(Tuesday, 3.50pm~ Hiroto and Midorikawa's place)

Kiyama 💫 : hey

Me: you're texting me, rly? I'm just in the next room baby

Kiyama 💫 : I know...but I like texting you. It's fun!

Me: fine, what's up? It better not be that you want me to get you something from the fridge like last time.

Kiyama 💫 : it's not, but just check this out ok?
(Image sent)

"Kiyama, you better not have sent me anything dirty!" I teased, sprawled out on the bed, still feeling insanely refreshed after our trip away, when I was interrupted by his laughter.
"No no, just seriously check it!" He shouted back between laughs and I just shook my head before turning back to my phone screen.
"What's this?" I asked, starring at the picture on my screen. To be honest I had kinda hoped it might be a picture, nothing too risqué obviously but I greatly appreciate his beauty- he's not bad to look at, what can I say?

Kiyama 💫 : well I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me tonight? 💖

I blushed, even though it was such a small thing.
Me: A date? Well sure!
"You could've just asked me you know?" I yelled back with a small chuckle. Hiroto loves to text, I think it's since he always gets flack for not answering his phone, but he always uses the cutest little emojis too.
My phone chimed again.

Kiyama💫 : They're showing classic horror movies down at the ShowTime, I thought we could go? 👻🎃🦇

Me: Sure why not?
That could be pretty fun, I know Hiroto is a big fan of vintage movies, especially classic monster movies, he never shuts up about them. I suppose it just adds to his 'sophisticated' aura he sometimes has. He's always telling me little facts about them, it's really cute actually.

Kiyama💫 : Your choice
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Wolf Man (1941)
or Night of the Living Dead (1968) 🧟‍♂️

I thought for a moment. I was supposed to go and see the Invisible Man remake with Afuro last week but something came up at the last minute. I wouldn't mind seeing The Wolf Man but I also know how much Hiroto loves the work of George A. Romero, and I am a fan of zombie flicks...
Me: Let's watch Night of the Living Dead.
I heard Hiroto say 'yessss' quietly to himself from the other room so I knew I'd picked correctly.
I smiled "And in return you'll come see the new Invisible Man with me yeah?" I yelled to him.

Kiyama 💫: of course hun, another date, I can't wait! 🥰

Me: You're actually way too cute you know?

"I know." Hiroto said with a smirk, poking his head into the bedroom. I smiled as he walked inside, planting a kiss on my forehead before clambering onto the bed next to me. "My phone was dying." He explained before kissing me on the forehead again. "Also, I was thinking, this place really needs some greenery you know? I thought maybe we could get some hibiscus or some spider plants- they're cat-friendly too."
I smiled up at him. "I'll drop by the store tomorrow and see what they have."
"And spend ages talking to Afuro about our little trip?" Kiyama smirked.
"Of course!" I laughed before rolling over so I was lying on top of him, going in for a kiss. Then my phone rang.
"Huh, it's Nagumo, I wonder what he wants?" I asked before picking it up.

"Hey Midorikawa, I know this is short notice but would it be okay if I could drop off Anaise at you and Kiyama's place for a bit thanks." He said hurriedly, not even giving me the chance to say hello.

"What? Wait for how long? Are you okay, did something happen?" I asked, concern on both me and my boyfriend's face.
"Ah, just for a bit, maybe an hour or so? It's nothing major, I just need someone to look after her, please." My friend replied in the same rushed manner-I didn't know what was going on, but I guessed we were about to find out.

(Earlier, 3.35pm~ Nagumo and Suzuno's house)
(Nagumo)
"Alrighty Little Lady, we're home." I said, pulling up outside our home. The restaurant Suzuno works at was closed today, I think Suzuno said it was a maintenance issue or something... "Papa, if Daddy is not at work, then why he didn't come to pick me up?" Anaise questioned from the backseat. I unbuckled my seat and opened the door, stepping out and going over to her door "Well sweetie, Daddy said he had important work things to do today, and besides, it's easier for me to pick you up from work than it would be for him from here. You'd have to wait at school for longer."

