"But I don't want to celebrate," Misaki sighed, exasperated. She busied herself with preparing Ryuu's bottle of milk so she wouldn't pay full attention to the conversation.
"Misaki, you need to celebrate your birthday. It'll be your first birthday with Ryuu! Come on," Takumi stood at the doorway watching his wife, while holding 5 month old Ryuu.
"Yeah, but I just don't feel like leaving the house. I hate going out there with all the paparazzi around." Misaki went over to Takumi and took Ryuu into her own arms and gave him the bottle.
"You know I can't do anything about them as much as I want to, right?"
"Of course I do. I'm just not comfortable with this new lifestyle."
This time Takumi sighed and he went over to sit down on the dining chair, pulling Misaki down to sit on his lap. Placing his head on her shoulder so he could look at both Misaki and Ryuu, he let out a soft breath. "I'm sorry for all this attention. I didn't know that it would be this bad."
Misaki shrugged. "Me too. But I guess it'll take time to get used to. Honestly, I don't think I would mind it so much if we didn't have Ryuu. I want him to grow up as a normal kid."
"And he will, I promise. With a wonderful mother like you, there's no chance in hell that he won't grow up down-to-earth and humble."
Misaki gave a small smile, making Takumi smile too. Ryuu, seeing his parents joy, let out a toothless smile resulting in Misaki smiling even larger. "Thank you."
"Now, will you please just celebrate your birthday? We don't need a party, we can just go out for dinner with friends and family."
"Okay, okay. Fine. Just because Ryuu seems to want to," Misaki laughed as Ryuu began to laugh hysterically for absolutely no reason. She kissed his chubby cheek and cuddled him to her chest.
"You know, he's almost six months," Takumi stated suddenly.
Misaki shoved him slightly. "Stop. I don't want to think about it, he's getting so big so fast."
Takumi craned his neck slightly and let out a light laugh. "Are you tearing up?"
Misaki got up and bounced her baby around, avoiding eye contact with Takumi. "Pff, no. Now shut up and plan my birthday dinner."
Takumi laughed and gave both Ryuu and Misaki a kiss on the cheek. "You're so cute."
/
Misaki awoke the next morning to hear muffled singing.
She pulled her head away from her pillow to look up and her vision focused on Takumi walking towards her holding a plate of pancakes in one hand and a very messy Ryuu in the other.
Takumi placed the pancakes on Misaki's lap, and why Ryuu was so messy registered in her brain as she saw the messy chocolate syrup dribbled all over the pancakes in front of her.
"Happy birthday dear mommy, happy birthday to you," Takumi sang as he waved Ryuu's hands around like he was dancing.
Misaki smiled and Takumi bent down to give her a quick kiss. "Happy birthday beautiful."
"Thank you," Takumi passed Ryuu to Misaki. "Did you help daddy make mommy pancakes? And now you're all messy!"
Ryuu just kicked his legs around, babbling baby talk.
Misaki looked over at Takumi. "I wish you would've woken me up. Ryuu must've been a handful, especially when trying to cook."
Takumi waved it off. "No, I just gave him a bottle and he was preoccupied the whole time. Plus, he was more than happy to put the syrup on the pancakes."
"Well, I love you both and thank you again for the beautiful pancakes. And I will eat them once I give my baby boy a bath!" Misaki sat up and immediately started to bounce around with Ryuu in her arms.
"Sweetie, I can give him a bath. Enjoy your birthday."
"Oh no I want to give him a bath and dress him. He's going to look so cute for the dinner,"Misaki headed into the bathroom and quickly gave Ryuu a bath, afterwards dressing him in the outfit she had planned.
"Takumi, look how cute he looks!" She exclaimed as she walked back into the room.
Takumi smiled and went over to take a picture of his cute son with his iPhone. "So cute. Where did he get the suit?"
"Mom of course. I've been waiting for a good occasion to put him in this outfit. He looks like a little gentleman," Misaki cooed as she smoothed the wrinkles from his suit.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek before passing him to Takumi so she could eat her breakfast.
"I hate how good your cooking is sometimes," Misaki mumbled as she stuffed her mouth with the pancakes.
Takumi chuckled. "You know you love it. Ryuu and I will be in the kitchen if you need, I'm gonna feed him breakfast."
Once Misaki finished, she took a shower and headed downstairs.
"Misaki! Look at this," Takumi called her over. When she went over to see what was going on, her heart swelled at the sight as she started to laugh. Takumi was making multiple silly faces at Ryuu, who was trying to copy his father to the best of his ability.
