#hmltim

"Put them down, I can take them to the bin," James reached for him as he got up, one hand circling his waist while the other reached around to take on of the watermelons from him, "You're not supposed to lift anything."

"Anything heavy," Will corrected, but even as he spoke James had set the first one down and taken the other one from him, "This is all within the limit, I can still lift two fucking melons."

"But you don't need to," James touched his arm and brought him in closer to the seat he'd just vacated, "I'll do the tidying up, yeah? You'll sit there and relax."

"I don't need a sit down, Jamie," Will groused but didn’t fight him this time, his eyes catching instead of the watch that now decorated James' wrist, "Looks good on you."

"Thank you, Will." James dipped to kiss his head. He was glad that Will’s attention had shortened with the brain fog, else he knew the other man might've thrown more of a tantrum about being coddled.

But James couldn't help it. He needed to see that Will was alright, even if it earned him a few annoyed swats and some whinging. Even if it meant that he had to get Juno from Will’s arms whenever he caught him carrying her around; the watermelons might be under the weight limit, but an almost four year old wasn't.

"We're cutting up two of them for people to scran," Will caught him before he picked them up again, "The one that had the box and the dropped one can go on the bin... if you could bring us a slice?"

"Of course... is that what Lyra wants?" He knelt by him, speaking almost conspiratorially, hand reaching where he knew the baby lay.

"Maybe? Just fancy something a bit fresh, I think," Will touched his wrist with a gentle squeeze, "You don’t have to be so touchy, you know... I don’t expect you to make up for anything."

"Feels weird being in one of these big shoots," James curled around him in the bed, his thigh pressed in between Will’s legs and somehow he melted into the touch without questioning it. "Feel a bit of a spare part really."

"You’re not, Jim," Will pressed back against him, "Technically Lyra is the spare part, you were invited by them, she's free riding."

"Stop picking on her." his hands reached to cradle the bump, a hard kick meeting his palm. "Is it because she's been annoying you?"

"She fucking did not like running up all those steps." Will sighed, "Makes sense, I suppose, getting shaken about... Still, kick Harry, not me."

"And how's she meant to do that?"

"Wait? I don’t know, her problem." he shifted slowly with a grimace to face James, "This is your fault, you know. You are too fucking tall and have a massive head."

"so you've said.' a few times actually. He ducked to kiss the bump, "Poor baby, stuck with mr grouchy-"

"Will?" The door had opened a crack and light poured into the otherwise dark room: they'd let Chris and his boys stay the night since they were now living out of London.

"What?" Will cringed a bit at the intrusion.

"You weren't bumming or anything?" Chris entered the room after making sure they weren't. "Shift."

"That's actually kinda difficult these days," Will did sit up a little though, "What's happened?"

"Rough night," Chris said simply and Will understood that for what it was: another negative test. "Can I stay with you?"

"If you can squeeze in somewhere," Will glanced at James seeing him understand.

"I'll go check on Juno," James pressed a final kiss to his temple and pressed his hand to the bump under the covers to keep that farewell quiet, "Try to not stay up too long."

"Thanks," Chris had crawled up between them even as James was leaving, he was too close to tears to wait. "Sorry-"

((I assume you mean Lyra since technically magpie isn't born yet? or at least in the irl timeline hes only 20 weeks))

"Will?" James frowned, looking around the dark to find the source of the noise, "Will is that you?"

"Go back to sleep."

"Why are you up?" he switched the bedside light on to see his fiancé hunched over himself, "Is it the baby?"

"Yeah," Will looked up from whatever he had been doing and the exhaustion was clear on his face, "Go to sleep, it's late."

"Are you in labour?" James sat up to grab his shirt from the ground and put it on, making his way over to the little desk in two strides.

"No.' Will glared at him, even through the haze of pain and tiredness. "She's still not feeling low enough but she's still massive and breaking my back."

"Then come and lie down," James coaxed, trying to get his now overdue partner to bed again. "You went over with Juno too, didn't you?"

"Fuck off," Will swatted him, "I'm sorting ut."

James saw then what he'd been making a noise with: he'd reopened the amazon parcel with the cheap abs electro pad work out thing... he couldn’t remember fully.

"That's your plan?"

"Yeah," Will nodded simply. "Give her a little incentive."

"Shh, darling," Arthur picked him up and cradled him close, George standing behind him awkwardly, "What’s wrong?"

"It couldn't be me, could it?" Chris said between ragged breathes, "It's not going to be me."

"Tell me what’s happened?" Arthur pried, "I can't understand if you don't tell me, munchkin."

But he was too far gone, crying now uncontrollably into Arthur's shoulder, his breathing fueling the sobs that he didn't even try to cover.

"He eh... it's my fault," George cringed, putting a hand out flat on Chris' lower back, "I was asking about Will, if he was going to be coming to the pub shoot."

"We'll he can't can he, he's not allowed," Chris snapped, "He gets to have... fucking hell."

"Oh." Arthur closed his eyes for a long moment, bringing them both to the bed and opening an arm up to George, "It'll happen, baby."

"It's not happened. It worked once and I fucked it." Chris buried his head in Arthur's shoulder. "And I can't even fucking try now without feeling sick with loss."

"Shh," George kissed his cheek, "We should just take a break from it, yeah?"

"How can I? I want to be there for him, I can't stand there jealous of him when he needs me," Chris leaned back, "Let go of me."

"Never, baby," George shook his head, "I wouldn't do that, neither of us would."

May 2025

"Jim!"

"What?" He leaned away from the sink to shout back, "What's wrong?"

There was a moment of silence, James finished the last swipe of the beard trimmer on his neck and then grabbed the towel, wiping his hands and face fully dry.

He could hear Will's heavy footsteps unevenly pandering across the upstairs landing, he had to stop a lot these days, lungs too limited to manage the stairs in one go.

"Will?" He opened the bathroom door as he was finishing up, finding Will there holding his back, "Practice contractions again?"

"No, I think it's ti- the actual fuck did you do?" Will glared, "Where's it gone?"

"Thought I'd try something new." James said slightly defensively, "You like it?"

"Not very poggers," he shook his head, arm braced on the door frame, "Juno is going to fucking hate it."

"I think it's nice, you can stop whining about friction burns." James touched his cheek and chin, "You really don't like it?'

"I just wasn't expecting it," Will reached out to touch just opposite his own hand, "Makes you look very different... Harder- not like that."

"You like the muscles," He made a point of flexing them as he brought Will into an embrace, "What were you coming over to say before?"

"Hmm?" He looked over, still slightly distracted by the smooth jaw and hard muscles of his neck and chest. He leant forward suddenly with a cringe, "Shit... Yeah, that."

"What?" James kept a hand by his elbows in case he did tip forward completely, the bump meaning they couldn't get as close as they'd like anymore. "Will, what's wrong?"

Juno:

Lyra:

Magpie: