[Open - Gathering - Baby Shower]

[just_another]

They're actually having a baby shower.

Joel is fairly certain his mother wouldn't have let them get away without something, even if he had insisted it be small and consist only of family, but for some reason he and Spencer have allowed themselves to be talked into a real shower. With invitations and food and little baby themed games to play. It's sort of strange, looking at it from his position, given that Erin is the one who's going to be giving birth and therefore is the one in the glowing pregnant woman position at this entire gathering.

She'd sweetly agreed to attend and had even whispered to Joel that she would take the brunt of the attention if she could manage it. He had whispered back that he knew they had picked her for a good reason.

But here they are. Several weeks have passed, the invitations have gone out and the decorations have been put up all over Joel and Spencer's living room. He had agreed to lift the enchantments on the house for the extent of the party, which means that anyone can open the door to their guests, they don't all have to be invited in by either Joel or Spencer, and it makes him a little nervous, but he understands the usefulness of others being able to answer the door. At least for today.

It's the decorations that keep getting to him. Sweet little ducks and zebras and monkeys, little jungle animals all over the walls. The bottle and rattle shaped cookies are pretty cute, but those aren't going to be left when the baby gets here. The animal theme, though, is fairly close to the nearly finished nursery Joel has been working on upstairs and he can't help but grin at the decorations.

Spencer, on the other hand, can't stop coming back round to the center of the living room to stare at the enormous sign that's been strung up above a table already stacked with gifts when a majority of their guests haven't even arrived yet. He'd been worried this morning that the day would overwhelm him, that knowing so many people would be coming into their home would be daunting when just a year ago, he'd never even once invited company over before meeting Joel; but so far, he feels calm, in spite of having had to watch Joel remove the enchantments that act as their security on the house. If someone wishes to crash a baby shower--which he doesn't imagine will happen anyway--then they'll have to face not only the wrath of a room that will be filled with witches and sirens, but the wrath of his mother- and sister-in-law, as well. That's not a sight Spencer thinks would be very pretty to witness.

Still, he feels light, perhaps a lingering effect of the having the chance to fall in love with Joel a second time during the spell that had taken over the town. Certainly, a great deal of his contentment has to do with the fact that he won't have to worry about losing his husband in a crowd but even beyond that, he's excited.

So much has changed in the course of the past year and weeks from now, they'll be holding their newborn in their arms for the very first time without another care in the world but for who they've been looking forward to meeting since they'd decided to take this journey together. There's something a bit strange about realizing that it's all coming to a head, that the waiting will soon be over and they'll be fathers at last, but when the first knock on the door comes, Spencer can't help but smile.

[Baby shower for Joel and Spencer's wee one. Erin, their surrogate, is present and is currently 31 weeks pregnant. If you're even a little friendly with either of them, Joel's mother sent an invitation, but the enchantments have been taken off the house for the event and so it's not an impossible party to crash. If anyone wants to crash a baby shower...]

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[doublethepain]

Spencer gently excuses himself from the mostly one-sided conversation he's having with a very enthusiastic woman named Margie, one of Ellie's dear friends who seems to have an endless supply of entertaining stories about a young Joel, as soon as he sees Davin awkwardly poking at the sandwiches on the other side of the room. He promises her that he'll find her again later before she finally seems to accept the fact that he's not going to give up the idea of walking away, and he steps toward his friend with a quiet sigh of relief.

A quick glance over his shoulder shows him that Margie has set her sights on Joel now, and he makes brief eye contact with his husband as he tries to contain his laughter--poorly, at that--before turning back to Davin. "You made it," he says in lieu of greeting, reaching for a sandwich of his own. "Thank you for coming, up until now it's mostly been middle-aged women quizzing poor Erin and trying overly hard to show how comfortable they are with the fact that Joel and I are married men."

[davin]

Davin looks up at Spencer with a smile and he still feels that knee-jerk reaction, see a friend hug a friend, but he doesn't even make a move towards him. The awkwardness of the spell lingering probably helps with that. The last time he saw Spencer, he was homeless and starving.

"The cavalry is here," Davin says with a laugh. "I've never been t'a baby shower before. I was told there would be games. I plan t'be amazin', just so ya know."

He pulls the package out from under his arm and holds it up. The bow on top is made out of a thin strip of steel, molded as easily as ribbon, with curved edges to keep it from being sharp. "I made ya somethin'. Well, the baby somethin', but I wanna give t'ya an' Joel later, if that's alright."

