The waitress brought plates of pancakes drizzled with syrup, sunny-side up eggs with bacon and hash browns, and glasses of fresh orange juice to the only table with guests. A family of four with their dog, and the two children greatly resembled their father the most, with their dark hair, singling out their pink haired mother. (Was the pink hair a natural trait, or did she dye it?)
"Here's your order, Yuri." The woman said to the father, setting down the plate with eggs and its fixings to the man, and the pancakes to the other three.
"Psst, Keenan," Yuri whispered and lightly nudged the three-year-old boy, who had fallen asleep while waiting for the food to arrive, "Breakfast."
His green eyes brightened instantly, as he eagerly waited for his dad to finish cutting up his pancake. His hair was obviously shorter than Yuri's, and was styled more like a normal boy's hair. Being only three, he needed to sit on a large dictionary in order to reach up to the table's surface. When Yuri finished, he immediately started eating the pieces, holding the fork in such a clumsy and childish manner.
Estelle was cutting pieces for his one-year-old sister, Celine, in the high chair next to her. Her dark locks were held in a pair of tiny pigtails with pink ribbons, and her dark eyes followed her food, wanting to start eating with her brother. When she finally got to start eating, her use of utensils was still a tad clumsy for a one-year-old, getting some syrup on her plain white bib, as well as all around her mouth. Estelle had to juggle between eating her own breakfast and cleaning up the mess that Celine was making on herself.
Repede was just by himself near the table, eating away at his dog food.
It took a while to finish the meal, Celine being the messy eater she was, while Keenan went down and started playing with Repede. When they finally finished, Yuri paid the bill, Estelle packed up their items, and they looked ready to leave.
"Shall we go visit Flynn?" Estelle asked her husband, who shrugged his response.
"Sure, why not? I don't think he'll mind having us over." As they were about to open the door, Repede barked.
"Oh, I see Flynn!" Keenan exclaimed, pointing at Flynn from behind the window Repede was looking out of.
Yuri took a quick look, and did see Flynn and his own wife Sodia headed to the door.
Flynn was a bit surprised when the door opened in front of him before he could set his hand on the knob. But he saw Estelle, so he didn't jump that much as he would in surprise.
"Lady Esteli- I mean, Estelle!" Flynn corrected himself, having to remember Estelle had to keep reminding him to call her Estelle and not by her old name after she and Yuri married.
"Flynn! What a surprise! We were just about to go and visit you!" Estelle greeted him.
"Ah, well…" Flynn trailed.
Sodia poked in, "L-Lady Estellise!"
Estelle took immediate notice to what Sodia had in her arms.
"Is that what I think it is?" Estelle asked the couple, as the two made their way, and Yuri caught a glance as well.
"So, Flynn," Yuri smiled, "You have a kid of your own."
Flynn and Sodia sat down as she removed the hood off the bundle, revealing a small head of blonde hair.
"Yes," Flynn confirmed, "This is our daughter, Amanda Elizabeth Scifo."
Yuri and Estelle (while holding Celine) gathered around the mother, looking at the newborn girl, noting her bright hair and big blue eyes. Keenan couldn't see without having to make weak jumps or a height boost, so Yuri lifted him for the boost.
"She sure looks a lot like you, Flynn." Yuri eyed his friend.
"She does, doesn't she?" Flynn agreed with the obvious.
"I'm so happy for you both!" Estelle exclaimed, while keeping Celine from trying to grab and yank Sodia's braid.
"Good to know someone is." Yuri sarcastically commented, and surprisingly enough, Sodia didn't seem to be too bothered by Yuri's sarcasm.
"Say, Flynn," Yuri started, getting his friend's attention, "If you don't mind me asking, what's with the bruise on your cheek?"
Estelle didn't notice it until Yuri pointed it out, and saw a small purple spot on Flynn's left cheek.
"Huh, thought it would've gone away by now…" muttered Flynn, his fingertips touching the spot.
"You know that uncle of mine that Flynn told you about?" Sodia questioned Yuri.
"The one who didn't attend your wedding because of 'lower quarter scum' being there?" Yuri recalled.
"That's the one." Sodia acknowledged.
Yuri and Estelle shuddered. They heard a lot about how he never liked people from the lower quarter, usually hiding insults in sarcastic statements at best, ignoring them outright at worst. It was probably a good thing he didn't attend the wedding: had he made any sort of insult regarding Keenan (who was with a sitter at the time), not even the groom would've been able to stop Yuri from delivering an instant punch to the face.
Flynn had to explain the man's reason for his rather pointless hate, as his sister—Sodia's mother—had been killed when she was still a toddler. At first, it seemed like another noble had done the deed, and he kept fleeing the law. But when her father did some investigating on the issue, it turned out someone from the lower quarter was the real culprit who managed to keep his identity from being revealed and framed the noble, but the knights wouldn't listen to him. From that point on, her uncle started hating all from the lower quarter.
When hearing that story for the first time, Flynn immediately suspected that his wife's unnecessary hostility towards Yuri might have come from unresolved rage at her mother's death. She also admitted to joining the knights to keep the same thing that happened to her mother from happening again to others.
"Let me guess, he made some sort of insult to Amanda." Yuri sighed.
Flynn followed, "Yes. When Sodia's family came to visit, her uncle was dragged along, and he still didn't seem to get an attitude adjustment. Eventually, he went on a tirade on how he'd never accept me and Amanda as part of the family, and called her a pointless impure mockery. . ."
"Then you called him into another room and punched him in the face." Sodia finished for him. "A fist fight broke out after that."
