Lucas 

Bleu.

Blue. That's what my life looked like right now.

"Nic, I don't think I know what the color blue looks like anymore."

I put down the blue color palette on the nightstand, with dozens of different shades of blue that were somehow all very different, and traced my fingertip along Nicole's slightly larger baby bump.

"He's growing."

She turned her head towards me and flashed me a smile. "I know. In a few months I won't be able to see my feet." She wiggled her eyebrows and I chuckled at her antics.

We had woken up a couple hours ago, but wanted to spend as much time as we could in bed, enjoying each other's company and sharing kisses. And also thinking about what color we were going to paint the nursery. We wouldn't have a lot of time just for the two of us after the baby was born.

As soon as we knew the gender of our baby, we had thought a lot out loud about what the nursery would look like, what we'd need to buy and what we wanted him to have.

Diane was over the moon with the fact that it was going to be a boy, although she did wish we'd have a girl so she could have someone to "pass on her beauty tips to". Classic Diane.

Nicole's parents were very excited about the news as well, as were Melanie and Lexi - we told them the news via video call right after we came home from the doctor's office.

As for us, we couldn't be happier. We actually had a little bet going on between us to make things more interesting - if it was a girl like I thought it'd be, Nicole would have to cook me pancakes every Sunday morning and bring me coffee to bed, and if it was a boy, like Nicole guessed it'd be, I'd have to rub her feet at the end of every day and cook her breakfast every morning.

Anyway, we were both happy it was a boy.

"We should get ready to go. It's almost eleven."

We were going to see a house that caught our eye the other day, and we had a visit scheduled for today at noon.

We had been on an unsuccessful house hunt by ourselves, on our own, so I decided to speak to some friends at work and they recommended this realtor agent, who was helping us a lot, often calling us and sending us emails with houses we might like.

This place was a bit further from Nicole's apartment, where we lived, but still close to the Pixar Animation Studios and close to Diane's office where Nicole often reunited with.

It had exactly everything we were looking for - a nice backyard, a large living room, a good kitchen, an attic that's big enough for two kids and two bathrooms, one of them connected to the master bedroom.

As I was driving into the street, I could see the white house on the right side as I drove through the large and clear road.

"Wow... It looks a bit smaller than what we saw in the pictures."

Nicole said softly, her voice almost above a whisper, like she was afraid to state the obvious out loud.

"I know..." Was all I said in return, a matching whisper.

I drove through the driveway of the house and parked just outside the garage. We got out of the car and made our way inside the house and faced Tyler, our realtor.

"Hi! How are you?"

I shook his hand and showed him a warm smile. "Hello. Thank you for letting us come see the house on a Saturday."

"Oh, no problem. My wife is on soccer duty today." He looked at Nicole's baby bump and added with a smile. "You'll know what it's like one day."

"We will."

When we walked inside the house, it was everything we could have wished for.

We visited every corner of the house, and it was amazing, the house was very well conserved. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't even have to do a lot of work on this place once we bought it. The attic was spacious, it had a lot of natural light and believe it or not, once I walked up the stairs I could already see a small cabinet on the right corner and a rocking chair on the other side of the room.

Nicole seemed pretty satisfied with the attic, and truthfully, with the rest of the house as well.

"I see this one caught your eye." Tyler said with amusement as we walked down the stairs.

"It definitely did. Although, we did hope it was a little bigger." Nicole added, unable to take her eyes off of the kitchen island that she could see from the hallway.

"I know, I know... But before you back out on this one, let me tell you, this house has everything you requested - good school district, backyard, an attic, a large kitchen, a large master bedroom with your own bathroom, a garage, quiet area, nice neighborhood... "

Nicole and I looked at each other, reading each other's minds before we both looked back to our realtor.

He did have a point, this house was our dream house, there was no flaw - at least not at first sight - that we could point out. Except for the size.

"I know it's a little smaller than what you guys had imagined, but this one is a true gem. Not to mention the amazing price."

That was also true.

I had a promotion coming my way and that promotion came with a fairly good pay raise, which meant we had the possibility to afford this house and still save a little every month.

"Nic, what do you say?"