"Oh, okay..." She mumbled, still looking disappointed as she got out of the car "Hey, how's about this Little Lady; when we get in you and Daddy can sit in the garden and eat his ice cream-how does that sound?" She instantly smiled, rushing over to the front door in excitement 'heh, she's just like Suzuno...'

I unlocked it and she ran quickly into the living room  "Daddy, Daddy! Papa says we can eat ice-cre-" she walked back out and shook her head "Not there.." I smiled "He's probably just upstairs, I'll go and get him, you go get the ice-cream okay?" I said and she nodded, walking into the kitchen.

"Hey Suzun-Uh..." I stopped, noticing that my path was blocked by stuff-not just any old stuff- a load of random boxes, bags and cabinets. 'What the hell?'
Was Suzuno clearing out the spare bedroom? It was a bit of a junk room at the moment so I supposed that made sense, but I'd always said that was a two-person job.

"Suzuno?" I questioned, seeing that the door was slightly ajar, I could hear my husband humming gently to the radio that was outside the door. 'He probably can't hear me...'
There was something else too, a smell, it smelt like...paint? Yeah, definitely paint.
"Uh hello?" I questioned, picking my way carefully through the obstacles before reaching down and switching the radio off, the humming stopped abruptly and I stepped closer, pushing the door open fully.

"Hey, what's going on-" I stared in awe as he turned around, flecks of blue and white paint on his clothes. "Oh, it's you."
I blinked my eyes, not quite believing what I was seeing. Suzuno placed the paintbrush back in the tub of paint and turned his attention back to the wall he was painting "I thought I would do a nice sky scenery; pretty peaceful, it will keep them nice and calm I think."

'Wait what? How? When did he? Why?-' my confused thoughts were cut off with him squeezing my hand, pulling me further into the small room. I looked around in utter confusion; from the painted walls with its shining sun, grassy meadow and fluffy white clouds, the toys and stuffed animals that sat unceremoniously in a heap in the corner, a small playpen and cot lying half-assembled next to a fluffy pink and yellow rug. There were milk bottles too, a box of dummies, babygrows, tiny socks, bags of disposable nappies and other such things sitting neatly on a shelf in the corner.

"I didn't want to hide it from you any longer Haruya, but I just want this so bad, I couldn't keep it to myself. Do you-do you like it?" My husband said softly, rubbing a gentle circle into my palm.

"I-Suzuno w-what? Why would you-? And not even tell me-" I inhaled a breath, looking back at him, formulating some form of cohesive sentencing "I thought, after what happened with Darius, that we promised always to tell each other everything. We promised we'd make decisions as a team! What happened to that Suzuno, why did you hide this from me?" His expression changed, visibly still upset and shaken about that day.

He moved closer to me, wrapping his arms around my neck and leaning into my body, pressing his forehead to mine "It's just...when we talked about kids-you just completely ignored me about the whole baby thing...I guess I thought it would be better to just do it myself...I thought maybe this would change your mind, show you how serious I am Haruya."

I pushed away from him, walking out of the room and turning my back on him "I didn't ignore you Fuusuke, we just...never got around to discussing it properly...but for you to then do this-"
"Papa, did you find Daddy yet? I want to see him!" I heard Anaise yell from the bottom of the stairs. Shit. I couldn't let her come up and see all this mess, what would she think? That we were replacing her? That she wasn't important? That we didn't even bother to tell her? I panicked.

"Yes sweetie, he's right here. But listen, I forgot to tell you, your Daddy an I have a-uh dentist appointment, and I know you won't want to come with us and sit there for a long time, so you can stay with your uncles instead okay?" I blagged, not having the faintest idea if she would buy my excuse or not. Suzuno gave me a wtf look but I just mouthed for him to not say anything- I wasn't doing this now, not with our daughter here.

"My uncles?" Anaise asked after a moment of silence, I walked over to the stairs and leaned over the bannister to see her standing at the bottom, ice cream tub ready open and being eaten from. "Well, not technically, they're not related, but we grew up together and we're like brothers so yes, they are your uncles in that sense." I rambled, she contemplated the idea, taking another spoonful of the raspberry ripple before looking up and smiling, spoon pointed at me.

