#for el

Y/N’s POV:

Calum stopping by was a kind of unexpected surprise, but it has been two weeks since that seemingly awkward encounter and you are swiftly nesting away at Luke’s place and Calum’s. You are grateful for the fact that neither of them seems to mind too much, although you know what a hassle two cribs and two nurseries have already been before the baby is even here. You are very fortunate to have RM/N support you with your nesting at Calum’s place. In fact, she stayed out of the nursery completely the last couple times I have been over at their place, but I believe that was more on the premise of her latest binge watch of New Girl over anything else.

Calum has been in and out of the studio a lot lately with Luke, so it has mainly just been you and RM/N at the house. It is surprisingly quiet in the house without Calum there, not that he usually is one to make a lot of noise. It seems like the only sounds throughout the entire house are coming from the television in the living room and the soft shuffle of your feet throughout the nursery. Your movement has become more of a waddle within the past couple of weeks. And you are slowly but surely becoming more impatient with waiting for your little bundle of joy to make her way into the world.

With your efforts, your little girl’s nurseries are as complete as they can be. The only thing missing in both cribs in both houses are your baby sleeping within them. You have washed and folded every article of clothing you already have for her between your many shopping sprees and all the gifts you received from your baby shower. Her crib is all put together, the proudest factor of the whole ensemble being the pink and purple dinosaur sheets you found last week. You are as prepared as you are ever going to be for your firstborn child, you just hope that things won’t become too overwhelming with the fact that she basically has four adults willing to take care of her at any given moment.

Calum’s POV:

You have been in the studio tirelessly for the past several weeks. You understand why there are deadlines in the music industry, but at the same time you truly believe it somewhat stunts your creative abilities. You and Luke have been trying your best to get the melody right on your latest song, but you have been failing miserably. It doesn’t help that the studio is the last place the two of you want to be. You know that if anything happened that RM/N would call you right away and get Y/N to the hospital, but you still feel like you should be the one with her in these remaining days before the baby arrives.

-------------2 hours later---------------

You just parked in your driveway after a long day at the studio. You offered to take Luke home because the two of you carpooled there anyway, but was it really a bad thing that you hoped Y/N would still be at your place nesting by the time you got back? You know RM/N texted you twenty minutes prior that she was going to her three-hour lecture on campus and that she would be gone for most of the night. You know it would be the healthy thing to do if you talk out your issues with Y/N. She is usually a very understanding person and the only other person you usually bring up your issues to is RM/N. You don’t want RM/N to know that Luke and Y/N’s relationship is making you jealous. It would ultimately harm your current relationship with RM/N.

To your relief and simultaneously to your surprise, Y/N is sitting in the rocking chair in the nursery of your home. She is humming to herself quietly while rocking slowly back and forth, one hand on top of her very prominent baby bump. This is the kind of moment when you wished you were good at photography. You do your best to take a mental picture of this precious moment and find yourself daydreaming about all the precious moments to come with your daughter. It didn’t take long before Y/N noticed your presence and pulled you out of your own headspace.

“Calum, you’re home sooner than I thought you would be…you just missed RM/N. She had her night class tonight if I’m not mistaken,” Y/N states as she slowly makes her way up and out of the rocking chair in the corner of the room.

“Yeah, our producer let us out of the studio early since Luke and I can’t focus for the life of us haha,” you respond lightly, hoping you didn’t startle Y/N as much as you think you have.

“Well I can go home if you want to be alone and decompress, I’ve spent most of my day here anyway. I should probably get home soon,” Y/N replies with a gentle smile spread across her face.

“Actually, there was something I was hoping we could discuss before I take you home,” you start, silently hoping that she will agree to this conversation that won’t be easy for either of you.

“Yeah that’s fine, but can we talk on the couch? I have been on my feet way too much today already…” Y/N trails off as she heads to the couch, not waiting for your reply on the matter.

