. Logan's parents find him and his mother asks if she can hold James, who goes to her without making a sound, and Kendall shoves his hands into his pockets, smiling at Mrs. Mitchell as she talks to his son.
"Carlos tells me that you two are thinking of having another one soon," William, Logan's father, says and Kendall bobs his head. "Wow, two under two?"
"On, no, not that soon. We're going to wait until James is at least one year old before we even go looking for another surrogate."
Joanna smiles at Kendall and bounces James a little bit. "I heard you named him after your ex-boyfriend," she says and Kendall nods. "That must be hard."
"Not really," Kendall admits and rolls a shoulder, smiling at James when he turns to look at him. "It was actually Carlos' idea and it's made things a lot easier for me, even three years later. James will know who he was named after, when he's old enough to understand, and we don't plan on keeping anything from him."
"That's admirable," William says and he smiles bright at Kendall, who blushes. "It's good to see you two happy. We've known Carlos all of his life and I don't think I've seen him this way before."
Blushing more, Kendall bites the edge of his lip and smiles. "What can I say? I love Carlos more than anything," he answers.
"We're glad," Joanna says and she hugs Kendall carefully, laughing when James grabs onto his father's shirt. "I think he wants you back."
"Yeah, he's a daddy's boy," Kendall mumbles playfully and he smiles, taking James back, cradling him against his chest.
William smiles at Kendall and pats him on the shoulder. "You're a good dad," he says.
"Thank you." Biting his lip, Kendall smiles and pats James' back lightly. "Logan is a good dad, too, and an amazing person."
"We did raise a pretty great son, huh?" Joanna asks as she looks at William and he nods his head. "Speaking of, we should go find him and Camille," she says and leans up to kiss Kendall's cheek before pressing a kiss to the top of James' head. "We'll talk to you later."
Kendall nods and watches Logan's parents go off before going to find his own. Instead of finding his mother, Kendall runs into Gustavo and James makes a happy noise when he sees the older man. "Whoa," he says and laughs, holding the baby out to Gustavo when he puts his hands out to grab him.
"What?"
"Nothing, I just didn't expect my son to love you as much as he does."
Gustavo shrugs and holds James, laughing when he steals his sunglasses. "Babies like me," he explains.
"I should think that sentence is creepy, but... I don't, strangely?"
"Ha ha." Gustavo shakes his head and lets James play with his sunglasses. "I want to have a family someday," he admits.
"So go find a lucky lady and make some miniature Gustavos."
"I think I might have found a woman that I can do that with."
Smirking, Kendall crosses his arms over his chest and nods toward Gustavo, chuckling. "Tell me about her!"
"Nah, it's not serious yet. We've only been out a couple of times but... she's nice."
"I'm happy for you, Gustavo," Kendall says and claps his friend on the shoulder. "You deserve some love, too."
Gustavo rolls his eyes and smiles. "Thanks," he says and, upon spotting Kendall's mom, waves her over. "Mrs. Knight."
"Gustavo," she replies and tickles James' foot when she gets close enough. "I see you've gotten my grandson into sunglasses."
"It's never too early to start them out on the path to cool."
Kendall snorts, loudly, and covers his mouth, giggling against his palm. "Sunglasses aren't cool," he mumbles, once he's calmed down.
"Oh, come on, yes that are," Gustavo argues and Kendall just rolls his eyes. "Hipsters aren't cool anymore."
"They're cooler than the sunglasses you wear." With that, Kendall smirks and walks off to find Carlos in the kitchen, skimming icing off the top of the cake and he bites back a moan when he watches his husband suck it off his finger. "That's bad," he says, drawing out that 'a's.
Carlos stares at Kendall and, using his clean hand, swipes some more icing off the top, holding it out to Kendall. "Want some?"
"Of course I do." Smirking, Kendall moves forward and wraps his hand around Carlos' wrist, lifting his finger to his mouth. He sucks the frosting off his skin and smirks when he hears Carlos moan before pulling away, licking his lips. "We should get some of this frosting and use it at home."
"You would say that at our best friends' son's birthday party," Carlos mumbles.
Laughing, Kendall shakes his head and swipes his finger along the side of the cake. "I can't help it," he says before licking the frosting off.
Before either of them can say anything again, Carlos' parents come in with Alex in tow.
"Are we interrupting something?" Miguel asks and both men turn around to look at him, grinning sheepishly. "We just came to say goodbye."
Carlos nods and comes forward, grabbing Kendall's hand to lead him toward his parents. "Okay," he says and hugs his father. "We'll be over for dinner soon, okay? Don't make yourselves strangers at our house, either."
"We won't." Smiling, Miguel pulls back and pats his son's shoulders. He goes over to hug Kendall and squeezes him tightly. "We love both of you."
