Page 150 of The Protective Gryphen

And now…

Oh, Jesus take the wheel.

Ian was going to floor it and take this car right off the road into ‘let’s have a baby’ lake.

“I was talking about kids.”

Clearly.

Only, Ian needed more.

“Are you saying you want kids? Kids with me? Because if you’re saying you do, and you change your mind, I’m going to get upset.”

Gryphen stared at him.

He wasn’t sure what he was struggling with on this one. It seemed pretty cut and dry.

“You told me you want it all, didn’t you? The white picket fence, the house with a family…did you change your mind?”

Oh, fuck.

Jesus.

Sorry, God.

“NO!”

Immediately, Gryphen put his hand over his mouth to quiet him down.

“Shhhhhh,” Gryphen said. “You can’t yell in church. That’s just wrong.”

Ian stared at him, and then, he moved his hand.

“Gryph, we’re going to have kids too? You want to have kids with me? Really?” he asked.

This was an emotional rollercoaster, and Ian was about to break down.

He couldn’t believe this.

He’d let this dream go to have a life with Gryphen. He’d relegated himself to being an uncle.

Not a daddy.

“Well, we can’t have them. I mean, we can have them, but not physically. I’ll jerk off into a cup for a surrogate, or you can. If that’s a no for you, we do what the Blackhawks do and collect them like they are trading cards.”

That’s all it took.

Ian started crying.

He couldn’t handle the emotional overload that just hit him with the idea that he and Gryphen would make a family together.

Babies.

He wanted them more than he knew.

“Oh, Jesus,” Gryphen said, standing and moving toward him. “I’m sorry! Maybe I shouldn’t have brought this up. I just figure you said you didn’t want halfway. You wanted all the way. I was going all the way.”

He knelt next to him and stared into his eyes.

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