"Oh my god," Misaki wouldn't stop laughing.
Once Ryuu's eyes began to get heavy, Takumi swung his sleepy son into his arms and put him down for his nap in his crib.
When Takumi came back downstairs, he saw Misaki sitting on the couch flipping through channels on the TV and plopped down next to her. "What do you want to do now until we have to get ready?" Takumi asked, grabbing Misaki's hand and giving it a kiss.
She rested her head on his shoulder, while Takumi played with her fingers and hand. "This is perfect."
The couples laid there together for a long while, watching movies and laughing at what the other said every now and then.
Soon the time came for them to get ready. Misaki settled on a silk black dress with curled hair and red lipstick, which made her feel the most empowered. She slipped on her heels as she heard Takumi turn off the shower.
She gave herself a look in the mirror before she heard Ryuu whining on the baby monitor and immediately headed to his room. "Hi baby," Misaki said to Ryuu as she looked down on her whining son in his crib. Once she put a pacifier in his mouth, he silenced.
She stood over his crib, lost in thought for a while. Sometimes, Misaki couldn't believe that the baby she was looking at and holding and kissing and feeding was really her son. It was all so bizarre. But Ryuu was getting older, and Misaki knew that. And it broke her heart. She felt like Ryuu had been with her all her life, and she loved him more than anything. She wanted to savor every second she had with him while he was still this small and dependent.
Ryuu raised his arm slightly to his mom, looking up at her as he sucked on his binky. Misaki smiled at him and put her finger in his fist.
"Beautiful."
Misaki jumped and turned to look towards the intruder.
"I'm sorry?" Misaki asked, unsure of what Takumi meant to say that so suddenly.
"It's just, moment like these are pure beauty. Seeing the candid moments of the love of my life with our son are the best. Not to mention when my wife is looking smoking hot," Takumi stated as he raised his eyebrow at her.
Misaki rolled her eyes and walked towards him before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Can you ever go a day without being so cheeky?"
"Can you ever go a day without being so irresistible?"
Takumi pressed their bodies against each other and soon their lips. The kiss began to escalate, and Misaki pulled away to get a breath of air. "We should get going."
"You know what, I rather much just stay here with you," Takumi said, pulling her in.
"I'm the birthday girl, and I say we leave now," she said with a smile. Misaki pulled him in for one last passionate kiss before turning away to get Ryuu.
As Takumi and Misaki walked outside through the mass crowd of paparazzi, as always Misaki kept her head cast downwards to avoid all the rested Ryuu on her hip, and covered his face with her hand and angled him so he could rest his head on the crook of her neck.
Takumi, as always, walked closely to his family to make sure nobody got within close proximity to them.
When their ride was finally in sight, Misaki let out a sigh of relief as she slid in with Takumi following after.
Their driver closed the door after him and Misaki buckled Ryuu into his car seat. Once he was safely in, Takumi signaled to the driver who began driving at once. Ryuu, already tired, fell asleep when his mom placed him in the car seat.
"I might not have time to give you this later, so since we have a long drive I think I'll give it to you now," Takumi said as he handed her to wrapped presents.
Misaki gaped at him. "I thought I said no presents!"
"Oops, didn't hear you."
She gave him a look before unwrapping the smaller gift. Inside was a ring, that had 3 different gems intertwined. Immediately, she recognized what it was and her hand flew to cover her mouth in surprise. "It's mine, yours, and Ryuu's birthstone all in one ring," Takumi explained but Misaki already knew.
Misaki slid the ring onto her finger and gave Takumi a quick kiss. "It's gorgeous. Thank you."
Takumi gestured to her second gift, and as she unwrapped it she felt tears spring to her eyes. Takumi had made her a family scrapbook. She flipped through the pages and let out a teary laugh, seeing pictures of the adventure that was parenthood. Takumi included monthly footprints of the growing Ryuu, as well as pictures that Misaki didn't even know existed of them.
Misaki felt a tear slip out as she closed the book and looked at Takumi, not knowing what to say.
"I thought you'd like that, since I know how hard it is for you to acknowledge how much Ryuu is growing. Here he'll always be our little boy."
Misaki again pulled Takumi in for a kiss, this time more emotional and passionate. When they pulled away she gave him more feathery kisses, overcome with emotion. "You're incredible, you alien. Thank you so much."
Takumi smiled and caressed her cheek. "I love you."
Misaki rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. "I love you too, idiot."