(Tuesday, 7.30am~ Suzuno and Nagumo's place)

(Suzuno)
I rubbed my eyes and glared at the alarm clock as I turned it off. My husband was mumbling randomness like he usually does early in the morning, chuckling, I shook him gently "C'mon Haruya. We've got to get the kid's up for school."
His eyes opened blearily "Wha?- Oh yeah. I really need to get used to the fact that it's not just us anymore." He yawned and sat up, staring at me. "What?" I asked but he just shook his head lightly and smiled at me.

I managed to get Eichirou and Osami up for school, I had to drop them off since Nagumo started work early today and would have been late otherwise. Mind you, I still managed to get out of the door before him. I kissed him on the cheek as he struggled to tie his tie whilst trying to eat some breakfast at the same time. "I'm gonna be so late." He groaned.

I finally made it to the restaurant where I worked, happy to be out of the morning traffic. I got in and said hi to my other colleagues before changing into my chef's whites. I thought back to everything that happened over the last couple of days. It was chaotic and sometimes difficult but it was also really lovely, my mind wandered off to a place that didn't exist and I sighed unhappily.

I soon noticed someone sitting by the window- Kurakake. I wondered what she was doing here, we didn't open for another two hours.
"Clara? Fancy seeing you here."
She smiled at me at stood up, tucking a portion of deep blue hair behind her ear "Suzuno-san, it's so nice to see you again after all these years." She stuck out her hand for me to shake and I accepted, she seemed exactly the same as when we were kids at Sun Garden. "You don't have to be so formal with me you know." I corrected and she nodded. We both sat down.

"May I ask why you're here?" I inquired and she gave me another smile "I'm actually here to interview your boss."
"Oh?"
She pulled a small camera out of her bag and placed it on the table "Yes, I'm writing a piece on her and this place for my food blog. She said I can come down and ask her some questions, and take photos of some of your award-winning dishes too."

"Oh, that makes sense. I came across your blog a couple months ago actually. It's pretty good." I answered and she beamed at me "Thank you Suzuno! I'm trying to grow it and make it more professional-looking, it's practically my full-time job now!" She put the camera away "But enough about me, what have you been up to lately?" She asked.
"Just been looking after Reina's kids for a couple of days."
She let out a small chuckle "Oh yeah I heard something about that. That must be a lot of fun."

I sighed, it had been quite tiring but I still really enjoyed looking after them "It's going good." I stated simply and she nodded "I can't say I'm surprised, you were always really good with the little ones back at Sun Garden, remember? They would always run to you whenever they had a problem, and you'd always be able to calm them down if they cried. You always had that natural parental instinct. I remember Netsuha-kun always used to call you 'group mum'." She chuckled.

"Yes, I remember that too." I replied icily, she stopped laughing once she noticed my serious expression. I hated when people called me that, it always annoyed me, so what if I had parental qualities, did that make me strictly motherly? It always frustrated me. I really wish she hadn't brought that up.

"Mummy Suzuno will look after you."

"You're such a big baby Ryuuji! Go cry to mummy, he's the only one who cares!"

"We might as well start calling you Fuusuke-chan from now on!"

I shook my head, not wanting to reminisce.
"It's not just me looking after the kids you know- Haruya's doing a great job too." I explained.
That was important.
We were both taking care of the kids, and Nagumo was invested just as much as me...yes, just as much as me...
'But apparently not enough for when it came to having our own kids...'

I pushed out my chair and stood up, eager to leave the conversation there, there were too many things playing on my mind right now. "Anyway, I should get back to work. I'll let Marline know you're here though."
"Right." She answered rather awkwardly and I just sighed, giving her a light wave before walking off.

(8.45pm)
I yawned a little as I unlocked the front door, completely exhausted as usual from being on my feet all day. I walked into the living room to see that the kids were still up, watching some animated movie whilst Nagumo sat on the sofa, I noticed that he had finally given up and let them play with his hair-he looked absolutely hilarious and I couldn't help but laugh at the sight. He just shook his head at me tiredly.

After the kids' movie was over we put them to bed before Nagumo put on Kill Bill: Volume 1 since it's one of our favourite movies. Halfway through he began to yawn and told me he was going to get an early night. I was just about to let him go when I remembered Clara's words this morning.
I had tried not to think about it, tried to just focus on my work, but it was eating me alive. I had to say something. I had to be honest with him about how I was feeling.

