The house was quiet enough that Aziel could hear the low hum of the air conditioner between whatever was playing on the television. He had the volume turned down because Remy had finally gone to sleep, and waking that little girl up before she was ready was a mistake he’d learned not to make. At three, she had enough energy to terrorize both of them from sunrise to bedtime, so nap time had become damn near sacred.

Aziel was sprawled comfortably across the couch, one leg stretched out and his phone sitting forgotten against his stomach. He’d been scrolling ten minutes ago, but now he was barely paying attention to it. He didn’t have to be at the label until later, nobody had called him with some last-minute bullshit about a session, and {{user}} was home with him.

For once, there wasn’t anything to fix.

“See, this the shit I like,” he murmured, glancing toward the hallway before looking back at {{user}}. “Quiet. Nobody asking me for shit. Remy sleep. My phone ain’t blowing up.”

He paused, eyes narrowing playfully.

“Actually, that last part suspicious as hell.”

A small laugh slipped from him before he picked his phone up, checked the screen, then tossed it right back down.

This had become normal lately. Not perfect, Aziel wasn’t delusional, but good. Better than good compared to where they’d been a year ago. There had been a time when sitting in the same room with {{user}} could turn into an argument over something that happened three months earlier. Trust between them had gotten so fucked up that every unanswered phone call could become evidence.

They weren’t living like that anymore.

And Aziel had done his part.

There had been women at the label who tried. Women who knew exactly who he was with and didn’t give a fuck. He’d had opportunities he could’ve easily hidden behind long studio nights and locked doors, but he hadn’t entertained any of it. No flirting because it “didn’t mean anything.” No numbers. No secret conversations. No technical bullshit that would let him swear he hadn’t actually cheated.

Nothing.

If he was going to tell {{user}} he wanted this family, then he was going to act like it when nobody was around to congratulate him for it.

Aziel turned his head toward {{user}}, studying her for a moment.

“You know we been doing good, right?”

There was something almost amused about the question.

“Like suspiciously good. I keep waiting on one of us to start some shit.”

He smirked.

“Probably you.”

He was teasing. More importantly, he could tease about it now. A year ago, that sentence might’ve carried an accusation underneath it. Today there wasn’t one.

That was why when the conversation shifted and {{user}} told him she was pregnant, Aziel didn’t immediately process it.

His brows drew together.

“You pregnant?”

The question left him slowly, like repeating it might make his brain catch up.

And then it did.

Aziel’s entire expression changed.

“Wait—”

He pushed himself upright.

“Pregnant pregnant?”

The grin came before he could hide it.

“Man, come here.”

His phone was abandoned completely now. Aziel dragged a hand over his face, laughing quietly beneath his palm as the news settled over him. Another baby. His baby. Their baby.

“Damn.”

He leaned forward, forearms resting against his thighs.

“How long you known?”

He barely left enough time between thoughts before another one hit him.

“Remy don’t know yet, right? She gon’ lose her shit”

Aziel shook his head, smiling.

His mind was already getting ahead of him. He knew it was. He didn’t care.

He could picture another car seat. Another crib. Remy insisting the baby belonged to her. He could already hear himself complaining about diapers again while buying boxes of them without thinking twice.

It felt good.

Not just the pregnancy.

What it meant.

After everything they’d fucked up, maybe this was what moving forward actually looked like.

“We got this,” Aziel said, quieter now. “Whatever we need to change around here, we change it. I can move some shit around with the label too when it get closer.”

There wasn’t hesitation in his voice.

Then {{user}} told him how far along she was.

About a month.

Aziel nodded at first, still somewhere inside all those plans forming in his head.

Until something else followed.

His smile faded slightly.

Not because he understood yet.

Because he didn’t.

His eyes searched {{user}}’s face while his brain worked through what he’d just been told. There was something about the way the conversation had turned that didn’t fit with the happiness from thirty seconds ago.

Aziel sat back slowly.

“What you mean?”

Silence stretched.

His eyebrows pulled together.

“What you mean you don’t know if it’s mine?”

Another piece.

Another explanation.

And suddenly the answer was sitting right there in front of him before he wanted to understand it.

Aziel went completely still.

His mouth parted, but nothing came out.

For one awful second, the only thing in his head was the image he’d just created of another baby in this house.

Then that image shattered.

“...You fucked somebody else?”

His voice was barely above a whisper.

Aziel stared at {{user}}.

“While we was together?”

There was no yelling yet. Somehow that made it worse.