His cheeks are a little flushed, and he feels slightly embarrassed, because what if they don't like it? Maybe it's too much. He blows out a breath and tucks the package back under his arm, giving Spencer a smile. "So, it's good t'see ya again. The real you, I mean."

[doublethepain]

"I've never been to one either," Spencer admits, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his neck as he looks around at the chattering guests and the ever-expanding table of gifts. Ellie beams at him from where she stands next to Erin, giving him a quick finger wave before returning to her conversation, and Spencer can't help the amused laugh that escapes him. "It was all Joel's mother's doing, she's been planning this since Christmas. Her first grandchild, I suppose I can't blame her."

When Davin holds up the package for him to see, Spencer arches an eyebrow, a small, instinctual part of him still ready to say that Davin shouldn't have. "You made it?" Spencer asks, his chest tightening at the kindness of the gesture even without yet knowing what's inside because no matter what it is, there's already an extra layer of meaning to it just by virtue of the fact that Davin had put time into the gift. "Davin, that's-- Thank you. Really, thank you, Joel and I would love to open it with you later."

At the comment about the real him, Spencer rolls his eyes, though it's playful. "Right, well, I suppose I should say the same for you. I do have to say, I've gained an all new appreciation for being able to speak. Playing guessing games for two weeks was getting a bit tiresome."

[davin]

"It's cute. She seems really excited. Nothin' can put a candle t'the two of ya, though. I think I'm gettin' cavities just standin' here." He winks, and then Spencer is already making a big deal about the gift and Davin blushes slightly, shrugging it off. "It's not a big deal. It's just an idea that popped into my head, an' I had fun with it."

He laughs and looks at Spencer with a fond, amused expression. "At least ya didn't have that problem with me, aye? And hey, I got t'slay a dragon! So it wasn't all bad, I s'pose."

[doublethepain]

"Oh, god, I don't know, she's giving us an awfully good run for our money," Spencer says, shaking his head, though it's with a delighted smile. For all that Ellie had seemed skeptical of him before they'd officially met for the first time, she'd embraced him so quickly and easily that sometimes it's almost overwhelming to think that he can call her family now. Losing his own mother had been gutting, as if someone had reached into his chest and tried to rip his heart out, only to succeed when news of his brother's death had come next.

But meeting Joel has filled that empty void and with his husband has come the loving warmth of family that he's missed so much over the past couple years. Brian is good to him, always happy to discuss books or even just sit in comfortable silence with him; Charlotte is Charlotte, more energetic than Spencer can really keep up with, but she's more than understanding of that with a brother like Joel; and Ellie is, very clearly, as involved as a mother-in-law can be without being too much. There is no replacing his own parents or brother and none of the Bakers are trying but for Spencer, knowing that he's cared for--loved--by three people who'd thought nothing at all of him a year ago defies any explanation of emotion that he could ever hope to provide.

Having a friend in Davin, too, has come as such a gift because Spencer isn't used to believing that so many people could care about him at all. "It is a big deal," he says, a slight urgency to his tone. "Before all of this, before I met Joel, the only thing most people thought of when they saw me was that I might have killed my own family. Everything is different now, I have-- I have friends, good friends like you, and I can't say what it means to me that you'd do anything for our child in the first place."

He takes a breath, shutting his eyes with a soft sigh before opening them again and letting out a short laugh. "I think I'm maybe more affected by all the baby gifts than I might have thought, they're making me very emotional. You should see me in the baby stores, ask Joel. I'm always just a mess."

[just_another]

"If by mess you mean you spend literally every last penny in every corner of your wallet and pockets whenever we enter a baby store, then yes, absolutely, Spencer is a mess," Joel agrees when he joins the two of them, unable to help himself after having heard just the tail end of Spencer's sentence. He's smiling, though, and he honestly doesn't mind it. It's become something of a weekly tradition, going through the things Spencer has bought and returning everything they don't need, which has actually proven to be quite a bit, given the duplicates and sometimes triplicates of things Spencer has bought by accident.

Or maybe it's been on purpose, sometimes Joel can't quite tell when Spencer blinks up at him innocently and swears he didn't mean to buy three versions of that particular toy.

He tucks his hand into Spencer's without thought and as much as he enjoys that they'd gotten a second chance at a first kiss, he prefers this. The comfort and familiarity of just being able to touch Spencer without thought. Never having to hold back for fear of what people might think just because he's some prince. He much prefer just being himself.