"We love you guys, too," Kendall replies and smiles when his father in law pulls away.
Alex comes to hug Kendall after her father and smiles up at him. "I can babysit sometime, if you guys want," she says and Kendall laughs, nodding.
"We'll think about that, thanks."
After everyone gets their hugs, the Garcia family leaves the kitchen, moving through the crowd to get through the door. Kendall and Carlos join them as far as the living room before moving their own ways across the party. Carlos goes to find Camille and Logan while Kendall goes to sit with his mother on the couch, taking James from her when he started to doze off.
The party goes on for another hour until Isaac is asleep, exhausted from playing with all the toys and eating all the cake, and the guests start to file their way out of the house. Carlos and Kendall stay back, laying James down in Isaac's playpen while they help their best friends clean up, all four of them talking about how it seemed like just yesterday when Isaac was born.
Once the house is clean, Kendall takes the garbage out to the road and stuffs the bags into the trash cans. He runs back inside and collapses on the couch beside Carlos, throwing an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. His husband lays his head against Kendall's shoulder and he smiles, laying his cheek against the top of Carlos' head, sighing contentedly.
"So," Logan asks as he drops into a chair near the couch, 'what are you to doing for the rest of the evening?"
"Probably going to go home and hang out, like always." Kendall shrugs a shoulder and smiles, lifting a hand to touch Carlos' hair, running his fingers through it.
Carlos hums in agreement and nods. "Probably," he murmurs and snuggles against Kendall's side.
"You guys want us to watch James so you two can have some alone time?"
"Nah, we're used to being interrupted," Carlos mumbles and yawns before pulling away, rubbing at his eyes with his knuckles. "We should go, baby."
Kendall nods and stretches before standing, groaning quietly. "Alright, yeah," he says and runs a hand through his hair, going to snatch his shirt up where he left it on the end of the couch. He pulls it on, leaving it unbuttoned, and goes over to the playpen to lift James out of it, shushing him quietly when he starts to fuss. "Grab the diaper bag will you, Litos?"
"I got it." Smiling, Carlos stands and goes over to grab the bag from beside the playpen, throwing it over his shoulder. He smiles, waves to Camille and Logan, and makes his way out of the house behind Kendall after they say goodnight to their friends. They put the baby in the car, buckle him in, and climb into the front seats before making their way home. When they get there, Carlos takes James inside and puts him in his crib while Kendall gets ready for bed; once the baby is down, he joins his husband and they slip into bed together.
[September]
Everyone packs into Kendall and Carlos' house when James' first birthday comes around.
x x
"Hey, baby." Victoria smiles when she sees James and Kendall hands him over, smiling at both of them. "I can't believe it's been a year," she mumbles.
"I know, right? It seems like just yesterday that he was born." Shaking his head, Kendall lifts a hand and touches one of the curls at the base of James' skull, playing with it a moment until he starts babbling "dada" over and over again, laughing. "I can't wait until he starts talking more," he says and sighs.
Victoria smiles and nods, settling James on her hip. "Or when he starts walking. Can you imagine it?"
"I imagine it about every day and it scares me," Kendall confesses and moves forward when James pulls on Victoria's earring. "Shit, sorry about that."
"No," she says, laughing as she turns to look at James, "it's alright. Doesn't hurt as much as you think it would."
"You're just saying that because he's the cutest baby ever, right?"
Pursing her lips and shrugging, Victoria looks up at Kendall and laughs. "No, I mean it," she says.
"As long as he's not hurting you, then I guess it's fine."
James giggles and starts tugging on her earring again before going to her necklace. Kendall shakes his head and leans down to kiss the top of his son's before excusing himself, moving throughout the house to find Carlos, who is talking to Victoria's girlfriend. The two of them look at him when he gets closer and Kendall stuffs his hands into his back pocket, leaning against his husband a little, laughing.
"Where's James?" Carlos asks.
"With his mama," Kendall replies and pulls a hand out of his pocket, slipping his arm around Carlos' shoulders. "What are you two talking about?"
Ava bites her lip and then takes a long sip of beer, her lip ring clinking against the glass. "We were talking about me being a surrogate for him," she says, easily, and Kendall stares at her, his eyebrows pulling together. "Victoria and I talked about it, so don't think it's a spur of the moment deal. I saw how much it meant to her to be a surrogate for you and... I'd like to do it, too. Get me prepared for having babies with Vicky later in life."
"Whoa, you're serious?"
"Yeah, as long as Carlos wants to go through with it." Ava shrugs and licks her lips, dragging her teeth along the skin of the lower one, smiling.
Chuckling, Carlos wraps an arm around Kendall's waist and pulls him close. "And I want to," he says, turning to look at his husband. "If you do."
