Hey guys! Woohoo, chapter nine already! Hope you all enjoy this new addition, and reviews make me happy!

Chapter Nine

Valentine's Day was supposed to be a romantic holiday for lovers to gift each other with shows of affection. It was a little different in the Hewajima-Orihara household. Shizuo and Izaya perceived Valentine's Day like they perceived a lot of things. A competition. They would spend the entire day trying to one-up each other with different extravagant gestures. One year, Shizuo had rented Simon's sushi restaurant just so that he and Izaya could have a romantic dinner and dessert. Izaya had alternated between glaring at his husband and complimenting on how great the food was. Shizuo had made sure that Simon had made his husband's favorite dish.

Another year, Izaya had brought in someone to make an ice sculpture with both of them sitting on a bench while lovingly looking into each others eyes. Shizuo had turned bright red in anger and in delight.

The point was, the two loved each other and Valentine's Day was just a way to show how much they loved each other. Granted, the way that they showed love to each other was a bit weird, and some might say that it was a bit twisted, but it worked for them. And this year, Izaya was determined to beat Shizu-chan in their yearly competition. He had been keeping score ever since they had started the tradition when they first started dating and so far the score was Shizu-chan: 7 and Izaya: 6, and he was going to even the score this year.

But he had the advantage this year. This year, he was going to recruit Mikado to help him best Shizu-chan. He had already talked to the little boy a couple of days earlier and even though Mikado didn't really understand why Valentine's Day was a competition between them, he knew that he was going to do something nice for his papa, so he was happy to help Daddy.


Izaya had the advantage of Mikado this year, but Shizuo wasn't going to let him win easily. His first plan of attack was in the morning. He quietly crept out of bed, disentangling himself from his husband's hold on his arm, and tiptoed down the hallway into the kitchen. Izaya absolutely loved waffles with strawberries and whipped cream on them, so that was what he was going to make for him. Just to be extra cheesy, he put the whipped cream down in the shape of a heart with the strawberries arranged in a smaller heart inside of the whipped cream.

He snickered as he put the waffle and orange juice on a tray to bring to his husband. Izaya was going to be pissed at him. As he turned around, he nearly dropped the tray of food he was holding. Standing in the kitchen with his footy pajamas on, one hand rubbing the sleep out of one eye, and the other hand holding Mr. Dolphin, was Mikado.

Now, Shizuo had seen a lot of cute things, especially after he started living with both Izaya and Mikado, but this was just too adorable that he needed to get a picture. Quickly, he put down the tray of food and grabbed his phone that had been lying on the counter. He snapped a picture just as Mikado gave a little yawn, just adding to the cuteness.

He smiled and put his phone down before kneeling down by his son. "Hey, buddy," he said. "Why are you up so early?"

Mikado gave another little yawn before responding. "I heard you in the hallway, Papa. What are you doing?"

It didn't surprised Shizuo that his quiet step had woken up his son. Mikado was an extremely light sleeper. Which was kind of a pain at night time. Whenever Shizuo or Izaya got up to go to the bathroom or to get a midnight snack, they would soon have a little companion to accompany them. And after Mikado was awake, it was hard to get him back to sleep again. Usually a bedtime story and a glass of milk would soon send him to dreamland, though.

"I'm making breakfast for your daddy this morning. Would you like to come with me to give it to him?"

He smiled at the nod he was given in response. Mikado trailed after him as he walked to his and Izaya's bedroom. On the way, they were joined by Rufus, who usually slept in Mikado's room. Shizuo slowly pushed the door open, wincing when it squeaked. Izaya stirred a bit in the bed, but he didn't wake up. Shizuo walked to the bedside, then put down the tray on their bedside table. Right before he went to stir his husband awake, he had an idea. Smirking wickedly, he looked down at his son and his dog.


Izaya knew that his husband was going to try to one-up him this Valentine's Day, but he didn't think that it would happen this early in the morning. He had been having a wonderful dream that involved Shizu-chan and some bunny ears when two warm weights were suddenly dropped on his chest. His eyes shot open and he was greeted with the sight of his four-year-old son and his little runt of a dog sitting on his chest, holding his dolphin and giggling, while his husband stood off to the side with a tray of food. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the waffle with both whipped cream and strawberry hearts on it. Oh, that was so incredibly romantic and cheesy. Izaya wanted to wipe that smug smile off of his face, but he couldn't really do that with his son sitting on his chest.

"Mikado, what are you and Rufus doing on my chest, little guy?" he asked. Mikado giggled again in response, and Izaya decided that a tickle attack was in order until he got his answer.

After about thirty seconds of rigorous tickling, Mikado wheezed out a plea for mercy, saying that he was helping his papa make breakfast for him. Izaya granted the little boy some mercy and he stopped tickling him. Mikado and Rufus slid off his chest onto the plush bed while Shizuo set down the tray of breakfast. In-between bites he made sure to glare at his husband to show how displeased he was with the man, but Shizu-chan just kept on smirking. After making sure that Mikado was preoccupied with drinking some orange juice, he flipped his beloved husband off. Mikado was confused when Papa just started laughing really hard, but he brushed it off as the weird behavior that he was used to in his parents and took another sip of Daddy's orange juice.


Shizuo may have gotten the drop on him in the morning, but Izaya was not going to let that derail his plans. After breakfast, Shizuo went to take a shower and Izaya started his plan. First, he grabbed some red ribbon from a drawer that they had in the kitchen. Then, he went to Mikado's closet where he had his supplies hidden. Shizuo knew all of his other hiding places, so he made sure to push all of the things that he had prepared deep into the back of his son's closet. As he worked on his project he snickered. Shizu-chan was going to be so surprised. Mikado tried to snicker along with him, but it just turned into a cute giggle. Hmm, they would have to work on his evil laugh.

After his husband got out of the shower and put his clothes on, he walked out to the living room and froze. In the middle of the living room was his dog with a red bow tied around his neck and a envelope attached to his collar. He whistled and Rufus quickly ran over to him and stopped at his feet. He reached down and made sure to rub the dog's head just in the place where he liked it before pulling off the envelope and opening it. There was a card inside of it. It showed a fancy heart on the front and it simply read, My love...

Inside, it said, you are my light in the darkness, my moon, my sun, my stars. You are my everything and I love you. Under the printed words was Izaya's handwriting. I have a surprise for you in the bedroom.

With Rufus following at his heels, he went to the bedroom. Izaya must have run in there as soon as he had came out. He opened the door cautiously and his mouth dropped open in surprise at what he saw.

Izaya was dressed in a handsome suit, complete with fancy shoes and white gloves. He had a bouquet of red roses in one hand and what looked like a giant box of chocolates in the other. Mikado was dressed in a similar fashion, with one single white rose clasped to his chest. What really caught Shizuo's eye was the giant painting on the bed. It showed Shizuo and Izaya holding hands while Mikado rested on Shizuo's shoulders and Rufus sat at their feet. On the top of the painting was the title that simply read, Our Family.

Izaya mentally added a point to his score when he saw Shizuo tear up a little bit.