Two Simps, One Baby

Two simps accidentally had a baby. I simped for Ryan. Tucker simped for my sister. After that drunken night, we woke up, zipped up, and silently agreed to pretend it never happened.

Nine months later, we were staring at the newborn in front of us, neither of us wanting to raise him.

That was when the comments appeared. [So these are the lovesick villain's simp parents who die young?] It turned out we were both going to die early for the people we loved.

The son we'd abandon would be tormented in a children's home, give his corneas to the heroine, and finally fall into molten steel, leaving nothing behind.

Tucker and I were so scared we signed up for parenting classes on the spot, fought over who got to change diapers, and even decided to get married to give him a real family.

But on the day we went to the courthouse to get married, the two people we'd chased for years and never won showed up to stop us at the same time.

One of them blocked Tucker's way, eyes brimming with tears.

The other grabbed my wrist, his face dark. "My brother doesn't love you at all." "Marry me, and I'll raise the kid as my own son." Chapter 1 The hospital room.

Every other firsttime parent in the maternity ward cried tears of joy. Only Tucker and I looked miserable. Of course, we weren't a couple. At most, we were simp buddies.

He helped me plan how to win over his little brother. I fed him intel to help him simp for my sister. We'd chased them for years and still never got them.

Nine months earlier, after our carefully planned confessions both crashed and burned yet again, we drowned our sorrows in booze.

Somehow, that turned into drowning our sorrows in each other. When we sobered up, the sky fell. Tucker had always seen me as a little sister and his future sisterinlaw.

He slapped himself several times, completely falling apart, and I took the morningafter pill. Without a word, we agreed to move on and never bring it up again.

Not until a routine checkup did I find out I was twenty weeks pregnant. Ending it now could kill me. So I had to have it. But neither Tucker nor I wanted to raise it.

How were we supposed to chase anyone with a kid in tow? I stared at this wrinkly little baby, still unable to believe it. How had I given birth to an actual person?

Out of my tangled thoughts, an idea popped up, almost like an instinct. I blurted out, "How about we send him to a children's home?

We find a friend we can trust to look after him and send money regularly." The moment I said it, I felt a little dazed.

Tucker paused, then agreed. "He's so young, he won't remember anyway." Suddenly, dense lines of text appeared in front of my eyes. [So these are the big villain's simp parents who die young?] [Holy crap!

He's hot and she's gorgeous! No wonder the villain's hotter than the hero, it's the genes.] [Pretty, sure, but so stupid.

Nothing they do is decent.] Tucker stared blankly into the air. He could obviously see the comments too. The comments flew past. So Tucker and I were simp tools.

And my childhood friend Ryan and my sister were the hero and heroine of the book. Soon, we would both die horribly saving them.

Our child would grow up abused by the director of the children's home and turn into a twisted, lovestarved villain.

Ryan and my sister Jessica's child would grow up happy and become the sunshine heroine of the author's next book.

Because of one piece of candy when he was little, the villain would fall hopelessly in love with her. He wouldn't just give her his corneas.

Chapter 2 In the end, he'd even fall into molten steel saving her, and nothing of him would be left.

The comments: [The villain's whole life is so tragic, I'm sobbing!] [I used to feel sorry for the simp parents dying for the leads, but after seeing how the villain ends up, I just wish they'd died even worse!] [So annoying.

In bed all they know how to do is moan, moan, moan, and then they have a kid and don't want him.] [Ryan and Jessica have been dating in secret for a year and these two idiots still haven't noticed.

Just simping away like clueless dopes.] Tucker and I froze. Ryan and my sister had been secretly dating for a year? No way! My face went red. "Ryan sent me roses last week.

Wasn't that a lowkey confession?" Tucker looked lost. "Jessica asked me to a romance movie last week.

If the comments are telling the truth, why didn't she go with Ryan?" The comments were about to lose it. [Last week was their oneyear anniversary!

Jessica said roses were lazy, so Ryan got mad and had a delivery guy dump them on your doorstep.] [Jessica was supposed to see that romance movie with Ryan!

She only switched to you out of spite.] [The leads were just having a lovers' spat. Quit flattering yourselves, you two idiots!] [The lovebirds already made up.

They're in a hospital room right below you. Don't believe us? Go see for yourselves!] Tucker and I didn't believe it. Then we saw Ryan and Jessica kissing.

The kiss was so hard and hungry that even the air turned humid and sticky. Breathing unevenly, Jessica pushed him away and turned her face aside. "You gave the flowers to Maisie.

Why are you even here?" Ryan turned her back to face him. "You're jealous of her?" "I picked those flowers for you.

If you don't want them, it doesn't matter who gets them." "If I liked her, would I have let her chase me for seven years?" Ryan's face, frozen over for as long as anyone could remember, actually held a smile.

So he wasn't born with a sour face. He just didn't smile at me.

A trace of deliberate sulkiness still lingered on Jessica's face, but the corners of her mouth were already curling up despite herself. "Then go get the flowers back.

You gave them to her, so Maisie definitely can't bear to throw them out." Ryan gave an indifferent hum. "Then you're not allowed to go to the movies with my brother anymore." Jessica smiled to herself, then pressed her lips together. "I want to go public." "But Maisie and Tucker are going to be so hurt.

I don't know how to tell them…" At the mention of me, that cold weariness surfaced on Ryan's face again. "Us being together doesn't wrong anyone." "Whether they're hurt or not has nothing to do with us.

We never held them down and made them simp." My heart clenched, and the pain spread down into my lower belly. Weakly, I grabbed Tucker's fingertips beside me.

He snapped out of his daze and saw how pale I was. Panic hit him all at once. "Maisie, what's wrong?" The two people in the room whipped around and met my eyes.

Ryan's cold expression faltered. "What are you doing here?" "In a hospital gown… Are you sick?" Jessica's gaze wavered, and a sob slipped into her voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hide it from you…" At that, Ryan frowned. "Don't make that face, like we owe you something." Before I could make a sound, the pain knocked me out.

I was woken by a baby wailing. And an impatient voice. "Has the baby been fed? Had his shots?

Has he pooped?" Chapter 3 "You waited until the diaper was soaked through to change it, and you let your wife catch a chill right after she gave birth?

What kind of father and husband are you? Totally irresponsible!" I forced my eyes open. I saw Tucker rushing around, and a nurse who looked fed up. Ryan and Jessica were both gone.

I clutched the blanket and stared into space for a while. In the past, just thinking that Ryan might like someone else made my heart go sour and heavy with jealousy.

But now, my heart just felt empty. Why did it have to be Jessica?

All these years, she'd always asked how things were going with Ryan, and I'd told her every bit of my progress, holding nothing back.

Last week, when I got the roses and thought he'd finally given me an answer, I called her, thrilled. By the end, I was even choking up, pathetically.

Jessica listened quietly, then sighed. "You're such a fool." I thought she felt sorry for me. I'd turned the roses into driedflower bookmarks. I wanted to give them to Ryan.

I'd happily imagined that what Ryan and I had would be like those roses, blooming forever, never wilting.

But the thing I treasured was only something Jessica had turned her nose up at. At this point, I should have been in my feels. But the baby's crying was just way too powerful.

My sadness got shaken apart before it could even take shape. Tucker was even busier, too busy to overthink anything. The nurse told us that babies feel safer against their mom.

With no other choice, I carefully took him from Tucker's arms. The little guy squirmed against me.

And he really did calm down bit by bit, until he was just making soft little snuffling sounds. His tiny hand opened and managed to wrap around my thumb.

Only then did it suddenly feel real. He was my baby. Wow. My empty heart filled up with something soft.

Tucker leaned close to my ear and muttered. "When you were little, one cuddle and a little rocking and you'd stop crying. Why doesn't it work on him?" "Am I rusty?

I haven't taken care of a kid in years." When we were little, our parents were always busy with work, so they'd drop Jessica and me off at his house. In a way, Tucker raised me.

The comments suddenly appeared. [Can't you two just be a couple? I'm begging you, an older guy and the girl he grew up with, isn't that the dream?

Why do you have to be simps?] [You've seen who they really are and you're still simping?

Might as well go die early.] [Just live your lives, give the villain a whole family, and all three of you get to live. Is that so hard?] [First, change the kid's name.

In the original he's named Cain, and he gets mocked his whole childhood as the bastard his parents hated.

His life's trash starting with his name.] I took the advice immediately. "Let's name him Shiloh. It means peace.

I hope he's happy and safe." Tucker nodded. "And for a nickname, Posy, like a little bunch of flowers.

I hope our family always stays whole, all of us bundled up together." Tucker and I turned over a new leaf and swore to become model modern parents.

Changing fate starts in the cradle! That same day, Jessica and Ryan went Instagram official.

Mutual friends rushed in one after another, taking turns laughing at me. "You and Tucker chased them so hard everyone knew.

This is nextlevel humiliating." "Honestly, your enemies would forgive you and your creditors would start a fundraiser for you." "Why don't you and Tucker just get together?" "Nah, if those two got together, that'd be the biggest joke of the year." I gave an awkward laugh, not daring to tell them we already had a kid.

Tucker and I had burned through all our passion in years of chasing. So with each other, all that was left was gentleness and calm.

We took parenting classes together and compared notes afterward. Chapter 4 We picked out a crib together and talked through the nursery design.

Posy became the thing that connected us, and a relationship that should have been awkward turned natural.

The pain of loving someone I could never have, of being lied to twice over, seemed to get watered down. All our attention was on Posy.

So much so that when Ryan called, it felt like a call from another life. But out of pure habit, I picked up without thinking.

Ryan's voice came through, stuffed up, almost like he was pouting. "I have a fever." Ryan had been sickly since he was little and caught colds and fevers easily.

Every time he got sick, I'd drop whatever I was doing to take care of him. My heart clenched on reflex, and I glanced at Tucker without thinking.

Tucker tossed his phone onto the table like it had burned him. Jessica's name was on the screen. "I haven't been in touch with her.

I don't know why she's calling me." On the other end of the line, Ryan's voice went cold. "I heard my brother. It's the middle of the night.

Why are you two together?" I didn't say a word.

When the ringing finally stopped, texts from Jessica came one after another. "Tucker, are you avoiding us on purpose?" she texted. "You didn't even tell me and Ryan about something as big as moving." Tucker and I used to live in a twobedroom, which clearly wasn't big enough for a family of three, so we'd found our current place.

I could practically hear Jessica's teary voice. Another text came in: "What happened before was my fault and Ryan's.

I'm sorry…" "I've been crying for so long and haven't eaten anything. My stomach's acting up…" Tucker's fingers picked at the screen without him noticing.

His lips pressed tight, like he wanted to say something and couldn't. Jessica's stomach pain always ended in a big dramatic trip to the hospital.

Every time, Tucker would make soothing chicken soup and go take care of her. Our eyes met. "Maybe…" He'd go look after Jessica, and I'd go look after Ryan?

But before the words were even out, the comments freaked out. [Oh my God! Oh my GOD! Can you please stop begging to be treated like doormats??] [Jessica's totally fine.

She's running a chicken soup scam.

The second she's got the soup, she turns around and lets Ryan chug it.] [Every time Ryan gets sick, you take time off and wait on him hand and foot.

He can't stand the thought of wearing Jessica out, so he uses you as his free nurse.] [Once his fever breaks, Ryan will get rid of you with a thankyou, and then Jessica comes over to keep him company.] [Posy can't be left alone right now.

What if something happens to him while you two run off? Can you be responsible for once?] Right on cue, Posy burst out bawling. Tucker and I jolted and snapped right out of it.

He scooped Posy up to soothe him, and I rushed to grab a bottle.

On the other end of the line, Ryan was still talking. "What's that noise?" "Why is there… a baby crying next to you?!" I let out a sigh