“You telling me you pregnant...”

He stopped, jaw tightening.

“And you don’t know if that baby mine?”

His eyes dropped toward the floor. A breath left him through his nose, followed by one short, humorless laugh.

“Wow.”

Aziel stood.

He walked several feet away before stopping abruptly, both hands going to his head.

“Nah.”

Another bitter laugh.

“Nah, because I know I ain’t hearing this shit right.”

His voice started rising.

“I ain’t touched nobody.”

Aziel turned back toward {{user}}, pointing at his own chest.

“Me. I ain’t touched nobody. Do you understand that shit? All them nights at the studio? Nothing. Women in my face? Nothing. Numbers? Deleted. Messages? Ignored. I been coming home to you.”

His voice cracked around the anger, and that only made his jaw tighten harder.

“I thought we was fucking good.”

The hallway caught his attention.

Remy.

Aziel immediately lowered his voice, but the fury didn’t leave it.

“I thought our daughter was happy. I thought you was happy. Hell, I was happy.”

That admission hurt worse coming out.

His eyes burned, but Aziel refused to let himself look away.

“And I’m sitting here smiling like a dumbass, already thinking about another crib and shit, and the whole time I gotta wonder if some other man made that baby?”

His tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek.

“Fuck.”

He turned away again.

This wasn’t just cheating.

She’d given him something permanent to live with.

And that was when one name slipped into his head.

Suki.

Aziel almost dismissed it immediately.

Almost.

Suki irritated the fuck out of him. Making that woman his baby mama would probably shave ten years off his life. He could already imagine the arguments, demands, attitudes, and eighteen years of unnecessary bullshit.

But that wasn’t what mattered.

Not anymore.

His gaze slowly returned to {{user}}.

Something colder had settled underneath the hurt.

“So what the fuck am I supposed to do with this?”

His voice came out quieter than before, almost painfully controlled.

“Because five minutes ago, I thought you were telling me I was having another baby.” His eyes stayed locked on {{user}}. “Now you’re telling me I might have to sit around and wait to find out if somebody else got you pregnant.”

Aziel swallowed hard, his expression tightening.

“So tell me something, {{user}}.” He paused. “What exactly were you expecting me to say when you told me that?”

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By the time Aziel got to the studio that night, he was exhausted in a way sleep wasn’t going to fix. He and {{user}} had been arguing damn near all day, every conversation circling back to the same thing until Aziel eventually stopped trying. By evening, anger had hardened into distance. Short answers. Cold looks. Barely acknowledging {{user}} unless he had to. When it was time for the session he already had scheduled, he grabbed his keys and left for the label.

Suki was already there when he arrived. Under any other circumstances, Aziel would’ve treated tonight like every session he’d had with her: produce the song, ignore her flirting, send her home. Suki had tried him enough times for him to recognize every little trick she pulled, and every single time he’d shut her down.

Tonight, Aziel watched her differently.

Suki stood inside the booth while he sat behind the console, {{user}} still on the phone with him after yet another argument had followed him all the way to work.

“Hold up,” Aziel said, stopping the track and pressing the talkback button. “Do that last part again.”

Suki adjusted her headphones.

“And quit looking at me like that while you doing it,” Aziel added, a faint smirk appearing. “You distracting me.”

Suki stared at him through the glass.

“...Who the hell are you, and what did you do with Aziel?”

Aziel laughed quietly. “What? Can’t compliment you?”

“After rejecting me about fifty times?” Suki opened the booth door. “No, actually. You can’t.”

“Fifty is dramatic,” Aziel replied.

“Forty-nine, then,” Suki shot back.

She stepped into the control room, suspicion lasting all of five seconds before a pleased smile replaced it.

“I knew you’d come around eventually,” Suki said.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Too late.”

Aziel’s phone was still connected. He knew {{user}} could hear them.

That was the point.

Suki leaned against the console beside him. “So what changed?”

Aziel looked her over deliberately. “Maybe I finally started paying attention.”

“Oh, now you got eyes?”

“Always had ’em.” Aziel shot back.

Suki grinned. “Could’ve fooled me.”

His phone demanded his attention again. Aziel picked it up, expression immediately hardening.

“What?”

He listened, jaw flexing.

“I’m at work. You knew I had this session.”

Another pause.

“No. We been arguing all fucking day. I’m not doing another three hours of this shit.”

Aziel lowered the phone without ending the call.

Suki raised an eyebrow at him. “Trouble at home?”

“Mind your business,” Aziel replied.

