Spencer doesn't protest too much and Joel grins as he begins to untangle the lights, finding the job strangely soothing. He's always liked this, taking lengths of string or his mother's necklaces, anything that had seemed impossible to untangle, and proving the people who said he'd never be able to do it wrong each and every time. As a child, his mother had once handed him a little ball of chain, delicate gold necklaces that had become tangled in her jewellery box and he'd only been twelve years old, but he remembers working at them for days. Rolling the delicate chain between his fingers while he watched TV, slowly letting the knots loosen with time. Sitting with his back hunched as he stared at them, trying to establish where the knot needed to be pulled, where he could gently pick at it with his fingernails until one little bit came free. It had taken nearly a week, but he'd presented his mother with five unknotted and unkinked chains at the end of it.
There's just something strangely soothing and satisfying about it and he lets his mind wander now, away from the task at hand, going toward other things. His hand doesn't need help from his brain, not for this, and he knows the less he thinks about it, the faster it'll get done.
"Given how squirmy you are when I've tried to hold you down, I can certainly see this being true," Joel says with a grin, flicking his gaze up toward Spencer. It's not exactly a fair assessment, not when the only time he's tried to hold Spencer down even a little is in bed and he knows full well why he might be squirming in a moment such as that, but he can hardly pass up the opportunity to tease his husband. "Maybe if our child does end up being particularly squirmy, we won't have Dane to blame, but you."
He's so excited for that, he realizes. If Spencer is the father, he's so excited to watch their child grow and pick out the little things he or she has obviously gotten from Spencer rather than Erin. He can't wait to see if their child smiles the same way Spencer does, so wide that his eyes squint a little and so bright Joel would wear it could warm an entire room. Or he wonders if their child will laugh the same way that Spencer does, if he or she will have the same nervous tics, if they'll roll their eyes the same way or cross their arms in the same manner. Whatever the case, he's looking forward to picking out those little gestures that he knows will mean so much to him and if it turns out he's the father, he's certain that Spencer will love doing the same. Joel isn't sure if he'll be able to see those little nuances, the things that he does reflected in their child, but he knows he'll be able to count on Spencer to point them out to him.
"There," he says a moment later, realizing the lights are all but untangled. "I've always been really good at that." The string of lights is mostly on the floor now and he looks at the tree, trying to remember where his parents used to start. They had a star on the top, one that would light up and needed to be plugged in, so they would always start there, but he's not sure what sort of tree topper Spencer has in these boxes. "What do you put on the top?"
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There's just something strangely soothing and satisfying about it and he lets his mind wander now, away from the task at hand, going toward other things. His hand doesn't need help from his brain, not for this, and he knows the less he thinks about it, the faster it'll get done.
"Given how squirmy you are when I've tried to hold you down, I can certainly see this being true," Joel says with a grin, flicking his gaze up toward Spencer. It's not exactly a fair assessment, not when the only time he's tried to hold Spencer down even a little is in bed and he knows full well why he might be squirming in a moment such as that, but he can hardly pass up the opportunity to tease his husband. "Maybe if our child does end up being particularly squirmy, we won't have Dane to blame, but you."
He's so excited for that, he realizes. If Spencer is the father, he's so excited to watch their child grow and pick out the little things he or she has obviously gotten from Spencer rather than Erin. He can't wait to see if their child smiles the same way Spencer does, so wide that his eyes squint a little and so bright Joel would wear it could warm an entire room. Or he wonders if their child will laugh the same way that Spencer does, if he or she will have the same nervous tics, if they'll roll their eyes the same way or cross their arms in the same manner. Whatever the case, he's looking forward to picking out those little gestures that he knows will mean so much to him and if it turns out he's the father, he's certain that Spencer will love doing the same. Joel isn't sure if he'll be able to see those little nuances, the things that he does reflected in their child, but he knows he'll be able to count on Spencer to point them out to him.
"There," he says a moment later, realizing the lights are all but untangled. "I've always been really good at that." The string of lights is mostly on the floor now and he looks at the tree, trying to remember where his parents used to start. They had a star on the top, one that would light up and needed to be plugged in, so they would always start there, but he's not sure what sort of tree topper Spencer has in these boxes. "What do you put on the top?"