[davin]

Spencer calls him a good friend, and Davin blinks his big amber eyes at him, just a little stunned. Not because he doesn't feel the same, because he absolutely does, but it's always sort of a shock to find out that he means so much to someone. It's been happening more and more often lately, and Davin feels a surge of gratitude for the life he's been given. It took a long time to find his stride, and his happiness, but he thinks he might be getting there. "Well, you're a good friend too, an' I was happy t'do it."

When Joel joins them, Davin immediately stands up straight and then bows deeply, doing his best to keep on a straight face. "Your majesty."

Yeah, he's never living that one down. That's why when they open the gift, sitting there on top of the real present will be a copy of The Little Mermaid on blu-ray.

Davin straightens up with a smile and then holds out the box, biting his lip a little nervously. "Can we go somewhere so the two' o ya can open this? Part of it sorta has t'be explained, so I don't wanna just leave it."

[doublethepain]

Spencer has to bite down hard on the inside of his cheek when Davin bows, squeezing Joel's hand tightly as he drops his head down on his husband's shoulder in an attempt to keep himself from laughing. He fails miserably, shoulder shaking as he imagines the eye roll Joel must have already done because Spencer has been doing very close to the same thing over the past few days.

'Prince Charming' and 'your highness' have only been a couple of the variations he's used to address Joel and to be completely honest, Spencer isn't sure that he'll ever tire of it, if only because he has such wonderful memories of what had happened to them during the spell. He knows those two weeks had been more difficult for some than others, but he can't feel guilty about coming out of it so happily, not when it'd meant that Joel had found him all over again.

Granted, nothing can come close to being as outrageously wonderful as their real life, the one they're living right now, surrounded by friends and family at a celebration for their baby. Years of skepticism about what it means to be happy and the notion that he might ever know it in the end had come to an end because he'd met one man, one single person who'd made everything in his life better in legitimately every way.

One way is standing right in front of them: their friend who's been so kind as to put something together for their child with his own two hands and then has the nerve to be modest about it, as if it doesn't matter at all, and Spencer is starting to worry that his cheekbones are going to snap with how massive and consistent his smile is today.

"We can do that," Spencer says, glancing up at Joel. "There's nobody upstairs, at least there shouldn't be. Or we could always duck into the library."

[just_another]

"Ha ha, yeah, I'm a prince," Joel says dryly and he does roll his eyes, but he's smiling faintly as well. It's not going to be the sort of thing Spencer ever lets go, he's sure of that, and he's sure there will be others, too, but he doesn't really mind. There are far worse things for him to be called, after all, and he's sure there are just as many people in this town who used those words to describe him. While he would certainly say he has friends now, more than he ever would have expected, he knows that not everyone in town thinks he's that great a person. He knows both he and Spencer still have people who look down on them.

It's been long enough now that he really doesn't care.

"My mom's been playing bouncer at the stairs so no one goes up there," he says with a nod. "But there's a lot of tools up in the hallway, so maybe the library is best?" He hadn't bothered to clean up simply because they'd planned on keeping the party to the lower level of the house and he knows he'll just return to his renovations once the party is over and they've had the chance to clean up. The nursery is almost complete, but there are still little things he needs to finish, painting trims and installing baseboards.

[davin]

"That works." Davin follows them into the library and instantly, predictably, gets distracted by the impressive collection. He holds the package loosely at his side and goes over towards the far wall, getting up on his toes to look at a row of books on magic that catch his eye. He hooks his fingers on the shelf and lets his gaze travel over the spines.

After a moment he remembers where he is and laughs at himself, spinning around slowly on his heels with slightly pink cheeks. "Ya gotta let me at this room sometime, man."

He smiles and comes back over to them, biting his lip before holding the package out. Inside (under the Little Mermaid blu-ray) is a mobile that he made for the baby. Working with metal has always come easily to him, for obvious reasons. It just sort of does what it tells him, and Davin guided the sheets of light metal through a saw with simple nudges from his magic. The shapes came out wonderfully, and Davin curled the edges under to make sure there were no sharp parts. Really, his mind did most of it. Any bending or twisting was done with a thought, and Davin had a lot of fun with making the shapes dance in the air so he could make sure they were even. He kept all the pieces in the air and sent the wire threading through them, and then lowered the finish product gently into the gift box without even touching any it.

Really, working on the project took his mind off of the whole spell, and killing a dragon to break it, and he's grateful for it. The moon is smiling, and the clouds and stars twirl around each other in a way that will hopefully catch the light of the moon nicely. Hopefully, it'll amuse the baby and keep him or her safe from the darker things the night may bring.

There's a sigil on the back that he'll explain once they open it, but for now Davin just hands over the package and waits, cheeks flushed slightly. He just hopes they like it. "Here ya go. For the wee one with my love."

