Alex didn’t wake up until he smelled coffee. When he blinked his bleary eyes open, his phone proudly proclaimed it to be ten forty-five in the morning.

“Jesus Christ!” He sat bolt upright in bed, the covers falling down around his hips. “How the hell could I possibly sleep that late?”

Jordan appeared from the main room with two steaming mugs. He smiled and set one on the nightstand, and then sat on the edge of the bed beside Alex.

“You were so tired, I didn’t want to wake you up.” He kissed Alex’s cheek. “How are you doing?”

Alex sank back against the pillows. He should have gotten up earlier. He should have done something more productive with his day.

If nothing else, he should have woken up so he and Alex could spend more time together. It wasn’t like they got a lot of time as it was. “I’m sorry.” He rubbed at his eyes. “You must be so mad.”

Jordan shook his head, still smiling. “Dude. You’ve been running yourself so ragged you were bound to crash eventually. I kind of like taking care of you, you know. Here, hang on and let me go and get you breakfast.” He got up and scurried back into the main room.

He came back five minutes later with a tray table, loaded with scrambled eggs, toast, and even a little bowl of pineapple. “I know how much you’ve been craving pineapple lately, so I made sure I got some the last time I went to the store.”

Alex blinked back tears. “I so don’t deserve you.”

“Sure you do.” Jordan’s grin softened. “Eat up before they get cold. There’s nothing more gross than cold eggs.”

“That’s the truth.” Alex grabbed his fork and started eating. “How long have you been up?”

“Oh, since about eight thirty. I got some work done, slipped out to the store, that kind of thing.” Jordan looked away. “It wasn’t that big a deal, you know. I’ve also been getting some actual sleep, so I was just up and at ‘’em earlier I guess.”

He fidgeted. “Listen, um … can I ask you a weird question?”

Alex laughed a little, even though guilt still broiled him from within. “Of course.”

“How long has this pineapple thing been going on?”

Alex tilted his head to the side. The scent of his new favorite fruit was calling to him, driving him to distraction. “A couple of weeks now, I guess. Why?”

“Hm. And the extreme fatigue?” Jordan fussed with the edge of the sheet.

“Probably about the same. I haven’t exactly been tracking it.” He gulped down some food. “I’ve probably got scurvy from staying inside too long and eating mostly salad.”

Jordan raised his head and blinked. “That’s not how scurvy works, Alex.”

“It’s not?”

“No. You get scurvy from not getting enough vitamin C. Sailors got it, back in the day.

“That’s not the point. You probably should see a doctor, but, um. I got a test.”

Alex did a double take. “A test for scurvy?”

“Would you forget about the scurvy, please? You don’t have scurvy. You have cravings and severe, debilitating fatigue. Drink some coffee, babe.”

Reaching carefully under the bed, he pulled out a plastic CVS bag, reached inside, and withdrew a box. Alex stared at the box. It was black, with silver lettering.

Men’s Extreme Home Pregnancy Test: Turbo-Charged Results with Ultra Speed For Mega Accuracy.

He looked back up at Jordan, who suddenly seemed a hundred miles away. “Oh my God. You think I’m pregnant.”

“I think it’s a possibility.” Jordan took Alex’s hand and set the test down on the bed. “Don’t you think it’s better to know now, instead of just kind of hoping for the best and sticking your head in the sand? The symptoms fit, and this way you don’t have to take time off from work to go to the doctor and get a bunch of tests you don’t need.”

Alex sighed and moved his tray table. “The problem with dating someone you’ve known since you were a kid is they know exactly which buttons to push.”

He grabbed a piece of delicious pineapple with his fork and swung his feet to the floor. Still chewing, he grabbed the pregnancy test and shuffled off toward the bathroom.

While he waited for the timer to do its thing, he paced. There wasn’t much room in Jordan’s tiny bathroom, but he did his best. He could have easily gone out to pace in the main room, or in the bedroom — where the pineapple was — but that would bring him closer to Jordan.

Alex loved Jordan, but he didn’t want Jordan to see him like this.

He chewed on his fingernails. Babies were fine and good, he supposed. He had always figured it would be nice to start a family of his own, sometime down the road, when he’d achieved the degree of stability he wanted.

Now it would be insane. He’d rather have scurvy — that, at least, was treatable.

Not that having a baby with Jordan would be the worst thing in the world. Jordan was amazing. He made Alex feel safe, and protected, for reasons Alex didn’t even really understand.

He knew all the parts Alex had hidden over the years. He would be the guy Alex would want to start a family with, once he could afford to do so.

The timer pinged. Alex held his breath as he stepped forward to go look at the results. When the little screen on the dipstick told him he was pregnant, or rather “MAN-PREGNANT” because the product had to emphasize its masculinity at every possible turn, he wasn’t surprised.

It was the worst possible outcome, and so it was the only possible outcome.

Alex disposed of the test and emerged, dragging his feet the whole time. He didn’t want to resent the little bundle of cells growing inside of him, but he couldn’t help it. Everything was going to change.

He would lose his job. He’d lose his home. He’d have to go back to Texas, and he wouldn’t be able to keep a roof over his parents’ head there, either. Three generations would be sharing the same cardboard box.

And it would be all his fault, for not making personally sure each and every condom was flawless. Truth be told, he shouldn’t have been having sex at all, not until he could be sure he could afford a baby.

Jordan met him at the door to the bedroom. “So? Are we good?”

Alex let Jordan guide him to the bed, tuck him back in, and put the tray table back in front of him. He ate his pineapple as he spoke. “Well, I’m pregnant.”

Jordan shouted with joy. “That’s so awesome!”

Alex stared at him, jaw slack. “How can you say that?” he asked, when he found words again. “It’s a disaster!

“I mean, I’m hanging on by a thread at work as it is, you’re working your day job and your night job — and don’t kid yourself, it’s something you love, but your art is a job, and you get taxed on what you make from it. We can’t afford to have a baby.”

Jordan’s smile didn’t diminish at all. “Alex, we can afford to do whatever we want. We just have to be creative to do it. We’ll figure something out, and we’ve got time.

“You’re a genius, right? You’ll find a way to make sense of it that includes all possibilities. And the bank can’t fire you for being pregnant. Not in Massachusetts.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Not openly; they’ll dress it up as ‘performance issues.’” He rubbed at his face.

“They’re a good place to work. They’re not like that. I don’t know of anyone who’s lost their job because they were pregnant, but Chad’s been there longer than I have, and his father’s spent his whole career there.

“He’s been good about sharing the unwritten rules around there, and believe me, someone at my level in the company absolutely cannot get away with being pregnant. Especially not a guy, and especially not an unmarried guy. And no one’s going to hire a pregnant guy.”

He grabbed his hair and pulled. “This is a disaster. It’s an unmitigated disaster. My parents are going to lose their trailer.”

Jordan disengaged Alex’s hands from his hair. He was gentle but firm about it. “Honey, you can’t hurt yourself about it. That’s not going to help anything. What you need to do is research. Figure out what we need to get by, and what our expenses will be.”

Alex straightened up. “Yes! You’re right. A plan. We need a plan.” He took a deep breath to center himself.

His hands shook as he reached for his coffee, and his insides didn’t seem to be doing much better, but he could get control of this situation. He’d do it the way he always did. Planning and determination won the day every time. “It is we, right?”

Jordan chuckled and ruffled his head. “Yes. It’s we. This is our baby, yours and mine, and we’re going to love it together.”

Warmth spread through Alex’s body, moving from the center of his chest and out through his extremities. His insides settled, and his shaking hands stabilized enough that he didn’t spill his coffee. “Okay. Okay. I’ll need my laptop.”

Jordan smiled and went to get Alex’s briefcase, and Alex finished his breakfast. When Jordan brought it back, Alex opened it up. “I have a budgeting program I use, so we’ll create a theoretical budget here.”

He opened a new document in his budgeting program. “Okay. We can’t stay with the Allston crowd, because they’ll never be okay with having a baby around, and frankly, that’s not a great neighborhood to raise a kid in anyway.”

“I’m not in love with the schools in Boston myself, so we’ll probably have to move outside the city.” Jordan made a face. “I hate the thought of moving to the ’burbs, but if we have to, we have to.”

“The burbs have expenses of their own. Most of them require car ownership. Places like Somerville might be okay, but they aren’t any cheaper than where we are now. Quincy or Braintree might be manageable.

“Why don’t you get on and find us prices on some two-bedroom apartments in Quincy or Braintree, just to get a sense of the rental prices?” He plugged in numbers he already knew as he spoke. “Do you have health insurance?”

“I have some for myself.” Jordan whistled. “This place looks like a million bucks, probably because it is. But it’s got every amenity.”

“We don’t need every amenity. We need four walls, a roof, and safety. I know how much my insurance will go up with a partner and a kid, so I’ll plug those numbers in.” He added in a budget for groceries, for utilities, for transportation and for most of the other things he knew they needed.

Jordan came up with a range of apartment prices that made Alex wince, but housing prices were what they were, and he couldn’t change them. He got a rough estimate of Jordan’s income, assuming a bad year on both the art side and the portrait side. Alex wasn’t willing to count on more.

In the end, assuming Alex kept his job and they could find an apartment on the cheaper end of the spectrum, they would just break even. It meant they couldn’t afford much in the way of baby stuff, but that was probably for the best. Babies didn’t need that much “stuff” anyway, and they could thrift some things.

They wouldn’t be able to save anything, not for a very long time. They’d be completely screwed if anything happened, like a major illness or a flood. But the baby was coming, whether they were ready or not. At least this way they had a plan for it.

“What about bail money?” Jordan joked, looking at the budget.

Alex almost choked on his coffee. “What are you talking about, bail money?”

“I’m kidding. Mostly. Sometimes things happen at a protest, and the cops get involved — but for the most part, that’s rare. Don’t worry about it.”

Jordan wrapped an arm around Alex’s shoulders and pulled him closer. “Do you feel better about the baby, now that we have a plan that we can put into action?”

Alex thought about it. “I’m still anxious,” he said after a second. “There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in that plan. If I keep my job, if your work stays steady, if we don’t have any disasters.

“But we do have a plan. We know it’s possible. It’s not like I don’t have any savings. I think this is something we can probably manage to do. And I can’t pretend there isn’t something beautiful about starting a family with you.”

Jordan kissed him, and Alex let himself enjoy the moment.

Alex stripped himself of his pajama bottoms and let himself fall backwards onto Jordan’s bed. He forced all of his insecurities back into the farthest parts of his brain. Rationally, he knew he didn’t look any different, or smell any different.

Jordan would still want him. Jordan was a great guy, and would probably still want him as the baby grew.

If they could manage to overcome their very different attitudes toward money and the workplace.

He pushed the thought away and cradled Jordan’s face with his hands. He needed this. He wanted this, and if the way Jordan was tenting his sweats was any indication, he wanted it, too. “Yeah,” Jordan purred. “Look at you, getting all ready for me. Getting ready to celebrate, hm?”

Alex’s face got hot as he nodded. “Yes,” he said, stroking himself by way of suggestion. He spread his legs, just a little. “I mean this baby is part of us, right? It’s part of both of us.”

He didn’t really feel like that, not yet, but he knew he would once he had a chance to get used to it. And Jordan wanted him to feel that way, so he might as well fake it until he made it.

One thing he would never have to fake was the way Jordan made him feel. He loomed over Alex, strong arms on either side of him, hard, hot cock rubbing against his own as he teased Alex.

Alex was completely surrounded by Jordan. He felt perfectly safe. He felt at peace. The baby would be an issue later, but right now, it was something they could deal with in their own time.

He bucked his hips, trying to give Jordan another subtle hint. Sometimes he liked to have long, drawn-out sex. Right now, his need was too bad. He wanted to be filled. He needed Jordan inside of him, and he needed it right away.

Jordan must have gotten the message; Alex wasn’t being subtle. He just laughed, though. “Little bit of an eager beaver, are we?”

He put his hands on Alex’s hips and held him still. “What if I kept you just like this and teased you all day long, huh? Took my time, made you wait?”

Alex glowered at him. “Then I’d get myself off, thank you very much. This isn’t the movies.”

Jordan snickered and reached for the lube. He pulled out a condom, and then he hesitated. “Do we really need this? I mean, you’re already pregnant, so this box is obviously defective.”

Alex hadn’t thought he could possibly get any harder, but the flash of white-hot need that shot through him made it seem like what he’d felt before had only been minor infatuation. “Oh my God. Yes, please, do it. Please, please, please.”

Jordan looked deep into Alex’s eyes, and Alex thought he could see an inner fire reflected there. He wanted to catch that fire, to warm himself at it, to take a piece of it into himself and carry it with him.

Jordan slicked his fingers up. “So gorgeous when you beg like that,” he muttered. “It’s almost illegal. Come on, babe. Open up for me. Yeah, just like that.”

It didn’t take long for Alex. The only obstacle right now was anticipation. He wanted it too badly. He couldn’t stop thinking about what was to come. When he finally felt the hot, slick, bare head of Jordan’s cock pressing against his entrance, it was all he could do not to rock back and take him too fast.

Oh, yes. The condom didn’t dull that much sensation, and maybe with another guy he wouldn’t care that much. This, knowing it was all Jordan and nothing else, no barriers at all, was what made it such a heady experience.

He cried out. “More,” he begged. “I need more.”

Neither of them lasted long. Alex hadn’t intended for this to be a drawn-out affair when he started out, and it certainly wasn’t now. But when he came, untouched and perfectly satisfied, he could easily say it was the best sex he’d ever had.

Jordan kissed him before disappearing into the bathroom for a washcloth. When he was done cleaning them both, he stroked Alex’s face. “I promise, the next time we do that, I’ll last longer.”

Alex snuggled in close by his side. “It’s not about length of time, love. It’s the quality. And there’s no way anyone could beat that.”