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[afineseamstress]

The box is there when he wakes, settled at the edge of the bed and almost hidden by Aramis' kicked up sheets. He stares down at it for a long moment, listening to Porthos move about in the kitchen, and when he is awake enough, Aramis drags the box to him to open.

Looking down at its surprising contents, Aramis smiles.

"Washing up!" he calls, exiting the bed with box in hand straight to the bathroom, where he wastes no time, fingers busy with more than the work of slipping the silk up and over his legs. If he is surprised, Aramis is equal parts impressed, stunned, and more warm than he's ever been in his life.

When at last he is set to rights, Aramis gives the corset a last tug and opens the bathroom door, walking the short distance to linger in the bedroom doorway. He gazes at Porthos' back as he rummages in the pantry and smiles, leaning his hip against the frame. "I believe I'll need some help with the string."

Comments

[du_vallon]

Porthos blinks rapidly, feeling a bit overwhelmed and light-headed for Aramis' timeline. It's a lot sooner than he had ever expected, though he still thinks warmly of the notion the minute he pictures it. "Nine months?" he echoes. "Nine months after the wedding? That soon?" And yet, unsurprised, because Aramis has long wanted a family.

He shifts slightly, still uncomfortable with so soon, what with Porthos still not trusting himself to be capable of fatherhood, with no example and little practice.

[afineseamstress]

"That is only the requisite waiting time, cariño," says Aramis with a gentle smile. "How long we will have to prepare when we do decide we are ready." He fits a fingertip into the worried line between Porthos' brows. "Something tells me that nine months after the wedding will not be enough."

[du_vallon]

The touch only makes his brow furrow more as he stares at Aramis, hating that he feels like this because it's not really the way he wants to feel. He's excited about kids, but he's more comfortable when it comes to orphans. He knows how to treat them because he'll treat them the way he'd wanted that.

But a child? A child born of Aramis' blood that has known nothing of the streets? Porthos doesn't know how to be a father, not like that. "I don't want to be bad at it," is his fervent insistence. "And I don't know how to be good."

[afineseamstress]

"That is how I felt when Isabelle fell pregnant," Aramis admits. "I believe it is how all new parents must feel. Some things cannot be known until they are experienced, but we will have each other." He traces the scar on Porthos' eye. "We have faced cannonballs, Porthos. I believe we can face a child."

[du_vallon]

Porthos lets out a soft laugh. After everything today, after his emotions and his desires have taken such a turn and a toll, this seems like almost too much. "Did you go find books? Or ask someone?" Porthos wonders curiously. "To find out how it is you can have a child without being unfaithful?" It's not an accusation, merely wondering if Aramis has done his own research to match Porthos'.

He's still anxious, but Aramis is right. They have time and beyond that, they have Athos now. Athos wouldn't let them completely mess everything up.

[afineseamstress]

"Not yet," says Aramis. "We can embark on that together, though I have heard the term surrogate mentioned more than once on television stories." Particularly on Space Hospital. "They can impregnate a woman without a man ever having to enter her. I don't understand how yet, but it is a fascinating idea."

[du_vallon]

"I've done a lot of reading," Porthos admits, because he's been wanting to make sure he has plenty to offer Aramis when it comes time for it. He sits up with a groan as he hears the water for the ribs boiling over and knows it's time to switch them to the oven. Placing a kiss to Aramis' brow, he smooths his fingers over it after. "It's a lot of money, too," he says. "The procedures and all that, it's going to take a lot of money. Everything seems to cost so much."

And now that they have some and a home, besides, he finds it difficult to figure out how to earn enough. "It's confusing, but I think what they do is take you and a woman and use lots of equipment to get her pregnant without anyone having had sex." He ambles to the kitchen, prying his boxer-briefs off his hip with a pinch of his fingers to drag them looser on his hips.

[afineseamstress]

"It all sounds rather medieval," says Aramis, and he can hardly imagine how a woman would willingly subject herself to so much when she will not even keep the child. Some mixture of altruism and economic need, no doubt.

