Hello, it is Wednesday and I am back with a new story. This one is an extra exciting upload for me. Justin and Eli have always been a special pair of characters for me, and their tale all the more so. Truthfully when I first wrote them and I uploaded chapters towards the end of the year, I did intend for them to stay apart. But sometimes characters take on a life of their own and it started to make more and more sense for me to rethink that decision. Shannon and I decided to make an AU where, after Justin has children with Sammy, things don't work out and he falls back into the arms of Eli who is recently separated from Lucy. But we loved it so much that it made it's way into the true timeline. Here is a chapter that focuses on not only their future together, but their forever. I so hope you enjoy :)

Ages:

Eli: 34

Justin: 28

Layla: 9 Months Old

Darcy: 7

Zack: 5

Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!

As I found myself tucked up in bed with my own loved ones, my thoughts drifted to two other people in bed. The deep violet haired male of the couple had a bent arm tucked behind his head and in his other hand; he was holding the book that he was reading. To the right of him, his deep purple haired boyfriend too was laying pressed up against the mattress. However, unlike the older of the two, his head was submerged with his pillow! And unlike him also, he could not be described as relaxed.

Another page of Eli's book was turned and the quiet, familiar scuffing noise filled the low light of their bedroom. But before a head was tilted further down to absorb the words of the novel that Eli was reading, he absentmindedly turned to look over at the male in bed with him. Almost as soon as he did this, his lip started to curve upwards on the one side. And then, occupying his vision with the man he loved became far more interesting than the scenes put forth to him.

The leather bound book found itself to be discarded on the top of bed sheets. And as the deep purple haired male continued lingering under his pillow and his body twitched and ever so slightly kicked restlessly, Eli rolled onto his side and rested a soft hand on the lower back of his boyfriend.

His eyes reflected and danced into the night and even more of a smile formed.

"You're not suffocating, are you?" Eli's words came out at a low level to go along with the hushed quality of the early night time and his tone did not incline nor decline. He let out an exhalation of breath from his nostrils, remembering that once his boyfriend's sleeping habits had filled him with worry! "Why don't you get a touch comfier?"

Eli's hand slid from Justin's back to the pillow that indeed rested right on top of him. He merely grunted as a reply before he continued.

I wondered if Eli expected a second grunt in response to his words. Perhaps he believed that Justin wouldn't even say anything to him, instead continuing to twitch and jolt and jerk as he tried to find himself falling into dream land.

Justin's actual response filled his eyes with whites more prominent than the pages of his book. Suddenly flipping the covering of a different white that had once guarded him and tossing it down on the floor, he sat up in bed. He did it with boundless energy!

But almost as soon as his face was revealed and he too turned onto his side to look back at his boyfriend, it became clear that he was even less relaxed than Eli once believed.

His eyes widened further at Justin and he drew backwards as he studied his reaction.

"I can't sleep." stated Justin and as if he hadn't even intended or noticed his own actions, he furrowed his brow when he misplaced his pillow and was force to lean over the side of him and his boyfriend's bed to retrieve it.

Once it was placed in a far more normal way and the back of his head was resting against it, he buried his fingers in his own locks.

Justin didn't need to say a second time that he could not sleep. A couple of moments after Eli was done with observing the younger male's demeanour and his words, as well as encouraging his eyes to compose a little bit, he gave him a bit of a fond smile, his head breaking the small distance between them both.

"I know, my love. That's why I suggested getting a bit comfier." Eli told him and after the latter breathed out of his own nostrils and continued pawing at the hairs on his own head, he didn't reply in any other way. The older of the two continued having his body turned towards the younger one, his arm then propping himself up in their bed.

And although his spare hand lightly traced the top of the leather bound book that he had previously discarded, he didn't have any intention of resuming reading it. In those moments, Justin was the only story he wanted to be a part of. Eli still looked at him, his eyes seemingly searching every part of him and deep within him, even though neither of them spoke.

Justin didn't stop his chest from inflating closer to the covers and against the early night time with his fingers tracing tendrils of his own hair, his eyelids drawing together. Eli remained looking at the man that he loved. And the more that he did this, a rosy pink pattern started to dance up his chest towards his neck and the low lit lamps of their room reflected off his widened pupils.

He didn't need to smile. Alternatively, his hand reached out and a curtain of deep purple was tucked behind a flushed ear. It was when this gesture was shared between the two of them that Justin's eyes fell open all over. As well as this, he almost copied the other man's gesture by tilting his own head towards him.

Practically as soon as he traced him with his own eyes, he reflected on his continuous twitchiness and restlessness and the way that he had been a little bit distant too. Justin reached to hold onto the wrist connected to the hand that was touching him. His lips parted a good few moments before he too eventually spoke. His voice trailed off into the night.

"I just can't sleep." Justin repeated but with much less gusto than the previous time. Not that he had raised his voice at all the first time. But the touch of his boyfriend brought him back to their reality whether he intended to or not. And he couldn't refrain from speaking to him when he could sense Eli's listening ears as well as his bare shoulder moving ever closer to him. "My mind is racing."

It was true that the Unovan male's cheek was pressing against his own pillow as he faced his boyfriend but after these words floated into his ears, he seemed to be very far away from that marshmallow softness beneath him. Though he didn't even change his position, he felt like the side of his face melted against the shoulder of Justin instead.

The position of Eli's body didn't alter. But as Justin looked down and away from the face of his boyfriend, his eyebrows knotting together ever so slightly and those thoughts of his indeed continuing to whirl, the position of Eli's hand started to change.

It could hardly be noticed at first. Especially because his hand remained close to Justin's locks. But the more that a soft silence took over the two of them, the more that it became apparent that tendrils of hair stopped being tended to.

With just one hand of his, that one hand appeared to cup right over his boyfriend's skull, protecting him from whatever he needed a break from. Justin looked up as he felt the pads of Eli's fingers pressing caringly further against his temples at the same time that he was murmured to.

