Cooper and Sasha had moved their chairs closer together and Sasha was just about falling asleep on Cooper's hand as Cooper gave his head a good massage. It was about time to head in, but they were waiting to see if Mason's sims would finally have a daughter.
"Fuck!" Mason shouted, startling Sasha out of a light sleep. "It's another stupid boy. Now I finally understand how mum felt."
"Oh well," Cooper said. "Your flight's not super early tomorrow, right? There's still time."
"Stupid... Fuckface..." Mason said out loud as he typed the words in. "Okay, that's son number four named. Let's—oh! Ha ha, yes! Twins, motherfucker, and the second one is a girl. It's a wedding day miracle!"
"Woo," Sasha said, clapping quietly before he was overtaken by a yawn.
"Okay, let's head in for the night," Mason said as he began packing away his things. "I'm just going to run out to show this to Bianca."
As Mason rushed off back inside, Cooper retrieved Sasha's suit jacket from the back of his chair for him and helped him slip it back on. He was looking forward to helping him take the whole thing off. That wouldn't mean sex, of course, but Cooper was still going to enjoy it.
The lights were turned down low in the foyer; bright enough to see by, but dim enough that they wouldn't be dazzling to departing guests. Muted music flowed through from outside, and Cooper found himself wrapping his arms around Sasha and slowly rocking him back and forth to its rhythm.
"I'm so proud of you," Cooper told Sasha. "Not just for doing a lot of things, because I feel like trying to push yourself to the very limits of what you can manage usually isn't a very healthy goal. I'm proud of you for being you and for putting in so much work to get so good at it."
Sasha made a quiet sound of acknowledgement and rested his head against Cooper's shoulder. Cooper hadn't intended to linger here for more than a moment, but now Sasha seemed to be enjoying being swayed.
Sometimes Cooper thought about whether one day he and Sasha might get married. He'd never brought it up because he didn't want it to feel like he wanted to rush things, but he liked the idea of that being something they did one day. It wouldn't really change anything about their relationship, but being able to call Sasha his husband would just be so incredibly cool.
But so was slow dancing with his sleepy boyfriend and every other moment of every other day that he got to spend with Sasha, so he was in no hurry for anything else.
Cooper had been expecting Mason to be gone for a little while showing Bianca his sims, but just a minute later, he came back in from outside.
"Apparently she's upstairs," Mason told them. "Want to come with me to say goodnight?"
Sasha immediately nodded, so Cooper did as well. "Okay. I hope the baby's cute..."
They followed Mason upstairs and down the hall as he checked each door they passed until he let out a disappointed, "ah," and entered one. Cooper realised why when he poked his head into the room, a nursery, and saw their mother as well as Logan and Bianca.
Mason completely ignored their mother and walked over to Bianca, who was slumped in a rocking chair with a hand on her belly, looking miserable. Mason dragged over an ottoman, sat down, and opened up his laptop.
"Hello to you too, Mason," Cooper's mum said. "Cooper, don't you think Bianca should redecorate the nursery before the baby arrives?"
"Uh..." Cooper said as he looked around the room. The walls were painted in a gradient of light blues like a watercolour sky and the furniture was a mix of whites and unpainted pale wood. Everything was clean and in good condition. "Not unless she wants to?"
Cooper's mum let out a sharp sigh and gave a shake of her head. "It's blue. They're having a girl."
"Blue is literally the most popular colour with everyone, including girls," Mason pointed out. "Statistically speaking, the kid's more likely to like blue than pink or whatever you had in mind."
"It's my favourite colour," Bianca said. "We also plan to move at some point, so we might not even be here much longer."
"Well, let's be honest with ourselves," Cooper's mum said. "If you were going to move, you'd have done it before the baby was born. Nobody wants to deal with all that with an infant in arm. If you're waiting until after Logan's grandmother passes, your daughter might be off to university before that happens. She might have higher support needs, but she's not on death's door."
Bianca gave a half shrug and sent a glance in Logan's direction.
"We're still looking at our options," Logan said.
Mason opened up his laptop and perched it on the arm of the rocking chair to show Bianca the screen. "Look, I did it! A girl! No idea what she looks like yet because I realised I don't actually know what you're going to name your kid, and I wanted to give the sim baby the same name."
"Oh, um," Bianca said as she exchanged a glance with Logan. "Actually, that's something we wanted to talk to you and Cooper about."
"Yeah?" Mason asked as Logan walked over and leant against the side of the cot.
"Well, for the first name we settled on Abigail, and for the middle names..." Bianca looked to Logan, passing the conversation over to him.
"We wanted her middle names to be Cooper Mason," Logan said.
"What?" Cooper's mum interjected. "Abigail is lovely, and of course I think Cooper and Mason are good names as well, but for boys. I can forgive a blue nursery, but you need to rethink her name."
Bianca had her arm clutched against her stomach. She looked like she was in too much discomfort to even care about the argument as she focussed on her breathing and watching the laptop screen as Mason gave her an approving nod and typed something in.
"We're happy with the name," Logan told their mum. "Cooper and Mason can both be girls' names."
"Well, anything can, I'm sure, but they're not very pretty names for a little girl."
"Abigail is pretty, and ninety-nine percent of the time, that's all anyone will know her by. We didn't choose those for her middle names because we love the names more than all others. We chose them because we already know that her uncles are going to be a big part of her life. Or at least, I hope so..."
"Don't worry, I've already thought about this a lot," Mason said. "If you die in a zombie apocalypse, I'm going to raise her myself."
"Not if we die in any normal circumstances?" Logan asked.
"Oh, fuck no," Mason said. "Look, I promise to be a great uncle, but you'd be stupid to write me into your will as the person your child should go to if you were to die in a car crash. We all know this. She'd probably end up dying somehow, and that's only excusable during a zombie apocalypse where she would have died anyway."
"I don't even know what to say," Cooper said. "Thank you. This is an incredible honour. After the baby's born, I'm going to drive up to visit more often. At least every week or two."
"You're welcome any time," Bianca told him.
"Man, living on the other side of the country really sucks," Mason said. "I'll visit, though. For sure."
"I still think you should reconsider," Cooper's mum said, her lips pursing together. "There are plenty of other lovely family names, if that's what you want."
"Heyyy," Mason said as he shot her a look of disdain. "Read the fucking room, maybe."
"Mason, language!"
"No. Fuck off."
"You really don't have any respect, do you?"
Mason sat up straighter. He looked like he was about ready to get up and fight her. "Oh, I have no respect, huh?"
Bianca planted her hands on the arms of the rocking chair and Logan rushed over to help her get up. Once she was standing, she took a deep breath in and let it out again. "I'm going to go and lay down for a while. Mason, you can come with me and show me your sims if you like."
"Mm." Mason slapped his laptop closed. "I'll do that."
Cooper considered the room and then leant in close to Sasha. "Why don't you go with them? I'll be there in a few minutes."
Sasha nodded and followed after them when they left the room. He didn't need any more stress right before bed.
Cooper's mum walked over to the cot, ran her hand along the edge, and let out a sigh. "Well, maybe it's not so bad. It's only a middle name."
"It's what Bianca and I have chosen, together," Logan said. "I want you to be in our daughter's life, but you have to let us make our own decisions about how we raise her. Bianca tells me she was a pretty rough and tumble girl when she was little, so Abigail might not be the perfect little princess that you want her to be. I hope that you'll love her anyway."
"Well, of course I will!" Cooper's mum said. "Mason might think I'm a monster, but I'm not. You boys weren't always what I expected, but I never stopped loving any of you. I still haven't, no matter how rude Mason is."
"I don't think he thinks you love him," Cooper said. "It's really hard to feel like you do sometimes when you never seem to have anything nice to say."
"Well, why would I bother criticising you if I didn't love you? I only fight these battles because I care, Cooper."
"But we all need balance in these things, don't we?" Logan asked. "You need to have positivity and trust in order for the criticism to hold any weight. When someone never has anything nice to say to you, you stop listening."
