“Give me a bloody break, I was too tired this morning.” Simon hissed over the line.

He wasn’t a man for surprises. Always steady, precise, and most certainly, in control over his life. Yet this morning, as he sprinted around the house, late for work, phone pressed against his ear in the midst of a heated conversation, something unexpected happened.

The place was quiet even when you were already on your feet, completing tasks around without awakening him from the deep slumber. You knew he’d get grumpy from the minimum sound that could his rest, and you weren’t even aware of the fact that he was called back at the base.

In the haste, he barely noticed the tiny misstep that led him straight to the bathroom, kicking over the trashbin in his rush.

Papers, tissues, and random scraps spilled across the tiles. “Fuckin’ hell.” With the phonecall keeping him busy, he barely flinched as he attempted to right the small bin, distracted by the annoying conversation at ‘first in the morning’. “Yeah, I’ve got it.” He muttered roughly, his mind split between his incoming duty and the mess he was trying to push back in.

He bent down to gather the scattered trash, hands brushing against a light, crinkled edge of something different and unfamiliar.

Something that shouldn’t have been there.

His fingers stilled for a brief moment, tension rising upon his chest. It was unmistakable: a pregnancy test. And much to his horror, positive. Two pink lines glaring up at him, yelling through a false joy — ‘you’re gonna be a father!’.

His grip tightened around the tiny stick, words dying in his throat as he glanced back at his phone, still buzzing with Price’s nagging.

He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready for this, he didn’t want it.

Simon could hear your faint hum coming from the kitchen, the delicious smell of a freshly cooked breakfast that was waiting for him before leaving for work. Yet he didn’t want to face you, not when in his hands lay the end of his plans with you for the future.