"What's racing through your mind?" he wondered. And once Justin heard these words, it caused him to actually think about the kind of things that were whirring through his brain, constricting ever so slightly at the base of his neck.

In fact, it had a similar pressure to the way that Eli's hand was cupping his skull. Though of course, it wasn't nearly as pleasant.

Justin pondered some more, his front teeth clamping down on his lower lip as he tried to think of the words to articulate himself. When things didn't come to his mind so easily, he crammed his pillow down onto his head again but that time his chest was facing the ceiling rather than his back looking upwards.

Eli's mouth didn't curve upwards that time. As Justin twitched and concealed himself, Eli didn't have the same look as before but he did exhale out of his nostrils again. Still, he didn't have the time to get too concerned and he didn't have the time to tug the snow covering from his boyfriend either.

Muffled tones escaped from the pillow protection.

"Stuff." A mumble came and what could have been petulance oozing from him as a younger man was then just the beginning part of his words to buy himself some time to think of more. "Stuff… Flashing lights. Guitar sounds. Wiring microphones. Amplifiers." He listed and even from beneath his pillow, he could sense Eli leaning back away from him so he concluded, hoping he would catch on. "Song lyrics ringing through my ears and keeping me up at night."

A second of hesitation happened. This was the only thing that happened first and foremost. And then greatly contrasting his prior reaction of leaning backwards as he listened, Eli suddenly made a grab for Justin's pillow, yanking it off of his head.

A playful grin was exposed as his boyfriend was forced to see his face rather than the blackness of his hiding place.

"Well, hopefully they're good lyrics." Eli told him and after he bit on his own bottom lip before sucking on his top one at his own humour, his teeth appeared with light-heartedness towards his boyfriend.

Needless to say, it wasn't reciprocated! Justin attempted to make a grab for his pillow back from the older male and with any petulance that did still linger from his younger years starting to take over his features; he scowled and shook his head.

"My lyrics." Justin clarified, his lips growing fuller. Eli knew not to hold onto his pillow for too long so he let him take it back, placing it back behind his head. Justin shut out the rest of the room all over again, his hands raising upwards and smoothing down the hairs of his brow.

As Eli's smile died down, the silence prevailed. Wordlessness was broken by air escaping the nostrils of Justin. Recovering more promptly from his moment of poutiness in comparison to when they first discovered each other, he brushed away his thoughts along with his brows.

"It doesn't matter anyway. There's no point sleeping. It's usually when I'm this exhausted that I struggle to find sleep. And it's usually when I struggle to find sleep that the kids come and see me a billion times."

Perhaps showing me that that he needed that little bit of sulkiness to start things anew again, after letting out these own words of his, Justin stopped caressing his own eyebrows and he planted his hand right on his forehead. He shook his head and in spite of it all, couldn't help but have an elevation of fondness tugging at his mouth.

Usually, Eli would have followed suit, knowing the antics of Justin's children almost as much as he knew the antics of Justin! However, I suspect that he could sense the underlying restlessness within his boyfriend even if he was trying to encourage it to be a thing of the past.

He reached out to him once again, that time his fingers cupping the face of the man he loved rather than his cranium. Eli told Justin in dulcet tones.

"You don't know that." he pointed out and the younger male didn't need to respond with words because the way that he knowingly recoiled against his pillow did all of the talking. For a couple of moments, Eli didn't do any talking either.

And because he didn't speak in response, Justin believed that he needed his reaction explained to him. Resting both arms behind his head rather than touching his face any longer, he clarified.

"Sod's law." Were the two words that came from Justin because he believed they spoke for themselves. Potentially not though, from the way that Eli's voice did not sound.

He kept up his act of not saying anything, lying in bed with his side firmly pressed against his pillow and mattress and his knuckle drawing upwards to rest against his cheek.

Justin's brow rose upwards after only just being touched. But then he copied his boyfriend's silence. Just before his eyes fluttered shut again or his eyes grew studious, wanting to begin trying to suss out Eli's demeanour for himself, his boyfriend finally came back to him.

"Well… Do you hear that?" Not only did this return himself to reality but he returned to his boyfriend too, shuffling nearer to him so as his hands fell back towards his lap, it was his cheek pressing near to Justin's shoulder rather than his fingers pressing to the side of his own face. Air rushed back out from Justin when he was not being ignored after all. He listened. He couldn't hear… anything? He couldn't hear a single sound. "Exactly. I hear no children. I hear no tossing and turning. I hear no footsteps on the carpet. I hear no pleads for one more glass of water."

His expression had started to threaten to go steely with confusion. But apparently he had cracked it and it was then shown by Eli nodding.

Justin rolled his eyes. Justin didn't know why he rolled his eyes and because he was clueless, he soon rectified this by shaking his head – fondly – and his mouth widening at the fact that his boyfriend was right. And because he received a smile from his boyfriend, Eli ran with it and he started to rest his cheek against his shoulder properly, nuzzling against it.

Eli's hands waved as he gestured and then they clutched onto the man he loved.

"No children to be heard. They're sound asleep. You should be as well." he told Justin and with that, he stopped light-heartedly nudging against the bony shoulder belonging to his boyfriend and finally switched his position. He moved so he was lying down on his back and his own chest pointed towards the ceiling. "Come here."

And in hindsight I knew that if Justin's twitching and his jolting and his restlessness hadn't disappeared at that point then it definitely would be by the other, better pillow that Eli offered to him. Justin's eyes rotated in their sockets a second time. Yet after he continued lying on his back for a couple more seconds, he found it natural to give in to his beloved boyfriend.

He rolled over in bed and found himself pressed against the bare chest of Eli and soon enough was engulfed in his arms, one of them wrapping around his body in a strong and protective grip and the other going to the back of his head, tenderly caressing him.

This soft touch contrasted the protective one of his skull when he had opened up to him. And it contrasted the firm grip around his body.

But he melted against all of it. Justin loved each and every part of it and he showed it by a lasting smile decorating his face, the dimple on his right cheek pressing up against the slight dent on the chest of Eli.