(Nagumo)
Suzuno grabbed my arm and I looked back at him strangely. He got to his feet and stared at the floor for a moment before looking back at me. "What's up?" I questioned and he placed a hand on my cheek, caressing it softly.
"Haruya." He whispered softly, bringing me closer to him. I went to kiss him on the lips, thinking that's what he was asking for, but he just put his fingers to my lips, stopping me. There was a strange look in his beautiful eyes, one I couldn't quite understand.

He dragged his fingers down my chest lightly, all the while keeping me still with that icy cool stare of his. That stare, it had always captivated me, it unnerved me when we first met, made him seem so cold and unapproachable, but over time I realised that there was a warmth behind those eyes, a mix of the two that made him so intoxicating to me. Whenever he would look at me I would get butterflies. It was then that I realised he wasn't just a silly crush to me, no one had made me feel like that before. People always just see him as cold and mean, but that's just because they don't know the kind man behind the stare. But god, those eyes could make me do anything.
"Haruya..." he whispered again, eyes never once leaving my own as his hand rested beneath my ribs. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that, it was clear something was wrong.

"What's up?" I repeated as he moved even closer to me, I could feel his warm breath on my skin as he spoke.
"Haruya. Do you remember, when we got married? We talked about family..." he said delicately. I nodded my head, unable to speak under his piercing gaze.
His voice floated into my ear, so soft, as if he was hardly saying it "About...having kids..."
"Yeah..." I answered, finally finding my voice.
He wrapped his arms around my neck, bringing me ever closer, our bodies touching.

"And do you remember how excited we both were? How happy we were to start the process? We did everything we needed to, went through the entire application process. Talked about everything we would buy our kid, or kids, how we wanted them to be educated, how we'd decorate their room, how we would teach them to swim right away so we could take them to the beach every summer."  He tilted his head to one side, his eyes closing softly as he let out a long sigh. "And then..."
"We never did." I finished and he rested his head on my shoulder, eyes still closed.

Of course I remembered. I remember when he mentioned the idea to me, and I- very much still in the honeymoon mindset- agreed with it instantly. I didn't even give it a second thought. Suzuno plunged himself wholeheartedly into it, he meticulously planned everything, filled in all the applications, spoke to Reina about the realities of raising a child, not that I really thought he needed it- he was always so good with kids. He even budgeted for us, planned exactly how much we'd need to set aside for it, saved up a fund for it...
But then it all just started to unravel.

We both just got so busy, with work, commitments, Suzuno got promoted to sous chef whilst I had to switch jobs and start my career all over again. We moved out of our apartment and into the Tokyo suburbs, finally able to put a down payment on the house of our dreams only to spend the next two years fixing it up since there were a million and one things wrong with it. And all through that time our dream, Suzuno's dream, of having kids was just never spoken of again. Until now.

I felt his hand on my face. He was staring at me again. I suppose looking after Reina's kids must've ignited the thought back in his mind again.
"Haruya...." He muttered softly, a neediness in his voice. His hand moved from my face to my hair, spinning the strands between his fingers delicately. "I love you more than anything baby, but I can't hide the fact that I don't want it to just be us anymore. I know it's a really big change, and I know we've gotten comfortable to the way things are, but I really...really want this..." he whispered and I held his other hand within my own, squeezing it tightly.

"I understand that it's a lot to ask. And it's scary. I think we were rushing it before, and I believe that it was for the best that we didn't adopt back then. But I think we're ready now; we're older, definitely wiser, and things are a lot more stable now." He pulled away from me slightly. "I mean we have this beautiful big house, and no one but an old cat to share it with." He said, his voice rising a little with the faintest of laughs. Our cat let out a small meow from another room and I smiled at him lightly. His look turned softer, going back to serious again. He moved both of his hands, positioning them in front of him, he picked at his nails subconsciously, a sign of how anxious he really was even if his face remained exactly the same as it was. "We always said that we'd make decisions as a team, and this is no different. So I want you to stop me now if this isn't what you want. I won't do this without you, I won't do it if you don't want it. And I won't do it if you're just trying to spare my feelings either, or if you're just trying to please me, because if you're not on board with it then..." he paused, looking down at the floor.

I leant forward and grabbed his hands, bringing them up to my lips and kissing them chastely. "I would love to have kids Fuusuke." I said simply, his eyes meeting mine again.
"You mean that?" He asked lowly, those stunning pools of grey-blue peering right into my soul. He was right, this was a big deal, but I knew how much it would mean to him. He deserved to have his wish fulfilled. I brought him close to me, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist and kissing him slowly, feeling him melt under my touch, completely giving himself to me.
I pulled out of the kiss, holding his face firmly in my hands, pressing our foreheads together "I mean it Fuusuke. I would do anything for you, I love you."