What Now?

Lucas is a running back on his high school football team; however he isn't your typical jock. His gauged ears, various piercings and hair make sure of that. He is the kid that comes to school with different colored hair every week. That's one of the things his boyfriend Brayden loves most about him, the fact he is who he is and conformity is the enemy. Just as he felt and had done with an equal amount of piercings and tattoos being normal is overrated. Their small group of close friends are not what you might expect; they would rather play the latest video game until dawn then beer pong. Luckily Brayden didn't mind hanging out in dingy basements for hours on end watching them play even sometimes joining in on the game. They got a little intense for his taste at times but he had Lucas nothing else mattered. He knew Lucas was the one for him just waiting until after they graduated.

However lately Lucas has not been himself, he has been avoiding practice, games and any real physical contact even with Brayden it was extremely out of character. It was supposedly all due to some strange unknown illness. Unfortunately he has only been getting increasingly worse. He's been getting sick and more often then not you can find him head first in one of the schools large black trash bins with Brayden rubbing soothing circles on his back. As a result he was missing more and more school but still insisted he was fine it was just a virus and it has to run its course. His friends notice some changes and were beginning to worry. When they confront him about it he brushes them off and refuses to accept the possibility of what everything seems to be pointing to. It's an unlikely possibility, but one he fears could be accurate.

Two weeks later

As he walked up to his coach all he could think about was making sure he didn't let coach know why he had to quit. Coach Stokes was excited to see him thinking he has finally beaten the mystery illness and is returning to being an actively participating team member. These hopes are quickly dashed when he sees that Lucas is carrying his gear instead of wearing it. He tosses the lot onto the bleachers and starts to walk away without saying a word to anyone.

"Darian, where are you going?"

Lucas turns his head slightly looking over his shoulder

"I'm quitting the team"

"Why?"

"I just…can't. I can't do it anymore. It would be irresponsible, reckless and selfish of me to continue to play, I'm sorry coach." He turns and walks away with his head down as tears begin to form his hair just long enough to hide it.

He soon realizes that he needs to talk with Brayden about what's going on; after all it affects him too. Taking out his cell he holds down 2 and then lifts the phone to his ear.

"Hi babe, what's up?"

"I need to talk to you in person as soon as possible, it's important."

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know, but we need to talk… and soon." trying not to let the tears fall nor the sobs escape his chest while on the phone.

" You're scaring me, what's wrong?" His voice clearly laced with panic and concern. He received no answer and decided in person would be better

"Okay how does right now sound?"

"I'm not home"

"That's ok I'll come get you, where are you?"

"School sitting on the bleachers"

"Ok babe, I'll be there as soon as I can. Love you"

Lucas hung up the phone before he lost his composure and let a sob rip from his chest.

15 minutes later

Brayden arrives and starts his mad dash towards the bleachers. His mind is racing he's panicking; Lucas is the level headed one. Whatever has him this upset must be really serious. As he walked under the bleachers he heard heart breaking sobs and realized it was Lucas he stopped in his tracks trying to listen. Each sob was breaking his heart. Lucas looked to the sky with tears streaming down his face wringing his hands so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

"How am I supposed to tell him?" he then turned his gaze downward quietly adding. "What am I going to do" Brayden was almost in tears and trying to regain his composure he had to be strong for Lucas. He wipes the tears from his face and proceeds to walk up the ramp plastering on a smile. He greets Lucas with a hug and a deep passionate kiss that leaves them both breathless.

"What's going on babe?"

"…Do you love me?"

"Of course I do baby more than anything. What is it? What's wrong? You're scaring me"

Lucas falls silent and just stares at the ground; Brayden's heart feels like it's going to shatter from the look of pain in his loves eyes.

"Baby" Brayden takes Lucas's face in his hands and brings it so they are staring each other in the eye.

"Just tell me, whatever it is we can get through it, I promise."

Lucas is silent once again before he takes one of Brayden's hands from his face and puts it to his lower abdomen, all the while never breaking eye contact. Brayden looks at his hand, then back to Lucas and continues doing so for the next several minutes until it clicks and his eyes go wide in shock. Lucas then gets up and goes to lean on the bar at the front of the bleachers all the while staring into nowhere. A couple of seconds later Brayden gets up and walks over to where Lucas is standing. He turns to him looking him straight in the eyes. Lucas is looking everywhere but at him so he firmly guides his face to the correct position.

"I love you" *Kiss*

He then kneels, lifts up Lucas's shirt and kisses his stomach

"And I love you" at that moment Lucas burst into tears.

"Do you mean it? You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad? It may not be planned but it's OUR baby. This is a happy occasion no need for tears" Lucas shrugs and Brayden is grinning like a mad man. Brayden gets up off of his knees kisses him and they just stand there holding each other tight while tears fell silently. They broke the embrace only to walk to Brayden's car; he opened the door for Lucas as he usually did and buckled him in. Placing a soft kiss to his forehead and wiped the tear tracks from his lovers face with his thumbs making Lucas blush madly.

Ten minutes later

They pull into Brayden's driveway and are in such a state of heated passion. They slam into the front door breaking the chain. They slowly undress each other leaving a scattered trail of clothing in their wake as they travel to Brayden's bedroom for some extra curricular activities. By the time they reach Brayden's bedroom Lucas is in his boxers and Brayden's pants were barely hanging onto the ends of his boxers. There various states of undress made it easy to see their burning desire for each other. Brayden crawled on top of his love then sat up enjoying the moment both breathing heavily. With a devious grin he then went back to work and nipped at Lucas's neck lightly trailing up it until he reached his lips and they kissed passionately. Then a thought crossed Brayden's mind is this safe?

He forced himself off of Lucas who gave a discontented groan.

"Is this safe?" he asked through shallow breaths

"Uhhh… I am already Pregnant, it's a little late in the game to think about that don't you think?"

"No I mean, is it safe for *glances down*… him or her?" panic flashed across Lucas's face

"I hadn't thought about that…what if we hurt it! Oh God… we already messed up as parents!"

"Hey calm down, look at me… I am sure he or she is just fine. We need to make you a doctors appointment anyways we will ask them then ok?" *kiss*

"Have you been to the doctors at all yet?" Lucas shook his head to the negative

"Then that is the first thing we need to do"

"K" *yawn *

"Well maybe not the first thing"

Brayden gently pulls Lucas into his arms both of their hands resting on the next generation.

"What do you think your mom is going to say about the door?"

"I have no idea (*laughter*) probably something like. What the hell happened here? Did you forget how to open a door?"

Brayden looks down and finds that Lucas has fallen asleep; he presses a kiss to the top of his head and decides to join him in dreamland.