You join her on the couch, keeping an appropriate distance due to your want to respect her privacy and space. She is growing an entire human inside of her and that is no easy job. You don’t want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already is.

“I just wanted to talk about our current situation. Like obviously we are both in separate solid relationships with other people and I don’t want any confusion between us. Obviously, we are going to be parents soon…. I don’t know I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m happy for you and Luke, I’m glad the two of you are finally together. I mean we all saw it coming…just the timing of it all was a little concerning. And I guess you could turn that around on me as well considering how quickly I fell for RM/N… I don’t know I just feel very overwhelmed with it all ad I want to be as transparent with you as possible before the baby comes. I’m not a very open person and I know that is one of my flaws and I am trying for everyone else’s sake to get better at that, but I just wanted to let you know where I am at with all if this… I don’t want to end up resenting you or Luke or anyone in this situation. I just wanted to let you know where I’m at with all of this so you are in the loop, if that makes sense…” you trail off recognizing that you just rambled off the problem to Y/N in possibly the worst way.

She takes a while to comprehend all of what you just said, you know that you dumped a lot of information on her all at once and you do not expect a response from her right away. You hope she understands where you are coming from though with all else considered. You hear her take a deep breath in before she says the words you were anxious to hear come out of her mouth.

“I believe we will find a way to work everything out once she is here. The two of us will always be her parents, it would take a heck of a lot to change that, but you also have to understand that Luke and RM/N are going to be a big part of her life as well. As much as I hate to admit this, we made a mistake. A beautiful mistake and I would not change it for the world, but a mistake, nonetheless. We have to act like the adults we are here and evaluate our situation with where we currently are and where we want to be as parents. I am willing to coparent with you and do everything that is necessary for our daughter and I need to know that you are on board with me on all of this as well. Our days are numbered in the sense that she will be here before either of us know it and I want to make sure we, for the lack of a better phrase, have our shit together before that time comes,” Y/N concludes, which leaves you in awe with how much she has grown throughout the past eight months.

Calum’s POV:

As you inch closer and closer to the arrival of your first-born daughter you find yourself filled with both excitement and fear as you aren’t sure what fatherhood will look like on you. You and Y/N aren’t in the best situation, but you are trying your hardest to make things run smoothly as you don’t want to add extra stress on anyone’s life. You spend a lot of your time these days looking through baby name books and annoying RM/N. She’s nearing the end of her semester of school and you find that her studies are taking up more of her time than either of you would like to admit.

Today in particular RM/N’s head is three feet deep in her textbooks. After bugging her to the point where she seemed completely annoyed with you, you decide to head over to Y/N’s house in the hopes that she will cook you something or at least want to order take out with you. The two of you haven’t spent much time together lately as she is nesting in her apartment and you and RM/N have been spending most of your time together. You know that there was a time where Y/n and Luke were getting closer with one another, but they’ve been best friends for as long as you can remember and you really doubt that Luke had the balls to anything more than give her a peck on the cheek every now and then.

-20 minutes later-

You pull into the parking lot of Y/N’s apartment complex, your stomach already grumbling in anticipation of one of her infamous grilled cheeses. There is a small thought in the back of your mind that is worried that you might be catching Y/N at a bad time, but your hunger gets the best of you and before you know it you are parking your car and walking the all too familiar path to her apartment.

You knock on the door twice and wait for her to answer, the weight of the spare key she gave you weighing down the keyring you are currently holding. After standing awkwardly outside her door for about five minutes, you take it upon yourself to let yourself in. Normally you would’ve just assumed that she wasn’t home, but you saw her car in the parking lot, so you know she has to be inside. You feel a little bit of guilt using the spare key that she gave you, but she gave it to you for a reason. Whether this reason was similar to the reason you’re about to use it is not something you are willing to think about right now as all you’re focused on doing is seeing Y/N and eating something…and soon.