And proving even more of his gladness to be up against the man he loved though his thoughts would try and capture his attention more towards the middle of the night, he murmured words in a tone that was lower than I usually heard.

"Mmm… Tell me about your day, Lij." Justin's words formed against the bare skin of his boyfriend and it was the closeness as well as the hope that his words would he concealed somewhat that caused his dimple to stretch bigger against Eli. "Hopefully it contained less flashing than my day."

And no stranger to what a concert rehearsal day looked like for his boyfriend, the Unovan male nodded his head to himself. And then, no stranger to Justin's humour, he caught on and it caused him to breathe out of his nostrils and momentarily shut his eyes before he smirked.

Feeling Justin having the same countenance as well, he didn't bother to go along with his dryness and he didn't bother to playfully scold him either! Amusement still bubbling in his throat that was shared by his boyfriend and much better than the previous chilly undeniable feeling, Eli granted Justin's wish, thoughtfully pressing his chin against the top of his head.

"I saw Lucy actually." Eli began. Although Justin saw darkness instead of a face and didn't nod his head against the touch of the older male's chin, his ring-clad hand reaching up to caress the chest of the man he was in bed with showed that he was listening. "She was playing music that quite frankly drove me insane. But then she was telling me about this kid that she is considering being a nanny for but between you and me, he sounds like a right handful."

The touch of Justin's middle finger lightly tracing down the middle of Eli's chest slowed down but the quiet chuckle that he let out with continuous shut eyes proved that he still had his attention. And while he let out the softest of yawns against his boyfriend's chest, he wasn't put off from telling his story.

Eli continued absentmindedly chatting away to the attentive listener against the quiet of the night, that filling his mind rather than the thoughts that crept into his brain no matter how many times it remained busy about other things.

Justin forwent letting out a grunt of enjoyment and tried to focus on the more words that came when to combat any worries all the more, Eli's fingers ran through his hair thoughtfully before they moved down to the nape of his neck, massaging in circular motions.

He listened to Eli express amused concerns that the little boy that Lucy would potentially be minding might need more of a disciplinarian rather than – in his words – someone who will let them test their new colouring pens on their face.

Then, it was Eli's turn to feel his eyes fluttering shut and having a momentary pause from speaking for the benefit of his boyfriend's relaxation as well as his own, he shook his head and his teeth started to appear as he grinned. He softened fondly as he remained holding his boyfriend.

He sure felt lucky to have spent so many years with that yellow haired woman that occupied his conversation point on that day and couldn't ask for anything more when she remained in his life even when his heart was bestowed to the hands of where it belonged.

That was the kind of love that he had read about and heard about and surely, that was the kind of love that was unattainable to him, right? Apparently he was wrong. He had been shown that. He had been lucky to have that. He was even luckier to still have that with Lucy.

The side of Eli's nose crinkled and the corners of his eyes did too in the seconds before he continued once again, shaking his head all the more. He managed not to let out a hearty chuckle as Justin's form grew heavier against his boyfriend and more silent too.

"Do you remember when she let Zack draw that really dark purple, almost black, eyeliner on her that day?" he questioned and then after he failed to swallow his laughter that time, he didn't even leave room for Justin to reply because he added. "Your father had the fright of his life when he stopped by! Do you remember that? Justin…?"

The aim of Eli picking a cosy spot for his boyfriend to make himself comfortable was all intentional. And most likely Justin asking to hear about his day was as well, even though he wanted to hear more about it too. The cosy chest of his boyfriend and the comforting words did wonders to relax him.

But there and then in that moment, it became apparent to Eli that he had become a little too relaxed! He started to gently nudge the white t-shirt decorated shoulder of his boyfriend, wanting to share amusement with him in ways that he hadn't before at the beginning of his words.

Eli tried to garner Justin's attention once more.

"Justin…?" he uttered one last time and in retrospect, it would've been a better idea for him to speak sweetly one of his pet names. But he didn't do this. Eli's lips fell together and towards the side of his face so a bit of his own dimple appeared. And then he chuckled to himself for a different reason. Tendrils of Justin's hair cascading around his close-eyed face were touched by Eli's fingers. "Goodnight to you too, then."

Eli briefly stopped caressing his locks and poked him on the cheek instead. His words were laced with sarcasm and mock-bitterness. But as almost as quickly as this fake façade appeared, Eli noted to himself that he had wanted to relax and reassure his boyfriend as much as possible – so he had clearly done a good job if he had drifted right off to sleep.

An exhale coming from within him and his lips evenly curving upwards as well, his hands went back to running through his locks as his boyfriend ran through dreamland. He stayed like that for a good couple of minutes. He stayed like that for a good while, listening to Justin's breathing deepen and feeling his narrow frame pressing right up against him as he hopefully peacefully dreamed.

There were few feelings that were better, Eli allowed himself to think. The two of them had tried to be just friends, they really had. And quickly into their reconciliation, when they realised that that was pretty impossible, they tried to make their dynamic into a whole different thing of their own, just for them.

Time passed. Things happened. Life happened. And eventually, it became clear. They still were not certain whether they were the person that they were destined to be with in the end. But they knew that they were destined to be with each other next. And since then, they had adored one and other and cherished each other and treasured the fact that they had been blessed with another go.

Eli pressed the lightest but the most pointed kiss against Justin's head as he snoozed. I don't know if he was thinking about these kinds of things as well but there was a chance that he was by the way that he traced with his fingers where he had just planted lips before finally reaching for his book all over again.

Sometimes he didn't know why he read those particular stories and I didn't know either. He had all of the romance and adventure and consuming ever-lasting loving feelings in his chest for the deep purple haired male as that same male pressed up against that chest. And it rendered the book pathetic by comparison.

But still, Eli picked up the book all over again and he started reading, one arm continually wrapping around a slim frame in a shielding manner and his other hand gripping his fiction. He grew absorbed by the words on the page and Justin's gentle yet wholehearted breathing lent its sounds as a soundtrack for Eli's reading.