Nicole turned her head to me and sighed loudly before walking towards me. "It's hard to make a decision right now. I mean, you're absolutely right, Tyler." She added, nodding her head towards him. "But I'm just questioning if after the baby's here and after he grows up and our house is filled with toys, bikes, sound systems and school books, will this space be enough? Not to mention, we have a dog too and we're definitely not interested in keeping our dog outside only. The house we choose will have to be able to take in all of that." Silence reigned in between us before she turned to me for advice. "Lucas, what do you think?"

"You're totally right. And of course, we're not even putting our possible second kid in the equation yet."

"Do you mind if I interrupt your thoughts for a second? And share my opinion as Tyler the father of three and not Tyler the realtor?"

Nicole and I shared a look before allowing him to go on and share his two cents on this situation.

"My wife and I had our first child, Daniel, when we were only twenty-two. As you can guess, we didn't have a lot of money at the time, so we moved into a small house her dad helped us find. It was smaller than this one right here, it had another bedroom instead of the attic, the kitchen was smaller but the living room was bigger. Our bedroom was small too. By the time Daniel turned two, my wife was pregnant with our second son - Michael. When Michael turned four, we were expecting our only daughter, Catherine. They're now twenty, eighteen and fourteen, and we all live in that very same house."

When he ended his story, Nicole and I both had smiles on our faces.

"That is our family home and always will be, my wife and I never felt the need to change it. Look, my point is, if this is your family home, it won't matter how many kids you'll have or if it's not as big as you thought it'd be. We had all that you mentioned - toys, school books, desks, clothes, bikes, you name it... Our house was a mess! To be honest, it still is... But it is our home, and we wouldn't change it for the world."

What a story. I can only hope Nicole and I will share a future as beautiful as the one Tyler described us.

And I can see his point of view - adversities may come our way but that doesn't mean we have to back out on what we want, what we desire for us, it just means we have to adjust and work a little harder.

"Nicole?" I looked down to Nicole, who had her arms wrapped around my waist, while my arm rested on her shoulders.

"My heart's set." She said assertively, positive of her choice.

"Mine too."

My blue eyes met Nicole's brown ones before I kissed her forehead.

"You guys have to be the most adorable couple I've ever sold a house to." Tyler stated with a smile on his face, looking genuinely happy for us.

"Thanks." I replied with a small chuckle that escaped my lips.

"And I gotta add, you two remind me a lot of me and my wife back then. You two are obviously older than we were but... the love and the complicity I see in front of me? It's very much the same." Tyler shared with a smile.

"Thank you." Nicole flashed him a smile too. "So, what happens now?"

"Well, the house is yours now if you want it. I've got the contract in my briefcase."

Nicole and I looked at each other and I knew exactly what to say. "Yeah, let's go for it."

"Great! Congratulations! I think you chose the perfect place for you and your little family."

"Thanks." Nicole said. "And thanks for helping us out."

"Just doing my job." He said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Let me just grab my contract and make you a second copy. I'll be right back."

We nodded and made our way around the house again, hand in hand this time.

"What do you think?" I whispered near her ear.

She shrugged and offered me a smile. "It's perfect! I think we made the right decision, I truly do. I just hope we'll be as happy here as we are right now in my little apartment."

"We'll be happier."

She leaned in closer and tilted her head back, puckered her lips and I kissed them.

"Hey, you wanna know something I just thought of?" I mumbled as I slowly dragged my lips away from hers.

"What?" She asked with her eyes opening wider in anticipation.

"I think bleu will look really good in the attic."

She gave me a questioning look and I chuckled before cupping her face with my hands and gently pulling her closer to me.

"The color of the baby's room."

"Oh." She said in realisation. "I'm quite surprised you remember the name of that shade of blue."

"After looking at it for days, you get a pretty good idea of the names of the shades you like the best." I said before poking her nose with my index finger and leaning down to kiss her again.

She giggled at my gesture and flashed me a smile again. "Bleu it is, then."

 * * *

Author's Note: 

Hi everyone! First of all, I am SO SO sorry for the lack of updates but my internships do take a lot of my time and you know I only want to put out a chapter once I feel like it's good enough (at least for me lol) ✨

I hope you liked this one, and hey, hey, hey... it's a BOY!!! What do you think? Were you hoping for a boy or a girl? 👶

Xoxo, Mars