The next minute and forty-two seconds are something you wish you could forget. Moments after walking into Y/N’s apartment you realize why she wasn’t answering her front door. The bedroom door cracked open was the only indicator that someone was home. Her apartment always had this kind of chaotic nature to it. The furniture was mismatched, and the decorations jumbled, but nothing could describe Y/N more. You didn’t want to walk into her room as she was probably taking a nap, but once you heard her squealing from behind the almost closed door you decided to investigate further.

The moment you opened the door you regretted your actions. You expected to see Y/N sleeping peacefully in her bed or watching another telenovela considering her mild obsession with them, but what you actually saw was something you wish you could erase from your memory entirely. The reality of the situation is that you saw Y/N and Luke in the process of taking off each other’s pants, something you never wanted to see…ever.

The minute Y/N saw you she shrieked causing Luke to jump back and nearly give himself a concussion by knocking his head on the wall. You gave them the space and privacy they needed to compose themselves and firmly planted yourself on the couch with your head in your hands. The most alarming part of it all is that Y/N and Luke seemed so comfortable around one another. And you feel absolutely stupid for not noticing it sooner. Luke has always had a thing for Y/N and Y/N has always had a thing for Luke, you just truly didn’t think they would act on their feelings. Or at least not this soon given the circumstances.

About fourteen minutes later both Y/N and Luke come out of Y/N’s bedroom, both looking as mortified as ever. You can feel your cheeks still burning and Y/N gives you a small smile before sitting next to you on her couch. Luke excuses himself to the kitchen where you see him pouring glasses of water for the three of you. You try to break the awkward silence, but you don’t know just where exactly to begin. Luckily Y/N jumps in and starts the conversation first.

“I know I shouldn’t have given you that spare key,” Y/N laughs much to your surprise. You thought she would be as mortified as you are, and maybe she is but she definitely isn’t showing it.

“Oh, come on, you know I didn’t come here with the intention of walking in on you and curly over here…” you start, knowing that statement was way more awkward out loud than it was in your head.

“No we know Calum I’m just messing with you…from the looks of it you didn’t even know Luke and I are dating which is hilarious because everyone else we’ve told said it was way too easy to tell,” Y/N responds, smiling wider at the mention of her and Luke being together.

You were happy for her, happy for them. You know how long the both of them wanted a relationship with the other, but you can’t help but feeling a little betrayed by the whole situation. Obviously, you don’t have those kinds of feelings for Y/N, but a little part of you wanted her to have those kinds of feelings for you. And you know it is selfish you have a loving girlfriend who is supportive of everything you do an almost too cool with the whole soon to be a parent with another woman thing. But some selfish part of you wanted Y/N to have feelings for you because of the whole situation that you are in with her at the moment.

“I’m just a little surprised, that’s all. I can’t believe Luke finally grew some balls and asked you out,” you reply, unable to hold back the snarky nature of your tone.

Luke scoffs at your comment and the blush in your cheeks only seems to grow, but you try your best to not let it get to you. The three of you change the conversation to the baby and how her arrival is getting nearer with each day that passes. You can see the excitement in both Luke and Y/N’s eyes, and you would be lying to yourself if you didn’t find it kind of cute that they were tackling this together. It is actually kind of a relief. You have RM/N on your side, but you worried how Y/N was going to do on her own with your daughter.

You spend about three hours at Y/N’s place before you decide to call it a night and go home to your girlfriend who is probably still studying away. You are happy for her and Luke, truly, but the uneasy feeling is still in the pit of your stomach. Luke had so many years to make his move on Y/N, but of course he had to wait until she was kind of unavailable to actually do something about it. You know you don’t really have the room to be upset, but you can’t help it. You are jealous. Not that you want to be romantically involved with Y/N, both of you are kind of occupied in that sense, but you still are jealous.