That was how it went down for a good while. The clock ticking on the wall. The middle of the night drawing closer. Justin remaining very still and very much asleep and inhaling and exhaling against the chest of protector. Eli scuffing pages as they turned, and every so often, mumbling words to himself so he could remember them for later.

In fact, he was in the middle of repeating one word in particular and how interesting it was to be used in a sentence that way when the next segment of the night happened. Prior to that next moment, there had hardly been any prominent sounds at all. The quiet of the night had been the most obvious thing of all.

Aside from breathing noises and page turning ones and the clock ticking, there had only been distant and far off house creaking sounds. However, in that moment, something else joined that gentle cacophony that showed that that house was a home.

Almost as soon as it tore Eli away from his own muttering noises and he heard it, he looked down at his boyfriend and listlessly stroked his cheek. It seemed that he had been proven incorrect after all.

"There are noises to be heard coming from children, so it seems." he mumbled and in a way that was very much like for just himself to hear. Nevertheless, the back of Justin was used as a nightstand as he slept and his hand cupped his shoulder all over again. That time, he did utter names that were not Justin's birth given one. "Baby? Baby? It's Layla."

Eli tried to wake Justin but not overtly. While he knew the drill and he knew the score, he didn't fully commit to tearing his boyfriend from dreamland because he had only just very recently melted into that state. Even though a spine of a book was digging into his spine!

Additionally, he looked down right peaceful - and in his mind – utterly cute, with his long arms spread out aimlessly while he dreamt but his cheek and his chin not leaving the bare skin of Eli. He most definitely thought of this and these musings wandered through his mind and caused him to smile carefully as the sounds of a real baby continually crying filled his ears.

The more that time passed and the more cries that came, Eli gave up shaking Justin's shoulder entirely. But still, he did not alter his body. He didn't not push his book down onto the floor. He didn't swing his feet over the bed. He knew that he would have to do something eventually, before the little baby got herself in a proper state when she wasn't soothed by her father and the other children in the house woke to the cries as well.

But at first, Eli didn't know what to do exactly. He acted like he had all of the time in the world rather than in reality; he had a few more moments at the most before the little baby's cries grew nuclear like the guitar riff that she was named after!

He really did know the score. Layla as well as the other two children had a father of their own and he was the one who always got up for them, ready to push the sleep from his eyes and smile patiently into the dark of the night at whatever it was that they needed.

And when those three children were not waking that father of theirs to seek his comfort, they were over the house of their other father, Sammy. The person who had stepped aside when he was the first person to reach the epiphany that Justin and Eli should be together.

Because of this and the respect for both fathers and respect for the children that they shared too, Eli took a massive back seat. He was there to be a friend. He was there to entertain. He was there to chat too. The actual parenting stuff he had little to do with other than lending a supportive ear.

But on that night as Layla's cries began to spread further apart but get louder and as Justin continued to soar towards that long sought after dreamland of his while he slept, Eli was beginning to be left with little to no choice.

When he could no longer kid himself that he couldn't hear the other children in the house stirring as well, he was left with no choice.

As carefully and gently as he could, a kiss fluttered towards Justin's head before he was encouraged off his chest, back onto his pillow. And after he was free of a clutch too, he pulled the duvet right over him, running his hand over his own shorter part of his locks before they rested themselves in his curls.

But naturally, there was no time to rest. The more seconds that passed, the more ran the risk of Layla and Eli not being the only people in the house that were there to experience the night. Reaching for a white t-shirt of his own and pulling it over his head on the way, Eli didn't have time to dress and douse himself in the extra layer of a dressing gown before he headed to the baby.

Sneaking along the hallway to her room, he didn't have time or the inclination to check on the other two children either. He really wanted to prevent as many people waking as possible. So he disappeared into the room of where the crying was coming from. It really had grown more and more spaced out but when the yellow haired baby drew air into her strong lungs, the siren sobs were a force to be reckoned with! They were even more this way now that Eli was up close to them.

Concealing his wince and reaching to flick the night light on by the crib to see what he was doing exactly, he rested his hands on the bars and spoke to the child in a naturally soothing voice long before his eyes adjusted and focused on her.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey." Eli started, his fingers curling around the white top bars of the crib and his eyes for a moment longer didn't get used to the shapes around the nursery. Layla was still not used to the company that time of night and she was too busy wailing to notice any either way. This made her lungs work harder. "What do you think you're doing? Practicing to be a backing vocalist?"

A smirk taking over his own features at his own joke, Eli stopped resting one of his hands on the white rails and reached to carefully tuft the sparse yellow locks of the baby. And with a hiccup of realisation that she was hearing things beyond her own shrieks, Layla's eyes adjusted to the company as well as the light.

She snuffled. She sniffed. She hiccupped again. And then she had a strange reaction in contrast to her prior howling. Eli began to grin and chuckle as this reaction came from her.

"Well there's no need for that." Eli pointed out as Layla started to coo – and chuckle as well! The wetness dripping down her cheeks that was tears started to become wetness erupting from between her lips as she giggled. Instinctively, his hands disappeared into the crib to wipe away her sorrow and glee as well. "Don't laugh! Don't get riled up in a different way. It's sleep time."

Almost as if she understood that this was a bit of a warning even if it was coming from the non-parental male in her life, her throat squeaked another time and with that, her giggles and drooling noises started to evaporate.

Layla became quieter with realisation as Eli's fingers moved away from her cheeks and rested on the top of her head.

Because she was concerned that he would disappear out of sight and she would stop being able to focus on him, she started to grizzle and wail all over again. Eli's hands clapped over his own ears momentarily before they cupped the cranium of the nine month old baby.

"You are so like your father. So resistant of sleep, and usually when you need it the most." Eli told her, his hips then feeling the curl of his fingers rather than Layla feeling it on her head. After she blew a bubble and she looked up at him inquisitively, his hands switched position all over again and they wrapped around the middle of the child. "Your daddy. Although… you do kinda smell like your papa."