Unable to resist the view this time, Aramis pulls on the boxers he'd shed earlier and follows Porthos into the kitchen. "How long will those cook?" he asks, rummaging in the cold box for juice. He still feels a little drained after such an extraordinary tumble, and pours a glass for Porthos as well.

[du_vallon]

"It all sounds very expensive," he admits, because the amount of money the magazines and books quoted is more money than he's ever seen in one place before. "Maybe we only will do this once," he says, given that he can't imagine doing it more than that, especially not with how money is strained. "They'll be another hour or two," he says, for dinner.

Reaching for his glass of juice, he flashes him a grateful smile, leaning his elbows over the counter as he adjusts his henley. "Why? Got ideas?"

[afineseamstress]

Once for practice, more like, thinks Aramis, but he knows Porthos is nervous about their future family and does not push. They have time here to go slow and to learn and become the men and fathers they wish to be.

"Something quiet," says Aramis. "A film or a bath, or - " He pauses, thoughtful. "Add a television in the bathroom to our list of extravagant wishes."

[du_vallon]

Porthos gives him a pointed look, as if to say that this is why they're never going to be able to afford a child a second time, not if they mean to do it the expensive way. "Aramis, I'm starting to feel a bit sick thinking of all the money we need for the things we want," he admits, though he likes the idea of all of the things they've spoken about. "The wedding, the house, kids, the renovations..."

"How are we going to get the money for all this?" he asks, genuinely distressed and needing to know. "I'll do anything for it, I will."

[afineseamstress]

"Porthos," sighs Aramis, taking his hand to lead him to the couch, "Come sit down. I know that we can do this. If we have to take more cases, or I more of those photographs, or you the prize fighting, we will take things as they come. We are still young and capable, and now we have Athos' wit to help us besides."

He brushes Porthos' knuckles with his thumb. "Would it help if the wedding were a simpler affair?"

[du_vallon]

"Athos helped to pay," Porthos murmurs, a bit numb, "for things, but I don't want him to." He's so stubborn when it comes to money because he's meaning to earn it as best as he can. He follows, sinking down, and shaking his head vehemently. "I don't want it to be small because you don't want it to be small. I want what you want," he insists.

"You want a big affair," he says simply. "Me, too." Stretching, he digs out a few of the discs that Allison had left, showing them to Aramis. "Look what she's found me. They're cartoons, but they're fairytales and love stories. I love them," he confesses.

[afineseamstress]

"I do want a big affair," says Aramis, refusing to be waylaid, at least for the moment. "But not at the expense of your happiness or peace of mind. In the end it is enough to be married to you, more happiness than most men dream, and I will be content, Porthos."

He cranes his neck then, taking up the brightly adorned boxes. "Sleeping Beauty," he says. "These are moving paintings?"

[du_vallon]

"Aramis," Porthos says patiently, levelling a firm look his way as he gets comfortable with one arm draped around Aramis' shoulders to pull him in, tugging the blankets on top of them once the disc has been inserted into the player. "I want the wedding you want," he says. "I swear on your beautiful cock," he smirks. "Maybe we can ask Athos to sit down with us, is all. Figure out how much money we need for each thing we want," he says, a bit more serious as the movie begins to play in the background.

"They're all moving paintings," he agrees fondly, his fingers sliding into fond patterns, tracing the strings' marks along Aramis' torso, down to where the panties had hugged. "This one is my favourite," he raves. "It's beautiful." And he likes the way that everyone loves the Princess so much that she's to be protected and that protection means a happy life, out in the country.

[afineseamstress]

A dark tale, if Aramis remembers correctly, but most of these moving paintings are meant for children, so perhaps it is not so. "A tale of French origin," he notes, smiling, "You are a patriot."

Setting the disc down for the moment, Aramis clears his throat, asking carefully, "Should we involve Athos in the finances?" Though the argument has ended, Aramis cannot help but feel that Athos still thinks them foolish. Suppose he tries talking them out of their home, talking Porthos out of children? Should the latter occur, Aramis might actually have to duel him. "The man has burdens enough without our finances."