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Y/N’s POV:

Not even an hour after your daughter oh so lovingly kicked you a total of three times, twice for you and once for her father, you were back on the subject that was stressing you out in the first place. You knew that you probably should not be freaking out as much as you currently were regarding Calum having a female roommate, but you also know Calum just a little too well to think that she was just a roommate. The fact that he was waiting to introduce her to you and Luke, and the guys obviously means he cares about her and did not want to fuck anything up. You admired how much he already seemed to care about her, but you can’t help but think that she will take away from your little family. It’s not that you care for Calum in a romantic way, but you are worried about how present he will be with all the baby stuff if he is more worried about fucking his roommate.

Luke and Calum are still bickering over the subject in hushed tones down the hall thinking that you won’t hear them because of their attempted secrecy. You can practically hear every word that is coming out of their angry whispers. You now know that Luke is advocating for Calum to be there for you and the baby by any means necessary considering he is the reason the three of us are in this current situation today and he warns Calum not to cause another “mistake” as he put it with regards to his roommate and the romantic involvement he most likely has with her.

You decide to walk even further away from that hostile environment by going into the guest bedroom and looking through some of the baby stuff you have already purchased for your daughter. You know you still have a few months until she is here, but you got started on the nursery and some other baby stuff out of pure excitement. As you organize the items in the room, your mind starts to wander. You wonder if Calum’s roommate is nice, if she is skinnier than you (which she is…considering you are four going on five months pregnant), what she is doing in LA, amongst other things. You really want to meet her just to see what she is about, but if your conversation with Calum earlier is any indication of how that conversation is going to go, you might not get the option of meeting her. You shake your head, hoping the thought you just had would get out of your head quicker that way, and you continue to sort through the pile of baby things you have accumulated throughout this pregnancy thus far.

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Luke’s POV:

“Well, are you at least going to let them meet each other?” you ask Calum blatantly. You already know what he is going to say, but you want to hear it come from his mouth again for shits and giggles.

“I don’t know yet,” Calum replies, “it’s a lot to figure out and I don’t necessarily need an angry pregnant lady on my hands.”

“Dude, you are sooooo past that,” you respond, knowing Y/N fairly well yourself and easily identifying what makes her tick, “it would be easier on your part to just let Y/N meet RM/N. That way she will know who may be a part of your daughter’s life, if things are really getting as serious as you claim they are.”

“I know…but I just don’t want her to barge into my house and ask to meet RM/N right then and there. I know I have kind of kept her from you guys for some time, but it wasn’t for nothing. I really do care about her…probably way more than is healthy for a normal human being but whatever. I just don’t want Y/N to feel abandoned on replaced or anything like that. I am going to be here for her and the baby and anything the two of them ever need or desire…” Calum trails off after rambling on for a while.

You understand where he is coming from, but you also could not relate entirely to his situation. You have had feelings for Y/N for a while, but she was never a secret from the other guys. In fact, the first time you met Y/N was when you were with the other three, grabbing coffee from a nearby coffee and bookshop that Calum insisted all four of you check out because it was going to be his new hang out as he was moving into his newly purchased house. But you surely know what it feels like to love someone with every inch of your being and you could tell Calum felt this way about RM/N just by the way he was talking about her and the worry he had on his face when he found you sitting in his living room talking to her the night before.

“Just promise me you won’t fuck with Y/N’s emotions any more than you already have with this baby hormone shit she is currently dealing with…and please allow them to meet soon if not tonight because if you make her wait any longer she is going to go crazy imaging the worst things possible,” you explain to Calum, hoping he understand the severity of the problem he has created and how it will impact Y/N and the stress she is inevitably going to put on the baby because of this peculiar situation.

He nods in response as the two of you have finally completed your conversation that consisted mainly of hushed angry whispers and a lot of disapproving glances that the two of you exchanged in the past few minutes. You head back into the living room, assuming that Calum was going to take the reins on this next conversation the three of you were about to share regarding the predicament at hand.