She was lifted up onto his side. Evidently, he had noticed her puzzled look so he had corrected the situation. As the little girl's hand absentmindedly moved onto the shoulder of Eli while she was held by him, he didn't need to lift her further up and inspect closer to the area because it was obvious where that smell was coming from!

In spite of the very clear expression that took over Eli's face, Layla didn't snicker again.

Instead, her thumb plopped in between her lips and she rested her cheek against his shoulder as well as her other hand. Eli sighed and it was this that prompted him to speak past the less than pleasant scent.

"Don't get comfy. I'm going to have to get you changed. Just bringing you into your daddy's room should do the trick in waking him." Layla was informed. Although his nose crinkled up like a piece of paper, his feet remaining planted on the carpeted floor of the nursery made it clear that he was not going anywhere. "No wonder you were crying your eyes out, girl. My eyes are burning."

That time, Layla did snicker and smirk when she was teased but she also rubbed some of her other fingers from the same hand against her eye as her thumb remained comfortably wedged between her toothless gums.

Eli was encouraged to get a move on. While he didn't like the idea of what he was moving on towards, he knew that he had to just do it!

What other choice did he have? Justin deserved his sleep. Layla deserved to feel fresh. The other children in the house didn't deserve to be woken up to perform that task on their youngest sister. It was up to Eli. It was up to him and him alone.

Apparently he felt he was up to the challenge.

"We better do this then, huh? Not here, though. Your cries somehow didn't disturb anybody else but my gagging noises definitely will." Eli half humoured her and then with that, he grabbed some of the supplies on the way before heading along the hall towards the living room and lounge area.

Looking back at this story and in hindsight, I can't help but feel that Eli was being most dramatic! I had seen him change nappies before. I knew that he was capable. He had been around quite a lot during Johnny Jinn's early years and gotten rather good experience at doing them. Perhaps that was why he was so scarred for life! Maybe he had changed enough stinky diapers to last a lifetime. But on that night, he would just have to get on with doing one more.

Eli placed Layla down on the living room floor when they arrived there after managing to find a changing mat and sliding it underneath her. To his hand he had a fresh diaper, an unspoiled sleep suit just in case, wipes, cream, diaper bags, and a toy to distract. That was enough, wasn't it?

Layla broke his attention away from observing all of these things and making sure it was enough by letting out a shrieking noise to garner all of his thoughts just for her. Of course. The thing that he needed the most was a patient and an easy-going baby. He just had to hope that it was Justin's genes that shone through in her!

"You're determined to turn this into a late night party for all, aren't you, you little monster?" Eli poked Layla on the nose as he kneeled in front of her. And after she squeaked again, his mouth appeared sunny despite his anticipation and his fingers moved to unbutton her sleep suit. Like the name that he had just called her, it was decorated in different types of purple and green and blue creatures. "Let's get this over with so you don't get too chilly."

Eli became almost as fixated on this pattern as the little baby was with him as she looked up at him. But he managed to focus himself.

Let's get this over with so I don't have to feel uneasy for longer – should have been the words that came from his mouth!

However, contrary to his drawn together brow and his oncoming stomach ache in the presence of the baby belonging to the man that he loved, he doted on her naturally and handed her, her toy. She could occupy herself when she was left in just her sodden diaper.

Eli should have suspected that the interest of a toy would pale to insignificance compared to the company of him. But he didn't catch on to her stare that was as wide as her buttons and only engaged with her a little more when she properly interacted with him.

He was encouraged to talk back to her when she burbled and cooed against the mermaid decorated teething ring and kicked her legs against his knees gleefully while he continued looming above her.

"Are you going to sing for me? Is that what you're going to do?" humoured Eli but because his voice came out level, it shouldn't have been a surprise that he didn't chuckle along with her and interact with her in the way that she wanted. Nevertheless, after her leg kicking died down and she tilted her head studiously, she was soon laughing again when Eli interacted with her at his own accord. "Oh boy. That smells worse than when we were kids and Jordan was convinced he didn't need a shower after spending a whole day fishing!"

His eyes started to water as his hands moved closer to her diaper. Layla couldn't have understood a word that he was saying but she liked the sound of his tones and she liked the expressions on his face even more!

While he took a moment to breathe away from her and her offensive diaper and wipe the corners of his eyes, she discarded her toy completely and whooped and shrieked. Out against the low lit living room and during the middle of the night, her eyes shut with joy.

The corner quirking lip action that came from Eli after he had a moment to himself and was ready to get back to it spoke volumes of the fondness for all of her reactions – even if she was very stinky!

"You shouldn't be proud you know." Layla was warned but Eli actually went against all common sense and blew a raspberry on her belly before his fingers reached for the sticky tabs of her diaper. Layla's delight lit up the room and although she very much felt even more amusement bubbling in the belly that Eli had just planted his lips on, she managed to keep it to herself at his reaction after he had opened her covering and pulled it away from her. "Oh you really should not be proud!"

And catching him off guard when he heard a voice that was not his own filling the living room after he jokingly scolded Layla, his naturally wide and studious yet sunken orbs swivelled around the room. For a second, in the heat of it all he foolishly wondered if the yellow haired baby had spoken not only her first word but her first sentence!

Layla clapped her hands like this was true.

"What are you doing down here?" Another of Justin's children appeared at the doorway of the lounge area and she pushed her hair out of her eyes as best as she could, her eyes sunken with confusion as well as tiredness at being woken in the middle of the night.

Like when he was in the nursery and had only just switched Layla's night light on, Eli's eyes took a couple of moments to adjust to another child being in the doorway as well. In addition to this, he still needed some time to reprimand himself that, of course, it hadn't been the baby to do the talking.

Buying himself some time like his boyfriend and the girl's father often did, Eli began.

"Oh." he mumbled to himself and while he felt that he was a baby fixing rookie, he knew enough to use his hand to push the diaper back towards Layla's belly while he engaged with the other daughter. The last thing he wanted was a shower at that time of night! "She needs a change. Justin wouldn't wake up. I wouldn't do this in any other instance, believe me."