"Kay! As long as I can take my toys!" She said happily as she began climbing the steps, I waved my hands frantically "A-actually Anaise, let's play a game instead-how's about hide-and-seek? You go hide and I'll come and find you okay!" I replied and she nodded happily-she loved that game. "Kay!" And with that she ran off into the kitchen as I started counting.

"1...2...3...4..." I began before picking my way throught the obstacle course that was now the landing, on my way to our daughter's room. "Haruya, I-"
"-Just...don't right now okay Su?" I said as I passed my husband, I just didn't want to deal with all that right now. I entered Anaise's bedroom and grabbed a rucksack from the bottom of her wardrobe, crossing the room I opened the toy box, throwing in her favourite toys; her Spider-Man action figure, Barbie dolls and her light-sabre. Cookie nudged against me and I quickly remembered that I needed to actually call Anaise's 'uncles.' I grabbed the cuddly toy off her bed and smiled before putting it in the bag also, it was a giraffe, and she never went anywhere without it.

I quickly left the room, ignoring my husband on the way back and walking down the stairs "29..30.. I'm coming to get you!" I yelled before making a B-line towards the downstairs cupboard since she always hides in there. "I found you!" I yelled, swinging the door open and she squealed in delight, running past me into the living room. I smiled before remembering "Oh right, call Ryuuji." I dialled the number since Hiroto never picks up, and waited impatiently.

"Hey Midorikawa, I know this is short notice but would it be okay if I could drop off Anaise at you and Kiyama's place for a bit thanks." I said hurriedly, spotting Anaise on the sofa, she waved at me and smiled. Midorikawa kept asking me questions but eventually gave in "Thanks, I owe you guys one, I'll be over in ten." I said before hanging up. I walked over to my daughter, handing her the rucksack. "Come on, I'll drop you off."

I opened the front door, closing it with a sigh, my husband was standing on the stairs "Haruya-" I put my hand out, interrupting him "Fuusuke listen to me-"
"-No Haruya, you fucking listen to me okay!" He shouted at me, angry tears threatening to spill, making me momentarily freeze in place.
"I'm sorry okay! I'm sorry for doing what I did, I know I shouldn't have, but that doesn't mean you can just send our daughter away-like you're embarrassed of me or something, that hurts Nagumo, that really does!"

"I didn't do it because I was embarrassed, you've got it all wrong." I replied, that only made him more angry "Oh that's not it huh? Are you sure? Why did you do it then Nagumo?!"
I sighed deeply and walked up to him, grabbing his hand gently. "This is partly my fault." I mumbled. "I should've been honest with you, properly honest. I was still scared about it all, so I tried not to bring up the whole baby thing again." I reasoned he, pulled his hand away.

"We never did talk about it...did we?" He said quietly, turning away from me. "I was just so wrapped up in getting Anaise  that I-" he stopped, shoulders slumping defeatedly. "Actually that's a lie. I wanted to say something- I kept wanting to talk to you about it but...I was just so scared. I knew how worried you were about it and I just felt I was being so selfish, I couldn't put you through it Haruya..." He took a deep breath as I wrapped my arm around his waist from behind, burying my face in his neck.

"I thought that maybe if I just...could buy a few things to get prepared that'd be okay. I'd just leave them until we were ready you know? But I was sitting at home all alone today and I just couldn't take it anymore..." he whispered, turning around in my grip to face me, his piercing eyes wet with tears. "I just thought that maybe if I could just show you how prepared I was, then maybe you'd feel a little better about all of it... I understand that you're angry with me."

I stroked the side of his face lightly "I'm not angry at you, I was just confused and a little disappointed." It was true, at first I was a little angry, I was naturally a hot head...but that had changed in me lately...
"We both fucked up I guess." I sighed, shaking my head. "Suzuno. I took Anaise away because I didn't want her to think we were replacing her." I said and he frowned "Replacing her? No, no that's not what the plan was at all, I just-"

I placed a hand on his shoulder "She's six. Think about it from her perspective. It may be the case that she'd be happy to have a little brother or sister-but what if it wasn't. We have to talk to her about this, see what she thinks, she's barely settled in yet. What will she think?" I said, my husband's face crumpled, small tears fell but he wiped them away with his sleeve-I was used to this sight now, he was weary, tired after all the recent events that had happened.