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Calum’ POV:

You really got yourself into quite a jam now. Obviously, you expected that Y/N and RM/N would meet one day, but you weren’t necessarily expecting it to be today. You shoot your roommate a quick text to warn her that some friends were coming over before you explain the game plan to Luke and Y/N. This was not a soccer match with plays and positions, but you went about it the same way since there were a lot of obstacles and touchy subjects you had to dance around once you reached your house and those who are inside of it. There will have to be a delicate balance between both the timeline of things and the whole “oh yeah, she’s pregnant” type of thing. You are worried about the outcome of your two worlds colliding, but you also know it is now or never.

“How about we head to my house so everyone can meet everyone else?” you suggest, hoping that Luke and Y/N will comply and follow you to your house to let this all unfold.

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Y/N’s POV:

Luke is driving the two of you to Calum’s house as you mess with the aux cord and what songs you were going to play for your short drive. It took maybe 15 minutes to get from your place to Calum’s which gave you enough time to play three or four songs. You spent a while picking which songs you were going to que up, wanting to get your point across about your current back and forth romantic situation with Luke. You did not want to come off as desperate, but now that you know that Luke knows that you and Calum are not romantically invested in one another maybe that means that he will finally make a move. After some careful consideration, you decide on playing If I’m Lucky by State Champs. You felt a little awkward playing a song by a band that Luke and the guys have toured with before, but you hope that Luke just appreciated you filling the silence of his car with some decent music and did not waste his mental capacity on something as minute as who is singing the words you were yearning to tell him yourself but could not find the right words to articulate your message in the correct fashion.

“If you stay or if you go I’m right there with you but you know that I’m looking for more than just a pretty smile and if I’m lucky you could stay for a while but…” the song sings softly through the speakers of his car, the words as melodic as you remembered.

You did not want to force anything between the two of you, nothing works out in your favor if it was forced and you are a strong believer in everything happening for a reason, so you decide to leave the situation up to fate itself. As cheesy as it sounds, you really do not want to ultimately ruin the good friendship that you and Luke share for this whole romantic thing to not work out the way you want to. You would rather be alone forever than lose a friendship as important as Luke’s. You glance over at him a few times as the song plays to see if he is looking your way or if he is thinking intently.

You could always tell when he was thinking intently because he would unintentionally scrunch up his nose as he concentrated on whatever was on his mind and it was one of your favorite things about him. You could see a slight flicker in his eye, like he wanted to say something, but did not think it was the right time to get into whatever was on his mind at the time. You let it slide this time, hoping that the time will come when the two of you could stop dancing around your feelings and just embrace them instead. You wanted nothing more than to be in Luke’s strong arms in this moment with him whispering into your ear that everything is okay and everything is going to work out for the best, but you know that neither of you are in a position to be that way currently. You inhale and exhale slowly, accepting the fact that nothing is going to happen between the two of you right now. Maybe soon, but not quite yet.

Before you knew it the two of you were pulling into the familiar driveway of Calum’s house, where you saw the grey car that must belong to his roommate parked inside of his garage. You inhale sharply, trying to prepare yourself in any way that you could before meeting someone that could easily be the wicked witch of LA based on the information you have about Calum and his exes. Luke is by your side quicker than when he left it, slightly lacing his hand in yours as the three of you enter Calum’s place.

You haven’t been here since the night at the club, but everything seemed to be exactly where you left it, which surprised you slightly because you thought the roommate would make the place look a little less like a twenty something year old male threw some decorations here and there and called it a home. Nevertheless, you walked into the living room, gripping Luke’s hand the moment the two of you took a seat on the couch, waiting for Calum to come back from getting his roommate in order for him to introduce everyone. This all felt more awkward and forced than the Dinner Party episode of the Office and you wished for nothing more than some dumb song to distract you from the weird air that seemed to be surrounding this entire situation that Calum has put you all in.

She walks into the room with an awkward smile plastered across her face as she sits in the love seat adjacent to where you and Luke have settled for the moment, extending her hand to shake yours and formally introduce herself. She opens her mouth to speak and she allows the words to slip off her tongue with ease.