Darcy merely appeared in the doorway some more before crossing the line leading into the room, her nightdress floating around her ankles and her hands drawing together against the middle of her own middle. She looked at Eli in a focused manner as Layla did when she was on her changing mat in front of him. But, unlike her only younger sister, she didn't smile nearly as much.

The brown haired young girl simply nodded her head just once, pushing a pesky twirl of her hair out of her eyes all over again while Eli pretended to know what he was doing and keep his composure at the highest level as he returned to trying to change Layla.

"You never normally do that." Darcy observed, but showing that she didn't observe everything, Eli took a second or two break from changing after sliding a fresh diaper underneath the baby and rolling the soiled one into a tight knit roll to look over at the seven old girl.

His words of not usually changing nappies had not been humorous ones to show that he liked to avoid that type of task at all cost. He had been showing respect for their other father, while reassuring the oldest child that he never intended to tread on toes.

But, she was young, wasn't she? She didn't think that kind of things. She had two dads and one of them had someone else in their life that was equally fun to be around. So she didn't think those kinds of things at all.

But Eli didn't know that. He was always alert. That was admirable, I felt.

Eli replied to Darcy that it was desperate times with a bit of seriousness in his usually twinkling eyes before he looked away from her all over again to resume changing Layla. But when he sensed the seven year old girl's hands clasping together a bit more, he added.

"Do you want to help?" he asked Darcy, not needing to look at her but his eyes latching onto her after a couple of seconds all the same.

Switching up from her quietness, she couldn't help but look back at Eli with eyes that said 'do you want me to help?"!

He wasn't offended in the slightest and after the only sound that filled the room was Layla's gurgling noises as she picked up her teething ring all over again, the eldest of Justin's daughter's took light steps across the room and she sat right next to Eli.

Somehow, he admirably didn't lose his composure under the occasional watchful eye of Darcy. This was likely because she occupied herself with touching the sparse locks of her little sister and waving at her while she was changed instead of judging Eli's every move as he moped and wiped and cleaned up the nine month old baby.

Wiping his brow with the back of his hand, he spoke to Darcy as much as he had spoken to Layla.

"You changed many of these stinky things, then? You are very brave." he told the girl and then complimented her but he wasn't trying to win her over in some way. That was simply Eli. You could hardly spend five minutes with the man before he came out with some form of compliment. No wonder their father enjoyed being in his company so much!

Darcy looked over at Eli from taking Layla's mermaid decorated teething toy away from her and holding it up against her face so she could peer at her little sister through it like she was looking through a monocle. At first, she forgot what she was doing so she had this continuous mock monocle as she turned her attention over to her father's boyfriend.

His face instantly lit up at this despite the fact that his hands were being used to push multiple wipes into a fragranced bag and tying the lavender toned bag into a knot. He was probably disappointed when Darcy dropped that act for him and answered normally.

Well, it couldn't exactly be said that she answered normally. In truth, she answered quite impressively. She answered back to Eli in the language that was spoken in the parts of Unova that he had settled in and that he had taught both her and her brother. She kept it simple. But I knew that it was intentional.

Yet while Eli's head bobbed and his eyes were the stars of the night against the partial darkness of the living room that he and Justin shared, he didn't catch on to the fact that she had done it for his benefit, far more than she had done for her own and to practice.

Like she had missed Eli's underlying notions of respect and care, his observant self, had missed that within her.

Still, he replied similarly and in the same language when Darcy budged him over and started to clasp together the sticky tabs on her little sister's new diaper before the both of them were forced to have a late night shower.

The seven year old listened as she started to dress the baby in her sleep suit too.

"And Zack?" Eli spoke the name of her little brother before he continued conversing in his native language. He too kept it basic. And because he did this as well as the mischief gracing his eyes as he looked over at Darcy buttoning up Layla's sleep suit for her, the seven year old girl caught on to what was being put forth.

Though she ducked her head and a twist of her hair bounced against her forehead rather shyly, she soon shared a smile with Eli as well. In that same language, she spoke of the fact that her little brother's nappies when he was a baby were enough to last anyone a lifetime!

The Unovan male nodded like he understood. Perhaps he really had been scarred by Justin's little brother and sister's nappies in their younger days after all!

And then, speaking of the third child that Eli shared a home with along with his boyfriend and their father; another voice appeared in the doorway. Eli and Darcy didn't need to crane their necks. Layla did all the same and her expression creased with glee at a third person joining them all. She really had planned on the atmosphere becoming a party!

"What are you three doing?" Zack questioned and he rubbed his clasped fists against his sleepy eyeballs as he stood there in his dinosaur decorated pyjamas. Needless to say, after Layla let out a raspberry sound much like Eli had done against her when she heard her only brother's voice, all eyes fell onto the five year old boy.

Eli's curls on the top of his head felt the motion of a hand and with Layla occupied by Darcy and feeling much fresher than before, he finally had a moment to exhale that he had actually undertaken that task without too many hitches. But then, his main priority was answering the boy lingering in the doorway.

I shouldn't have been surprised in retrospect from the way that he humoured him, his voice coming out very level, but that was probably because tiredness had started to take over his night-owl self at that point.

"We're having a party." Eli answered and because Darcy appeared rather confused in the corner of his eyesight and with a bit of a frown taking over her face, he shared a look and a smirk with Layla who knew all too well. "Not really."

His answer was changed and his voice inflected. Nevertheless, the five year old boy was surprisingly happy to let this idea go. Maybe he was as tired as he looked and simply wanted to check what was going on when he heard noises coming from somewhere else in the house. Or maybe he was used to Eli at that point!

It most certainly could have been the latter from the way that after not needing too much recovery time when up against his father's boyfriends jokes, he soon enough shook his head, his voluminous locks bobbing about his neck, and he ran full force at Eli.