"Sure, why not? It can't be for a while, at least, because I want there to be at least a two year age gap between the kids," Kendall replies and smiles, leaning down to kiss the bridge of Carlos' nose. "You two talk more about that and I'm going to talk to some other people."
"Don't tell anyone our plans!"
Kendall rolls his eyes and kisses Carlos' lips softly. "I'm not going to," he mutters and squeezes his husband's shoulder before dropping his arm. He gives Ava a hug and takes her empty beer bottle when it's handed to him, smiling at her before motioning for the two of them to keep talking.
As he makes his way through the house and the crowd, Kendall gathers trash that's lying around before dumping it into one of the trashcans. Once that's done and everyone seems to be having a good time, Kendall goes back to the kitchen and literally runs into Dustin, who laughs and catches his shoulders to keep him on his feet. When it doesn't look like he's going to fall, Dustin pulls his hands back and goes to the fridge to grab two beers, handing one to his best friend.
"Nice party," he says and Kendall nods, twisting the top off of his beer. "Can't believe that little guy is one already."
After taking a long sip of his beer, Kendall licks his lips and smiles. "Right? When he was born, none of us thought that he'd live past a day but, here we are, celebrating a whole fucking year."
"I know." Dustin sighs and bumps their shoulders together, smiling. "So, you going on tour with us at the beginning of year or are you bailing?"
"Bailing, really?" Dustin shrugs in response and Kendall laughs. "I'll definitely be there. Carlos won't be working as much when Gustavo opens the new garage next month and he has our families to help him out with babysitting and stuff. Besides, it's only for three months, right?"
Dustin bobs his head and takes a long pull from his bottle. "Right and you'll be able to call or Skype with them all the time," he says, pointing the neck of his bottle to Kendall before glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the band, who are creeping up behind Kendall. "Don't look behind you."
Just when Dustin says that, Josh comes up and wraps his arms around Kendall's shoulders, hugging him tightly. "Happy Birthday!"
"It's not my birthday," Kendall mumbles, shaking his head as he laughs and hands his beer to Dustin. "But thanks anyway."
"Your birthday is soon, though," Kyle points out and he pokes Kendall in the ribs before having his hand smacked away.
Kendall rolls his eyes and elbows Josh in the ribs before ducking when he pulls his arms away. "Yeah, I guess so," he says and shrugs, grabbing his beer from Dustin, draining the rest of the liquid in one long swallow. "Did you guys see James?"
"Yeah." Josh grins brightly and stuffs his hands into his pockets. "He's awesome, dude."
"Seriously, man, he's the cutest baby ever and I was wondering..." Kyle comes closer and licks his lips. "Is his mom single?"
Josh, Dustin, and Kendall all laugh at that; Kendall puts a hand over his mouth, snickering against his palm. "Uh, no - she isn't. She's actually a lesbian," he says and watches Kyle's face fall when he says that. "Sorry, dude. I'll hook you up with someone else, how about that?"
"Don't even bother," Dustin says and sighs dramatically, grinning when Kendall turns to look at him. "I've already tried setting him up with the people I've met out in California and then he went home with me, a few months ago, and I tried setting him up with one of my sister's friends but.."
"They were all too young for me!" Kyle pouts and slumps against the counter.
Snorting, Kendall shakes his eyes and goes to drop his bottle into the garbage. "Didn't stop you before," he mumbles on his way back.
"Ha ha ha," Kyle laughs, dryly, before flipping his friends off. "One day I'll find someone beautiful and it'll be all on my own."
"Or you'll finally use those websites you've been browsing." Smirking, Josh goes over to ruffle Kyle's hair and yelps when he punches him in the gut.
Dustin scoffs and throws an arm around Kendall's shoulders. "See what I'd have to deal with if you didn't come on tour with us?"
"Wait," Josh says, staring at the two of them, "Kendall isn't coming on tour with us?"
"No, I am. Dustin just thought I wouldn't because of James but... I am."
Relief washes over Josh's face and he nods. "Good, we need you on this tour. Jonathan says that it's going to be bigger than the last one."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah," Dustin says before finishing off his beer and setting the bottle on the counter. "Everyone is saying it's cause you're a dad and teenage girls - and all girls alike, let's be real here - eat that shit up. You're a DILF."
Kendall laughs, loudly, at that comment and shakes his head. "I've heard that but it's only from Carlos," he mutters.
"It's totally true." Winking, Dustin pats Kendall's cheek and moves out of the kitchen, claiming he's going to go steal James away.
"Don't let him play with your glasses, Dust! He'll break them," Kendall calls out and hears a very faint 'yeah okay' come from the living room.
When it's just the three of them, Josh moves forward and leans against the counter near Kendall. "So you're okay with being away from James and Carlos for three months while we're on tour?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it's only three months and that passes by quickly, right?" Josh shrugs his shoulders and Kendall licks his lips. "It'll be fine."
