The big day finally arrived.
Jean was simply over the moon, as he brought Joaquin over to the baby carrier he'd gotten. He couldn't stop smiling as he quick changed his son's diaper (at a more regular size now, rather than the miniscule ones meant for preemies he started out with).
"Look at you, little buddy," he whispered to Joaquin as he was buckling him up. "You get to go home today! Bet you're excited." In response, Joaquin simply babbled. The sound was enough, though, to make Jean's heart absolutely swell with joy.
Jean was all smiles from the moment he got Joaquin checked out and on his way home.
...
The first night Joaquin came home, the atmosphere of the house seemed a bit off. Armin lay on his side, not looking at either of them. It were almost as if he were ignoring them both.
As expected of a baby needing something, Joaquin started fussing and making noises of discomfort. Armin, sadly, was in no mood to be motherly; all he did was cover his ears with his pillow. So it fell to Jean to figure out what the problem could be.
"What is it, little guy?" Jean whispered to Joaquin as he held him to his chest. "Are you hungry? Stinky? Lonely?"
It was actually starting to annoy Armin to hear Jean engage in baby talk. He growled before looking over at the two of them.
"Will you hurry up and figure out what's wrong with it?!" He snapped. "I'd like to try and get to sleep at some point tonight." He then flopped back onto his side, attempting to get comfy.
Jean was stunned at Armin's sudden outburst. He looked over at him while still trying to calm Joaquin down. He then slowly turned his head back to focus more on his baby.
It turned out Jean's first guess was correct; Joaquin was loudly desiring a nice bottle of pumped breast milk. Jean was of course happy to oblige, now sitting at the kitchen table while feeding and holding him.
"Oh, you're a hungry little guy, aren't you?" He commented as he watched his son greedily drink his milk. "Might want to calm down, or you might get sick-"
"Why do you bother feeding it?" Armin could be heard from the other room, asking in a loud yet monotone voice. "It's just going to get hungry again later."
Jean tried to ignore that, and kept attending to Joaquin.
...
"Don't be upset about Mommy," Jean later said on his way to Marco's. "He's just going through a tough time right now. Postpartum depression isn't all that fun, but he's at Uncle Eren and Aunt Mikasa's house right now. So don't worry."
"Eh," was the only thing Joaquin said in any sort of response to all that. He was asleep in his baby carriage, calmly sucking on his pacifier.
Jean was careful in picking Joaquin up without waking him. He made sure that he was well adjusted and balanced with the diaper bag on Jean's shoulder, before heading in.
...
Marco tried very hard not to tease Jean mercilessly about how much fatherhood had changed him. It was difficult enough not to make any comments about it.
"He's gotten so big," was what he ultimately ended up saying.
Indeed, if Marco didn't know any better, he'd have figured that Joaquin was a baby that managed to reach term (as opposed to being three months early).
He kept this in mind as he watched Jean lifting up Joaquin up in the air, before he brought him back down and kissed his cheek.
"Is you Daddy's miracle baby?" Jean asked his son in a rather goofy voice. "Is you? Is you a tough guy who showed prematurity who's boss?"
Joaquin was now giggling with joy, happy just to be with his daddy.
...
After another month and a half or so, the first of many ear infections reared its ugly head. It had first woken Jean up in the early morning, in the form of Joaquin crying awake like he usually did.
This time, however, it wasn't his usual crying for what he needed. It was more of a shriek. Right away, it got Jean to scramble over and try figuring out what the problem was.
"Keeny, what is it?" He loudly whispered, hoping that Armin wouldn't be woken up as well. Carefully, with the precision of carrying a tray of porcelain figurines, Jean lifted Joaquin out of his cradle and into the kitchen.
When he did the usual checks and came up with nothing, Jean gave his son another look over. As he was glancing around the head, he saw a strange brown substance coming out of Joaquin's left ear.
"Oh my God..." He whispered. He then looked at the nearest clock, showing it was a quarter after three. Doctor Berner wouldn't be in for another six or seven hours. With little else that could be done, Jean simply resorted to rubbing Joaquin's back in circles.
Between Jean's fussing and Joaquin's cries, Jean ended up catching a glimpse of a very disgruntled Armin dragging himself out of the main room. Behind him trailed his pillow and one of their bedsheets.