Cooper's mum gave a firm shake of her head. "I don't never have anything nice to say. I swear, you boys villainise me so much and I don't deserve it."
"You know, what Logan said, I guess that applies to how I talk to you as well," Cooper said. "Mum, I like that you stood up to that lady for Sasha about us eating outside. Mason told us about it. He appreciated it as well. Thank you."
"Oh, well, you're welcome, sweetheart," Cooper's mum said. "I've had plenty of practice. That school of yours, the one you originally went to with Logan, was just terrible for disability support. I told them so many times not to send forms home with you, or if they did, to send me a message to let me know that they'd done so because you'd never give them to me unprompted. A simple text! An email! Was it so much to ask? Apparently so! The school we moved you two boys to after Logan graduated wasn't quite as prestigious, but you both did better there. I'm glad I decided the other one had burnt me enough times to make the move, regardless of how well Logan had done there."
Cooper frowned. "You changed our school because the first one had bad disability accommodations?"
"Yes!"
Cooper let out a deep sigh. "Mum, that's actually really touching to hear, but this is part of the problem. We both thought it was because you didn't want to waste money on a fancy school if we weren't even going to do well. That was what you said."
"Well, it was a waste, wasn't it? They didn't teach you effectively."
Cooper bit the inside of his cheek. Nothing he said ever felt like it really got through to his mother. "I guess, but at the time it felt like you were disappointed with us, not the school."
"Maybe I did direct some of it at the two of you. I wouldn't have wanted you to think that all of the responsibility for your learning falls on the school. You have to put in the effort as well."
"I think it's about how you communicate things sometimes, mum," Logan suggested. "I'm sure you didn't mean for them to think that you wouldn't spend whatever it took to get the best education for them that you could. It just got a little mixed up in how you communicated what was going on to them."
Cooper's mum hesitated, and then offered them a shrug. "Well, I suppose so, if that was what they thought. They've always been so sensitive, each in their own ways. Mason with his temper, and Cooper, always my little sweetheart. It's hard, you know. You can't be a soft touch and get anywhere with such chaotic little boys."
"I know, mum, just..." Cooper shook his head. "One day, when you think about me and something nice comes to mind, something you like about me, I want you to text me and tell it to me. Not now. I don't want to make you come up with something. Just... one day, if it happens. Okay?"
"I will," Cooper's mum promised. She took a deep breath in and let it out again. "Well, I think it's probably time for me to go home for the night. Can someone lend me a phone? I didn't bring mine, and your father's gone and left with the car."
"He drove?" Logan asked. "Didn't he have a few drinks with dinner?"
Cooper's mum clicked her tongue. "It wouldn't be the first time. As long as I'm not in the car, that's his business. Both the car and his life are insured."
"I'll drive you home, mum," Logan said. "I actually wanted to get that old train set off you."
"Oh, for the baby?" Cooper's mum asked. "It's not very girly, but I suppose that's not a priority for you."
Logan hesitated. "Actually, it's for Mason. He wants it back. I was considering lying and saying it was for the baby, but I think he'd appreciate it if you knowingly gave it to me for him."
"Of course you don't have to lie about it, Logan. Mason is a bit old to be playing with toys, but as these things go, I suppose a train set isn't too odd. Some grown men build model trains as a hobby. You drive me home and you can help me get it down from the high shelf so that I don't have to get the stepladder out." She turned to Cooper and her expression softened. "I suppose you'll be going home tomorrow, and then, well. Who knows when I'll see you again. Can I have a hug?"
"Of course, mum," Cooper said, and he walked over and pulled her into a hug.
She'd always been a stiff hugger and Cooper didn't share her taste in perfume, but his last encounter with his mother had ended with them both in tears, so Cooper would gladly end this one with a hug instead. He didn't think they'd ever really see eye to eye, but maybe they could learn to be a part of one another's lives without every encounter being a toxic one.
As Cooper's mum followed Logan out of the room, Cooper sat down in the rocking chair and let out a sigh. He needed a moment to himself, just to think.