"Oh god, I'm so selfish. All I thought about was myself and how I'd feel-Anaise never even crossed my mind. I'm a crap dad." He muttered quietly, I hugged him tightly, ruffling his hair slightly "Hey now, don't say that. We're both new to this, you said it yourself-it's not going to be easy and we will make some mistakes, but that's just how it is. You were the one that encouraged me in the first place right? We're a team, we can do this, I believe in us. I'm not pissed because you did this, it's just that you didn't tell me, you did it behind my back. That's not what we do Suzuno, we're not supposed to keep secrets from each other. So please baby no more secrets?"

My husband had stopped crying, he looked at me, a loving gaze in his eyes "No more secrets, we won't hide things from each other anymore. I'm sorry Haruya." He kissed me on the lips, wrapping his arms around my waist, I smiled kissing him back "I love you Fuusuke."
"I love you more."

(Earlier- back at Hiroto and Midorikawa's place)
(Hiroto)
"So wait, when are you coming to pick her up?" Midorikawa asked the departing Nagumo as I ushered Anaise into our house. This was the first time we'd actually met our friends' kid.
I remember Nagumo saying she could be quite shy at first.
"Is that your boyfriend uncle Hiroto?" She asked plainly and I laughed-guess she's a lot more confident now. "Yes, Midorikawa is my boyfriend." I said, grabbing Ryuuji's hand. She nodded her head, sitting down on the living room floor and opening her rucksack "My friend's daddy has a boyfriend too." She stated and I looked at Midorikawa, smiling.

"Would you like anything to eat or drink? Do you want to watch TV?" I asked her but she shook her head "No, I got my toys to play with. Do you have ice cream?" She said and I watched her take out a Spider-Man action figure as Midorikawa sat down on the sofa.

"Sure honey, but only a little bit okay?" He said and I nodded, neither of us were keen to incur the wrath of Suzuno and Nagumo if she ended up being sick later. Potato meowed, entering the room.
"You have a cat, I love cats real much!" She said excitedly, beckoning the cat towards her.
I sat down next to my boyfriend, cuddling up to him a little as Anaise stroked Potato, at one point attempting to get her Spider-Man and Barbies to ride on Potato's back-yeah that didn't go well.

I was watching TV as Midorikawa and Anaise played 'attack of the giant giraffe' when Delilah joined the fray. She hissed at the small girl and swatted at her uniform "Hey!" I said, trying to shoo her away from Anaise.
"Another cat!" Anaise said, trying to get the cat to come to her. "Oh sweetie, she's not good with new people, she may scratch you." Midorikawa warned, trying to pick up his cat.

Our friend's daughter just ignored us, practically dragging Delilah towards her as she hissed "She is not a bad cat. You're a good little cat aren't you?" She cooed, nuzzling Delilah and kissing her head. "You know, that's really not a good ide-" I stopped when I saw that Delilah had stopped hissing and was actually...purring? I nudged my boyfriend who looked as shocked as me "Well would you look at that."

Nagumo and Suzuno came to pick Anaise up about 45 minutes later. We both said our goodbyes, being surprised when Anaise gave us both really big hugs hugs "Thanksies! Bye-bye uncles!" She said cutely, giving me a quick 'kiss' from her giraffe toy before linking hands with her parents and walking off.

"That was...fun." Midorikawa said, giving me a side hug.
"It was...we should probably, babysit for them more often..." I said, my boyfriend turned to me, opening his mouth to speak but closing it again.
"What?"
He merely shook his head, a slight blush on his cheeks "Come on, let's get ready for that movie." He said, walking inside as our friend's car drove off.

(Omniscient)
The little girl waved as the car pulled away, bopping along to a song that was coming out of the radio. "Ice cream time, ice cream time!" She chanted and her parents locked eyes, Suzuno placed a hand on his husband's knee, turning to the little girl in the back "Sure thing Apple blossom, but there's something we want to ask you about when we get home..."