"I wasn't going to let him get away with insulting her like that." Flynn responded.
Yuri raised an eyebrow, "Wow," he thought, "If a punch to the face results from an insult, I'd hate to see what comes from bodily harm."
"Well, after he got a few call outs, he started to change his mind," Flynn started to finish, "Just a few days ago, he sent a note and a present for Amanda as an apology. But it's going to take a bit longer for him to change his mind for the rest of the lower quarter."
"At least he's changing his mind now rather than later." Estelle said.
Deciding to change the subject, Sodia started, "You should've seen when the rest of the brigade was debating on whether Amanda would be a boy or a girl. Exactly half of them were split on both genders.
"But Flynn was right all along," She eyed him, "He kept insisting that the baby would be a girl."
"I did," Flynn said, "And a very beautiful one at that." He eyed his daughter.
Yuri smirked, "Oh, I'm not so sure about that. Keenan and Celine were much cuter."
"Oh, I beg to differ!" Flynn challenged his friend, though both their wives knew it was in more a relaxed and joking manner.
As fun as it was (mostly for Estelle) to tell stories about Keenan and Celine growing up, like how Keenan managed to switch his pacifier with Repede's pipe, other people were starting to visit, so Yuri and Estelle took Repede and the kids around Zaphias for the day.
The rest of the day seemed to pass by pretty quickly, spring having arrived not too long ago. After tucking in the children and trying to sleep and failing, Yuri continued to drift off into space. Even his wife's gentle breathing wasn't lulling him to sleep, and that always worked in the past, and both children were peacefully asleep.
Yuri sighed, "Maybe there's something outside that'll help me sleep."
On his way to the Public Quarter, he could've sworn he saw Flynn's figure sitting on a park bench, his blonde hair shining in the moonlight. With a closer observation, it was Flynn, and he seemed to be cradling his daughter.
"Letting Sodia get some sleep?" Yuri approached Flynn.
"Yuri!" Flynn was a bit startled at first, but calmed at seeing Yuri, "Yes, I am."
Yuri casually slumped down next to the new father, "Estelle was happy when I did that for Keenan and Celine, though I think it was more for bonding than letting her get some sleep."
"Really?" Flynn inquired, relieved a bit at learning he wasn't the only father doing that practice.
"Nothing wrong with that" Yuri agreed.
Flynn returned his attention to his daughter, "I just want to be a good father for her. Being a good influence in her life, you know?"
"Yeah, I hear you." Yuri followed, seeing how Amanda being asleep and huddled to Flynn reminded him of when his kids were born.
"So, when did you find out about her?" Yuri started asking.
"Well," Flynn trailed, "Actually, we found out about her when Sodia was four months along, and we didn't even realize it until we went to the doctor. There weren't any obvious symptoms at the start, so it really caught us off guard."
Yuri knew that feeling. With Keenan, she didn't show any obvious signs either, except for the odd craving for tuna, though that came with hindsight. With Celine, on the other hand, was more obvious due to frequent bouts with morning sickness, being more happy and cheerful then usual (if such a thing was possible), and the rapid speed of needing to use the restroom.
"It was only about two months before Sodia had to go on maternity leave, and then we started getting random notes from anonymous people who we could not identify" Flynn continued, "The notes were basically insults, demanding to know exactly when I got married, and. . ." Flynn slowed down, having to put himself together, which made Yuri start to worry.
"They actually wished that Amanda would be stillborn."
Yuri was completely shocked with disgust. Flynn was just living his life, and having his daughter, no matter how happy he was, was stressful for anyone. Couldn't others be happy for him at all?
"You have no idea how much self-restraint it took me to keep me from hunting them myself." Flynn could only admit that to Yuri.
Yuri wanted to make some sort of comment, but he knew how hard it was to fight that kind of urge. Flynn had restraint. Had they been insulting Estelle and his kids, they might not have been so lucky.
"Though a while later," Flynn slowly perked up, "There was a small group from my 'fan club' that came out and apologized for the other members' rude and immature behaviour."
"Some fan club" Yuri retorted, wondering how low the stupid fans could get.
"Everything went much better after that, with showers from both the brigade and the lower quarter, and I managed to talk to his majesty Ioder and got a month off when Amanda was born," Flynn finished, "Not as much as I would've liked, but I suppose that's better than nothing."
Since Estelle abdicated herself from the throne and married Yuri, he had to keep reminding himself that Ioder since took his place as emperor. The council finally decided that Dein Nomos was no longer a requirement to succeed the empire, and that was a big relief for the empire as a whole.
Flynn answered Yuri's next question, so he had to wander around his head for another one. He couldn't help but make a small smile as he watched his friend cuddle his own child.
"So, think she'll steal a few boys' hearts when she's older?" Yuri jokingly asked, wanting to see Flynn's reaction.
"Perhaps, but I'll be there to knock out whoever wants her hand in marriage." Flynn proclaimed, having already showed a protective streak towards her.
"Oh?" Yuri raised an eyebrow, in an amused tone, "What if that someone happened to be Keenan?"
That question stunned Flynn. The thought of Yuri and Flynn being in-laws through a possible marriage between their children would be kind of funny.
"You can't be serious." Responded Flynn
"I was joking." Yuri answered, while muttering "mostly" under his breath.
Flynn eyed him a little while longer until he had to get up and leave. "It's getting a little chilly. I might as well head back."
"No problem." Yuri agreed, thinking about heading back to bed himself.
"Hopefully, we'll see each other's kids again." Flynn added before he left.
Yuri couldn't agree with him more.