"I'm sleeping in the tub for the rest of the night," he grumbled as he forced himself to get to the bathroom. Jean was left staring after him, before getting back to Joaquin's trouble.
...
Even after the diagnosis (to Jean's shaky relief, Doctor Berner said that it was indeed an ear infection. At least now he knew what the problem was), Jean was at his wit's end in figuring out what exactly he could do. According to Doctor Berner, they had to wait it out. There were a few things they could do to try and soothe the pain, but ultimately they had to wait.
Now, Jean was holding a warm compress against Joaquin's ear, holding him with his ear elevated and watching cartoons on mute. Thankfully, Joaquin was sleeping right now. Still, Jean continued to recall the times he dealt with kangaroo care, and kept it in mind.
Although it had been several months now since Joaquin was born, Armin was still dealing with a severe bout of postpartum depression. Whenever Joaquin began crying, Armin would cover his ears up with a pillow, or the sheets.
"Can't you go outside and deal with that?" He mumbled under both of those things. "I'd like to get some sleep."
Jean harrumphed. "Armin, that's all you've been doing since you got home from the hospital." Even so, he stood up and went outside (despite the weather beginning to get chilly again), covering Joaquin up with a thick blanket and kissing the top of his head underneath said blanket.
...
Ignoring the cries of the neighbors demanding he take the baby back into the house, Jean sat down into the rocking chair situated outside on the so-called patio. He made certain Joaquin didn't have to be subjected to any potential issues. His little boy would remain nice and warm.
Jean did, however, scowl when he saw Eren and Mikasa coming up the sidewalk. They were no doubt here to coddle and fuss over Armin (not that Jean didn't want to himself, but right now he had a sick child to worry about)
Much to his frustration and sadness, Jean could now see Armin perk up suddenly upon hearing his two best pals outside. Armin was then up and dressed, running out of the house to join them.
He at least had the decency to wave goodbye to Jean and Joaquin (the former of which reluctantly returned it) as he left with the other two.
Jean waited a couple of minutes after they were gone, then stood up and went back into the house to call his mother.
...
Much to Jean's surprise, his mother was quick to come over to the house. Apparently hearing that her precious grandson was ill woke something within her.
As a bonus, she brought over deep dish pizza and several two liters of Jean's favorite pop.
"Even the best fathers need a day of rest," she'd told him when he asked about the grocery bags she'd brought with her.
Now, Miss Kirstein held Joaquin close as their pizza baked in the tiny oven in the similarly tiny kitchen. Jean was in the other main room of the house, covered up with all the blankets he and Armin shared. He stared at the television screen that was still playing cartoons, oddly transfixed by it.
"It'll be okay, baby," Miss Kirstein whispered to her grandson as she balanced him and their pizza. "Your ear infection won't bother you forever."
She kept him in the crook of her arm while she got everything ready. Walking into the other room, Miss Kirstein handed Jean his plate and his drink. Jean didn't so much as look away from the screen.
...
Later in the day, Jean's mother was tucking her son in one-handed when Armin returned home. Contrary to what Jean had been saying, Armin looked quite upbeat and cheery. In his hands were quite a few bags of what was presumed to be clothes and other such items.
"Have a fun day out and about today?" She asked of him as she then carefully lay Joaquin into his cradle. Even with her frustration and disdain towards Armin right now, she tried not to let it be heard in her voice. When she was certain that Joaquin would be all right (she had him tilted to the side so as to help his ear not hurt so much), she stood up to face him better.
"Um..." All of Armin's cheerfulness vanished when she asked. "Yes, why?"
Miss Kirstein sighed. "I know you need time to get through your postpartum phase, but your responsibilities aren't going to go away if you just ignore them." She looked back over at Jean and Joaquin; both of them were very much asleep. Joaquin was sucking away on his pacifier, his father on the other hand quietly snoring.
"You have a very sick child, Armin. This is no time to be out and about when you feel like it."
Armin didn't seem to be listening very closely. All he was doing now was staring at his usual side of the bed. He waited until she was done saying what she needed to say, then said something vaguely related to all of it.
When Miss Kirstein finally left, Armin knelt down and proceeded to calmly unpack his purchases. The entire time, he barely looked over at the other two.