[du_vallon]

"Then Jim," Porthos says, finding the strange rectangular square that turns on the screen and the player. "Or René or another of our friends who's capable with money," he murmurs, continuing to allow his fingers to move over Aramis' marks, thinking with heady pleasure that he'd helped to make these. "Or," he points out, "pushing Athos is what we're supposed to do. We never had much luck letting him be. He only drowned himself more."

"It was us being ridiculous and overbearing that got him to be our friend," he says, wiggling his hips and shoulders and smiling happily when the story begins.

[afineseamstress]

Aramis watches the title screens unfold, looking as much like tapestries as a painting, and tries not to worry at the cushion beneath his hand. "True," he concedes, but he is not certain he wants to badger Athos into accepting Aramis' own future happiness with his husband. "I know he wishes us well, but at times it is as if Athos does not believe in happiness. Not the lasting sort. He may think us fools."

[du_vallon]

Porthos glances sidelong at Aramis, a look on his face that's drawn by his forehead knit together and a bit of worry lingering. "I accused him of that, when I was on my pills," he says. "I said that he chooses to be unhappy, willfully." True, he feels bad about it, but it's not something he plans on taking back, either. "He claims that's not true, but he's so ... stubborn," Porthos huffs out the word, reclining back in order to pull Aramis with him as he watches the christening on the screen.

[afineseamstress]

"He is stubborn," Aramis agrees, "And you already have your doubts." He loves Athos dearly, but when it comes to Porthos Aramis will always be protective, just as he is doubly protective of what they have now. "I would see him free of that poison, yes, but not if it means drawing it into we ourselves."

[du_vallon]

Porthos presses a hand to Aramis' shoulder, just enough to give him a confused look. "Doubts?" he echoes. "About what? About us? Never," he swears, a wild look in his eye as if he's willing to fight Aramis to prove this, so filled with determination and sheer stubborn righteousness to fight for the affection he feels for him.

Though, Aramis is right. If Athos means to be unhappy, then Porthos should avoid drawing himself into it. He rests his cheek on Aramis' shoulder, now, staring at the princess as she's brought to the woods with her three fairy godmothers, all equipped with care and magic.

[afineseamstress]

"About rearing children," says Aramis, watching the colorful flying women onscreen with half an eye. "About your ability to parent them, doubts which will be dispeled the instant you discover your natural talent, but I must get you there first, Porthos."

He rests his own cheek against Porthos' curls. "I will not be thwarted."

[du_vallon]

Shifting uncomfortably, he knows that it's true. He does have doubts about raising and rearing children, but he's not sure if Athos could ever sway him away from wanting them. At least, not completely. Porthos may be wary, but he knows that time will help to solve that. He doesn't reply to Aramis' belief in his natural talents, choosing instead to grin when the story reaches his favourite part, the prince serenading the hidden princess as they dance through the woods.

The music is haunting and lilting, a melody that Porthos could hum in his sleep (or to a child in a crib, he thinks distantly). "You're as stubborn as Athos," he murmurs. "But you shouldn't worry. I want nothing more than to watch you raise children."

[afineseamstress]

"We'll raise them together," says Aramis, stubbornly true to form, "You will see."

He sighs and rubs his face against Porthos' hair. "This is a good tale for a child," he notes at length. "Little girls in particular would be enchanted. Perhaps you will show this to ours."

[du_vallon]

Porthos' body is trembling with his soft laughter, in sheer awe at how Aramis doesn't like to leave well enough alone. He pinches at one of the red marks on Aramis' torso when he brings up the story and little girls, following it with a hard kiss to Aramis' tattoo. "You're so sure," he marvels, even though with every passing day, some of it infects Porthos and makes him believe it, too. "So sure we'll have children, so sure I'll be a good parent, so sure that you'll have a baby girl," he says, but it's all filled with fondness.

"And what is her name?" he challenges. "I know you've thought of it."