A few minutes pass by and Kendall excuses himself before going into the living room to find Dustin holding James while he talks to Camille, who's got Isaac on her hip. He shakes his head and comes up sneakily to tickle Isaac's ribs, laughing when he squeals and starts giggling loudly, the sound getting James going; soon, both babies are laughing and Camille joins in while Dustin just stares at them.
"Your family is too happy," he mumbles and hitches James higher on his side, looking down at him. "Aren't they, little guy?"
"We have a lot to be happy about." Kendall rolls a shoulder and smiles, holding his hands out to his son, who leans toward him. "We should probably put you down for a nap, huh? It's been a long day full of presents and cake and seeing your uncle Dustin's weird face."
Dustin pouts and crosses his arms over his chest once James is safe in Kendall's hands. "It's not weird," he says.
"Whatever." Smirking, Kendall moves between them and settles James against his chest, smiling when he yawns. "You're getting sleepy, yeah?"
"Dada," James babbles and hearing that word makes Kendall's heart jump in his chest.
While the rest of the guests stay downstairs and continue to talk to one another, Kendall takes James upstairs and into the nursery. He lays him down in the crib and covers him with a blanket, smiling down at his son. When James yawns and closes his eyes, Kendall just watches him for a moment, waiting until he's out before straightening up. After grabbing the baby monitor, Kendall goes back down to the living room and hooks the device on his belt loop before making his rounds again.
x x
A few hours later, the whole house is empty and Kendall is sitting on the couch with a beer settled between his legs. He watches Carlos play on the floor with James and smiles, setting his bottle on the coffee table before joining them. When he gets on the floor, Kendall picks up one of the stuffed animals that someone got the baby for his birthday and starts making it talk in a funny voice, even going as far to nuzzle it against James' cheek, listening to him giggle loudly.
"So," Kendall says and looks at Carlos, smiling. "Ava's really going through with it?"
Carlos nods his head and smiles, looking up at Kendall. "Yeah, she really is," he replies and licks his lips.
"When are we going to do it?"
"I was thinking after you get back from your tour and all of your shows."
"That'll be in... March or April," Kendall mumbles and bites his lip. "You're sure you want to do it that soon?"
Nodding, Carlos smiles and looks back at James, watching him chew on the end of a bear's ear. "Yeah, I want to do it soon. That way, by the time the baby comes, James would be two and I really don't want to wait any longer."
"Okay, yeah, we can do that."
"Really?" Carlos asks, biting his lip gently.
Kendall shakes his head and leans in to kiss Carlos' temple. "Whatever you want, baby."
The three of them stay on the floor for a while and play with James' toys until it's time for his bath. Kendall volunteers to do it and tells Carlos to relax, smiling at him as he picks the baby up. He watches his husband settle on the couch before heading upstairs to the bathroom, turning the water on in the tub before laying James' baby bath in it.
Once the water is a good temperature, Kendall gets James ready for his bath and sits him down in the water, smiling when his eyes go wide and he looks up at his daddy, giggling. He shakes his head and starts to give the baby a bath, letting him play with one of the bath toys they always keep in the bathroom as a distraction because, sometimes, James doesn't like taking baths.
When James is all clean, Kendall picks him up and wraps him in a towel before taking him into their bedroom, where Carlos is pulling his pajamas on. Kendall dries the baby and lets Carlos hold onto him while he goes to get his clothes, watching as his husband puts them on, listening to him shush James whenever he starts to fuss.
Carlos puts the baby in his crib, reads him a story, and watches him fall asleep before joining Kendall in bed. They talk about the upcoming tour, the possibility of another baby, and what they're going to do for Kendall's birthday, which is right around the corner. After a few minutes, they fall silent and listen to James' tiny snores coming in through the baby monitor and they fall asleep listening to it.
[November]
Kendall's birthday rolls around and Carlos gets a babysitter (Carlos' mom) for the whole night so they can go out. They go to a nice dinner and then to a movie before going home to spend a couple hours having sex. By the end of the night, Kendall has deemed it the best birthday ever and Carlos surprises him with a cake which gets eaten off of his body, the only way Kendall would really ever eat it.
The night ends with the two of them tangled in the sheets with frosting all over the bed and still on Carlos' chest. Carlos falls asleep pressed against Kendall's side and he stays awake for a while, staring up at the ceiling and listening to his husband's breathing for a while before eventually falling asleep.
x x
Thanksgiving is spent at Kendall and Carlos' house where everyone shows up. Carlos' parents, Kendall's mom, Camille, Logan, Isaac, Victoria, Ava, Gustavo, Dustin, and Jo and Daniel even show up for a few hours. Spending time with their entire family - related and extended - makes Kendall happy and he vows to have the family together more often because having the house full of love and people who care about them is everything to him.