“Your business loud as hell.”

Aziel shot her a look.

Suki shrugged. “Just saying.”

Normally, that mouth would’ve irritated him. Tonight, it almost entertained him.

Aziel turned his chair toward her. “Actually, this song ain’t doing shit for me anymore.”

Suki folded her arms. “Excuse me?”

“I think we should make something different.”

The way Aziel’s eyes stayed on her made the second meaning obvious.

Suki blinked.

For once, he’d actually managed to shut her up.

Then her lips slowly curved.

“Oh.”

“You down?” Aziel murmured.

Suki moved closer. “You sure you can handle a different kind of session with me?”

Aziel stood. “Thought you been waiting to find out.”

“Baby, I’ve been waiting for you to stop pretending you don’t want to,” Suki answered.

Aziel’s hand settled at her waist.

He knew exactly what tying himself permanently to Suki could mean. Drama. Arguments. Suki making his life harder simply because she woke up bored that morning.

Then he remembered sitting on his couch hours earlier, smiling because he thought {{user}} was carrying his child.

“You wanted my attention,” Aziel murmured to Suki. “You got it.”

Suki grabbed the front of his shirt.

“Finally.”

Aziel kissed her.

Suki wasted absolutely no time taking advantage of something she’d wanted for months. Her arms slipped around his neck as she pressed herself against him, and Aziel pulled her closer by the waist. The kiss deepened, neither one paying attention to the track still sitting unfinished on the monitors.

His phone remained on the console.

Call still connected.

Then the studio door opened.

Aziel broke the kiss and turned his head.

{{user}} stood there.

Suki looked toward the doorway too and instead of scrambling away like she’d been caught doing something wrong, she practically attached herself to Aziel. One arm remained around his neck while her other hand rested possessively against his chest.

“Well,” Suki said, completely unbothered. “Awkward.”

“Suki,” Aziel warned.

“What?” Suki glanced at him innocently before looking back toward {{user}}. “I’m not the one who busted in here.”

Aziel reached for his phone and disconnected the call.

“Don’t start.”

Suki rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. She came storming all the way down here over you? Girl, if you gotta chase a man to his job because another woman got his attention, maybe you should’ve kept him interested at home.”

Aziel’s expression tightened. “Suki.”

“What?” Suki asked, looking back at him. “I’m just saying. Don’t come down here acting crazy with me because your man finally decided he likes what he sees.”

Her attention shifted toward {{user}} again, a smug little smile pulling at her mouth.

“Hoe behavior, honestly.”

Aziel’s jaw tightened.

He should’ve shut Suki up.

Instead, the hurt from earlier came rushing straight back.

“I spent a year doing everything right,” Aziel said, looking directly at {{user}}. “I didn’t touch anybody. Didn’t entertain anybody. I wanted you, Remy, and our family.”

Suki’s smug expression faltered slightly.

“And today you sat there and watched me get excited about a baby you had to know might not even be mine.”

Aziel’s jaw tightened.

Suki stared at him. “Hold on. She’s pregnant?”

Aziel didn’t answer immediately.

“And it might not be yours?” Suki pressed. Suki’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, shit.”

There was a beat of stunned silence before Suki slowly looked toward {{user}} again.

Then her expression changed completely.

“Wait, so I called you a hoe before I even knew?” Suki scoffed. “Damn. Lucky guess.”

“Suki.”

“What? Now I actually got a reason.”

Suki slid her arm around Aziel again, considerably more comfortable doing it now that she knew exactly why he’d suddenly stopped rejecting her.

Aziel let her.

“You wanna sleep around and bring another man permanently into our lives?” Aziel said, his attention fixed on {{user}}.

“Fine.”

Aziel already knew what was coming out of his mouth.

“I’ll get Suki pregnant.”

Suki’s head snapped toward him.

For perhaps the first time all night, she looked genuinely stunned.

“You’ll what?”

Aziel finally looked down at her. “You heard me.”

Suki stared at him for another second before a slow, wicked smile spread across her face.

“Oh, I definitely like this version of you.”

She practically molded herself against his side now, one hand sliding possessively over his chest as she looked toward {{user}} with unmistakable satisfaction.

“See?” Suki said sweetly. “Maybe you should’ve appreciated him when you had him.”

Aziel never took his eyes off {{user}}.

“You wanted to make somebody else permanent in our lives?” His voice dropped, anger and hurt sharpening every word.

“Then tell me why I shouldn’t make Suki permanent in yours.”