He tackled him with a hug, trying to wrap his small arms around the entire waist of Eli. Darcy watched and Layla most likely did too as Eli effortlessly wrapped just one of his arms around the little boy's frame after letting out a teasing 'oof' noise, returning the hug. He didn't make a fuss about it but it made his eyes dazzle all the more.

And although he was determined to continue being the non-paternal one, he did something against the nature entirely when looking at the invisible watch on his wrist and speaking to the two children – and Layla too.

"Layla is much happier and cleaner too and most importantly, quiet." Eli began and immediately, all eye's fell onto the blonde haired baby who was sucking her thumb and indeed wasn't making as much of a raucous noise as she had been known to do in her crib. Instead of moving to cradle Layla like his sister was doing, Zack continued hugging Eli as he listened. "So I think you two should get tucked back into bed. And I'll get the little monster into bed and asleep as well."

Darcy didn't shrug her shoulders and she continued looking down at her little sister, enjoying being the one to hold her but she had a demeanour that believed that Eli's words were fair enough and she prepared to stand up, showing the beginnings of compliance.

Eli stood up too and allowed Zack to continue hugging his legs before he moved away from him to put what any of them no longer needed into the plastic bag.

It wasn't this that caused unhappy noises to fill the living room. And it wasn't even Layla to make these noises even though they were rather baby-ish sounds! Zack hadn't reacted too much to Eli standing up and he had tolerated him briefly moving away from him to put the bag into the bin and wipe antibacterial gel onto his hands.

But realising what Eli was getting at and knowing the translation from the Unovan language in which he had uttered to them afterwards, he started to stamp his feet. His voluminous locks bounced around his ears and in a less than joyful way! He stamped some more.

"I don't want a party but I don't want to sleep either!" Zack insisted. He didn't stamp his foot a third time but he nodded his head so fiercely and insistently that his neck clicked, producing a similar sound. When he saw that he had got everyone's attention and he knew that he had Eli's from the way that he was tilting his head towards him, his eyes their natural amount of wide, he added, folding his arms dramatically. "I'll scream!"

And before Eli could jolt into action and he could move and clamp a hand over the five year old's mouth if that was what he was intending to do at all, Zack let out the beginnings of a shriek. It was only a fraction of the siren like noise that he could indeed produce when he wanted his own way – and it was only for a split second because Eli knew that he had to interrupt.

Before he could get any further and Layla could join in and the both of them could actually wail the house down, Eli chest felt the constricting of his own arms and he looked firmly down at Zack.

"I'll scream." he warned him and he warned him in such a mundane and uneventful way that somehow, it garnered the occasionally stroppy Zack's attention! Firstly, he scowled some more. For a second, he looked competitively at his father's boyfriend. "And I'll do it so loud that it will knock your socks off."

And with that, Eli's façade faded away and in spite of the fact that Zack had been trying to test his patience as the clock drew closer to the clock hands merging, pointing to the sky, Eli reached out and ruffled his often bouncing curls.

Darcy breathed out a private sigh of relief that Eli hadn't gotten mad at her brother and helpful as ever, she started tidying up some of the baby changing bits from the living room while continually holding a yawning baby Layla.

And stubborn as ever, Zack furrowed his brow and tried not to be won over by Eli's words and his actions as well.

Trying not to be won over by his own tiredness either but failing that far quicker, he was threatening to rub his eyes all over again by the time Eli went down on his knees, making another proposition to the brown haired boy. That was of course his way of forming a truce.

"Let me lift you to bed." Eli suggested and he didn't smother him by tackling the boy with a hug, wrapping his arms around him like he had done to him upon entering the room. Zack was in a far different mood than when he had come skipping into the living room!

Sunshine and showers, that was that five year old right there. It was lucky Eli was patient. It was lucky Eli had the practice from dealing with his father. Both of them!

The brown haired boy's arms limply fell to his sides after folding so insistently across his chest for a good couple of seconds before he agreed. And then when he finally did so, he didn't make it known with words. He merely held his arms out to Eli.

Nonetheless, after he was scooped up into protective arms and Eli made sure that Darcy was okay with carrying Layla off to their bedroom for some group quiet time, Zack squeezed his hand over a round shoulder and he rested a weary cheek there at the same time that he was held. He didn't say another word. He didn't say another sunshiny word. He didn't say another stormy one.

Zack had given in and he had given in to being carried. And in the same way had he done this, Eli had given in to being a little bit more parental when it came to those three children. He couldn't help it, though, could he? He was lucky to have them around, as he was lucky to have their father. And he simply couldn't stop himself from guiding them. And loving them.

Zack was plonked down onto his bed in the room that he shared with his sister and although he didn't exactly plant a kiss to him, he allowed his face and his nose to linger near the curly locks of the boy before he properly pulled away.

Then, he turned back to the seven year old girl and took Layla from her. He gave her a smile to show that he was grateful and that she had done a good job. Darcy returned this knowingly.

This little moment was broken by Zack perking up and unexpectedly so when it came to his prior tiredness. And unexpectedly so compared to his prior stroppiness! Bouncing on his bed on his bottom after he had been placed there by Eli, he showed off a toothless grin, his curls no doubt bouncing along with his body.

"Can I sleep in Darcy's bed with her tonight?" he asked and he bounced even more as his older sister peeled her own covers back and climbed into bed herself. She didn't need tucking in. She didn't need carrying. She didn't need any of this from Eli.

Nevertheless, he still smoothed down her covers for her long before she climbed into them and after she had climbed into them as well, a nearing on snoozing Layla then lulling against him as he held her in his other arm. He looked over at Zack and he looked over at Darcy too.

When he saw that the five year old boy was asking him this question, he knew that it wasn't for him to decide. In the language that they often spoke together, Eli told Zack that he would have to ask his sister this himself.

When he did, in that same language and with even more of a toothless grin that was his attempt to be endearing, Darcy didn't reply back in any sort of language. But she replied back silently. She nodded her head.

After Zack had been carried over to his sister's bed and the two of them were curled up together for good, Eli slid down against the wood of Darcy's bed frame onto the floor and continued holding Layla against his chest.

