"Denny, hurry up! We're going to be late to the ball!"
Denny couldn't find his shoes. Or his cufflinks. He thought they were either on the dresser or on the floor next to the dresser but they hadn't been there, and now they were going to be late and it was all his fault apparently and where the hell had his hairbrush and tie gone?
On the bed next to him, Niko was sat cross legged, watching his father flap around the bedroom. Denny picked him up and held him over his head; underneath him were his elusive cufflinks. Niko squealed as Denny held him precariously with one hand, attempting to pick up his cufflinks with the other hand.
Niko was getting heavier than Denny remembered. He wouldn't be able to pick him up soon.
"Denny!"
Denny whipped round, unceremoniously dumping Niko on the bed in order to save his cufflinks from getting lost again. Realising that this probably wasn't the best parenting, he turned again to try and catch his son, accidentally throwing his cufflinks across the room and under the dresser. Niko shrieked with laughter, as he bounced onto the bedclothes.
Maria observed him with an annoyed look on her face. Denny grinned sheepishly. He seemed to have a knack of annoying Maria. Roy would say that it was perhaps his only talent.
Sighing, Maria passed him another pair of cufflinks, and – joy of joys – his missing shoes. He opened his mouth.
"They were by the back door by the shoe brushes," Maria said, turning to leave the bedroom. "And please hurry up and put them on, even Niko's ready now and I don't want to be late."
Denny looked at his son. Niko grinned at him.
"Silly Daddy," he giggled, rolling around on the bed. His legs kicked about on the duvet.
"Silly Daddy," Denny agreed sheepishly, scraping Niko off the bed before he got dirt all over the sheets. It was an apt summary from the three year old.
xxxxx
Roy couldn't stop looking at himself in the mirror.
He couldn't see much – just the vague black outline of his body, the flash of white in his shirt, a slight shine on his shoes.
His eyesight was the same, but he was used to it. He couldn't really explain it, but the blurs were clearer to him. Not clearer, that was the wrong word, more…navigable.
He could walk down the street without bumping into passers-by now. He could walk around Riza's house without her guidance. Black Hayate had been irreplaceable in the past year; he was clever enough for Riza to train as a guide dog of sorts, something they should have thought of long before. He came to work with Roy now, on a military blue lead, helping Roy with day to day tasks and warning him of hazards he couldn't observe for himself.
It was because of Black Hayate that he was able to let himself do this.
He whistled for the dog, who bounded up with a tie in his mouth. Roy sighed to himself. Black Hayate may think he was being helpful, but Roy was a little tired of having to wear ties covered in dog drool.
"Thanks, Hayate," he smiled, scratching the dog behind his pricked up ears, "but I'll be ok without a tie today." The dog barked and nuzzled affectionately into his side. Roy patted his head, ruffling the fur. He dug his fingers into the dog's side and rubbed his stomach, losing himself in thought.
"Roy?"
Riza stood in the doorway, dressed only in her black underwear, hair falling loose around her shoulders, watching him with a slight look of suspicion. Roy stroked Black Hayate one more time, before patting his back and pushing him off.
"Roy, you have fur all over your suit," Riza laughed, as Roy brushed himself off. Fur flew everywhere, making him sneeze.
"Riza, could you get the lint roller?" Riza smiled at him, and walked out of the room.
Roy felt on the bed for the little black box and stored it quickly in his inside breast pocket. Seconds later, Riza returned, passing him the roller.
"You're not dressed yet?" Roy smiled, seeing only the rough outlines of lace underwear on Riza. "Unless you're planning on going to the ball like that? Not that I'm complaining," he said with a wink.
"I'll be ready in ten minutes, I promise," she said, kissing him lightly before running out the room to find her dress.
Roy patted his pocket, and smiled to himself.