[doublethepain]

Finding the copy of The Little Mermaid makes him laugh, and it's still so bizarre to have to stop for a moment just to remember that he'd been a merman in the world of the spell. If he's honest, it's actually a bit distressing to think that someone has the power to change his entire physical structure in that way and not only that, he'd been changed again by a sea witch and then back when he and Joel had made their decision to forego land for the water. There'd been so much change in such a short span of time and there's no forgetting the pain he'd been in for the entirety of those two weeks--or the concussion he'd gotten on his first full day as a human, which he supposes shouldn't surprise him in the slightest--but every last bit of it had been worth it just to be with Joel. His opinion on that, at least, will never change, regardless of what world they're in together.

When Davin reveals the mobile, though, any of the words Spencer had thought he might be able to say seem to disappear just as he's about to say them. His eyes grow wide as he reaches out to gently touch one of the stars, admiring the metalwork with partied lips and a tilted head until he glances at his husband to see Joel's reaction. He expects one similar to his own and if he were a hugger, Spencer would take Davin in his arms right this second to thank him profusely for being such a kind friend.

"Davin, this is beautiful," he says, shaking his head in awe as he returns his gaze to the mobile. It'll go very nicely in the nursery, he thinks, just the right level of dreamlike that will be engaging enough to capture their child's attention with ease. "I thought you said it wasn't a big deal, just look at it."

His hand tightens in Joel's as his emotions threaten to overwhelm him. Last year, he never would imagined that anyone could care about him this much or even at all but with his husband at his side, with family and their surrogate in the living room, with friends all over the house, Spencer comes to the realization that he'd be absolutely lost without them. He's not the most outgoing man in the world--and in fact, he thinks he'd been more outgoing as a merman-turned-human who hadn't even been able to speak--but his loyalties run deep. It isn't exactly easy to earn his trust but Davin has and that means that he'll likely never lose it.

"What are we going to do?" he asks, smiling wryly as he looks back at Joel. "Our own child is going to love his uncles far more than he loves us, it's all turning out to be very tragic."

[just_another]

The sight of the movie gets a snort of laughter out of Joel and although he's rolling his eyes, it is awfully sweet. It's strange to think their life could have been anything like a Disney cartoon, even for a short period of time, and he knows with Spencer's pain it had more in common with the awful fairy tale, but he much prefers this reminder. The movie is sweet, something they can share with their baby once he or she is old enough to appreciate cartoons, but it's a personalized token at the same time. It's something significant to them. It's something that he knows they'll remember for a long time to come.

The mobile is beautiful and Joel's smile fades just a little as he looks at it. It's the one thing he's been unsure of all this time, finding a mobile that fits with the theme and isn't something that's going to just look like cheap plastic. This is absolutely perfect. It fits the theme, just like Joel has wanted, and it's clearly been well made with a lot of thought put into it.

"This is incredible," he says, shaking his head as he looks from the mobile to Davin and then to Spencer. "It'll look perfect in the nursery. It's the one thing I haven't been able to find, too. It's perfect."

He's not sure what he's done to deserve such good friends, especially after years of trying to keep everyone at arm's length. He isn't sure he deserves such kindness, but Spencer does. That much he's absolutely sure of.

[davin]

Davin watches them open the gift, laughing a bit at their reaction to the movie, and then he swallows hard as they lift the mobile out of the box. A soft sigh escapes them at their pleased reactions and Davin nods, cheeks pink as he approaches. When Spencer refers to Davin as one of the babies uncles, he's sure that's it's mostly a joke, but still. There must be some truth behind it for him to say such a thing, and Davin is so overcome with emotion that he isn't even sure how to react. He just stares at Spencer and smiles, cheeks pink as he gives him a small nod.

"There's somethin' else, too. Somethin' special." He takes the mobile from Spencer and turns the moon around, pointing to a sigil on the back. It was painted on with a faint purple potion that glows slightly when Davin touches it. "There's this spell my gran taught me. She calls it the aisling milis, which just means sweet dreams. If the sigil is painted on with a special potion near someone sleepin', it'll filter their dreams an' keep the darkness away. It'll just let the good dreams through, an' protect 'em. I thought it would be nice for the baby."

He bites his lip and smiles at them, handing the mobile back and reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "I've used it myself, an' I whipped one up for Mira after she was taken by that siren. She said it really helped her. So that's my gift, really. Sweet dreams for your kid. The mobile is jus' some pretty packagin'."