And for the first time since he had left he and Justin's bedroom to tend to the child that had been wailing, there was a moment of silence. Because it had been so sound filled and it was so unexpected, it seemed to hug them around all the more. It seemed to feel very peaceful indeed.

The dead of the night was a peculiar time. It was the instance in which thoughts could whirl and swirl and become quite massive, taking up the space of an entire brain and even spreading outwards. But it could also be the time for great stillness. Sometimes, no thoughts would come. Sometimes, no words would come. And that was great.

I thought of this when I heard this story and I think of it now. I believe that Eli's favourite noise state was the one in that home. The one with Justin's guitar ringing out for all to hear. The one with humming noises coming from that same man as he concocted a song. The footsteps and the shrieks of laughter coming from the children. People popping in and visiting and laughing as well. Lucy. Katie. Jayden – who Justin said Zack got his sunshiny and stormy disposition from. Even Sammy.

Yes, that was the noise level that Eli liked the most. It kept everything else at bay. He hardly had room to think about anything else when that crazy family that he was lucky enough to witness were filling the air with their own chatter. And before he knew it and without many formal words, he became a part of that family. And that slowed his mind down for good. In the best way.

Breaking his mind away from whatever it was that he was thinking as he felt Layla beginning to drool against him as the idea of sleep became more appealing even to her; Eli listened to the words that came from one of the children.

They both peeked from behind the shared duvet. In spite of their differences in age and in character, they both had the same sleepy half grin on their face as one of them asked, stealing Eli's attention for good.

"Do you think you could tell us a story?" Darcy asked Eli and she even tugged the duvet down away from her face for good, lifting her arm upwards and resting her cheek contentedly against it.

Before he could smirk or sigh – or he could even properly turn his attention to look at the two of them rather than the wet sensation as Layla was occupying her mouth by sucking on his t shirt, Zack piped up.

Zack joined in to the conversation, finally seeming to sink down against his pillow and bolder compared to his sister's shy grin.

"Yeah, a really good one." added Zack and it was Darcy to give him a firm, reprimanding look as she snuggled up close to him. Although she wanted this as much as her brother, he had been the one to raise his voice slightly louder. And because she had been minding him the longest – longer than even Justin and Sammy – she felt it was her place to do that towards him.

He scowled but luckily not enough to threaten to scream again! And not even luckily because it was simply meant to happen, Eli had a soft curve of the lips that was rare for even me to see as he cupped his cheek against his face, looking between the two children.

And as he looked at them both, he knew that he couldn't deny them of anything

"Ahhh well you'll be so pleased to know that I do have a really good one." he began by telling them and he could sense their excitable feet scuffling and moving from underneath the covers. As well of this, he took notice of the intrigued squeak that Layla let out as she continually sucked on his shirt. He drew her closer and broke distance between the other two as well. "It's about a wonderful man. And a princess too, actually! Maybe one of the only adventures they had. But a thrilling one nonetheless."

And in spite of their excitement to hear it and Eli's quiet excitement to tell it, he knew that with the way that he would tell it, the children wouldn't be able to understand all of it. But what he didn't know was that that was the best way!

His long-winded sentences and his unusual choice of words and his dulcet tones not only captivated but they soothed as well. They soothed children so well that they dropped right off to sleep barely even five minutes into the story.

But they had heard enough. They had heard enough to know. And even as they fell asleep and they dreamed and their imaginations thought up all kinds of wonderful things, Eli continued telling that story. That kind of moment would go on to be his happy place, far happier than the one he was recalling.

Teaching things. Telling stories. Guiding. He didn't have to be a parent to do that. He could be a friend. And one thing he was determined to be was a brilliant friend to those three children, just like he was determined to keep a baseline of that in the relationship with their father as well.

And speaking of that same man, he wasn't quite as asleep as his children were and he wasn't quite as asleep as Eli believed. For you see, as the man whom he loved got further and further into his story and he leaned closer to the children in bed and held the baby snoring against him nearer too, a hand fell on the wooden frame of the door.

Running another hand through his hair and squinting tiredly before that look changed to reflecting the dim light of the room, Justin looked onward at that sight in his children's bedroom. For a moment, he stiffened. His throat moved and bobbed. But then he relaxed, sinking so far against the doorframe that he rested against it as well as leaving his hand clutching onto there.

Justin exhaled as he heard the voice of the man he loved and as he looked on at the children that he had just as much love for if not more as when he decide to take care of them and bring them into the world.

Emotion flooded his own beating chest and his mind when he conjured an array of thoughts. And these thoughts and sensations were far more encapsulating than what had been worrying him earlier on in the night and the things that had woken him up, too.

Compared to moments when it was just the two of them and in their shared house together and Justin was twenty two years old, he no longer could sleep for a different reason. And it was the most wonderful reason. He had found a balance. He had found an answer. He had found a home. He had made a home.

And that was a reason to keep his eyes open, wasn't it? He wouldn't shut his eyes on that kind of love, not again. It was there to stay.

Like Eli didn't need those romance books of his to fill his imagination with, not really, Justin didn't need fairy tales to know of a happy ending.

He had found his. Whether or not it lasted, that was an entirely different matter. But it was there. It was around. And if love showed its face, then you always must show gratitude for it coming around. Even if it travelled on again. Even if it travelled on forever. And that kind of bravery to set love free, made it hang around for good. And remain long after a book was finally shut.

The End.

There you go! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) It's funny that although when I wrote this (way back in December 2020 now) it really resonated hard, my style of writing has changed so much that I felt that it was outdated. Even so, I tried not to change it too much because it was true for early on in what I thought their future would be. Naturally, I've thought a lot about it in the past six months and written so much that I can't wait to continue their story. I really am happy about this end game pairing. I felt upset for single Sammy and Lucy at first. But there is a plan for them too. And that story will get told really, really soon :P Thanks again and I will be back next Wednesday so see you then!

Amy signing out :)