"Where is he?" Hiroki wondered out loud again, checking his watch. Akihiko was supposed to have met them in the parking lot to their apartment complex five minutes ago, and still there was no sight of his red sports car.
"Now, Hiro-san, don't be so impatient," Nowaki said, his tone conveying some amusement at his behavior. "Tokyo is a traffic heavy city. I'm sure he'll be here in a few minutes."
"I just don't want to be late to the appointment, that's all," he mumbled. Nowaki had taken the day off, and Hiroki didn't want to waste any of the time they could spend doing other things. Stupid hormones, making me emotional...
Akihiko's red car pulled up at that moment, cutting off any further conversation.
"Finally!" Hiroki called out as Akihiko got out of the car, walking towards them. "Akihiko, where were you?"
Akihiko raised an eyebrow. "It's not even ten minutes past when I scheduled to pick you two up."
Before Hiroki could say anything, Nowaki began, "I was thinking of getting a car to take Hiro-san places myself. What kind do you have Usami-san? A Mercedes?"
Akihiko shot a strange look at Nowaki, as though he was a little off his rocker for asking that question. "It's a Ferrari, actually." He looked at Hiroki, giving him a questioning glance.
Hiroki rolled his eyes. "And a ridiculous case of overspending, too. I don't see why you had to get that flashy thing when a cheaper model would work just the same." At that, Nowaki stopped looking at Akihiko's car with any interest, but looked over at Hiroki and nodded, as though agreeing with him. Well, at least he'd persuaded the idiot from feeling as though he needed to buy an insanely expensive sports car to prove his worth. Or something.
"You just don't have the exquisite taste to appreciate such a fine work of art, Hiroki," Akihiko said, clearly affronted.
Hiroki just ignored him and walked towards the car, opening the passenger-side door at the front of the car and preparing to get in.
"Be careful, there's not much room in there," Akihiko said, and Hiroki blinked at the sheer amount of books he saw in the piled high in the front seat. "It might be better for both of you to sit in the back."
"How come you have so many books, anyway?" Hiroki asked as he and Nowaki got into the car and strapped themselves in, books crowding around both their feet.
"Why, those are for you, Hiroki," Akihiko said, closing the front door and strapping himself in. "There's more in the trunk. You said you were out of reading material, didn't you?"
Hiroki felt his face heat up. "Bakahiko, you didn't have to get me so many!"
"It must have cost quite a bit," Nowaki said beside him, and he could feel the tension radiating off him. Hiroki wanted to smack his head against the door - of course Nowaki would see Akihiko's tendency to overspend like he was building Versailles as a challenge. It's not about me, he does this for everyone and doesn't even think about the cost, because he has no sense of not having money for want of anything. He tried to telepathically send this message to Nowaki, but his lack of psychic powers was not helping him out in this instance.
"I didn't really notice," Akihiko said, and Hiroki almost winced. "I just figured if I got him as many as possible, he wouldn't whine so much when I call about being bored."
"You're bored, Hiro-san? I could take more days off work."
"No, no, that's fine - you need to work now, you can get away with taking more off later easier that way. I can just reread whatever I have, I'm fine." Nowaki made a small noise of annoyance at this, but didn't say anything more. Hiroki looked over to find him pouting.
"Well, we're here," Akihiko said as they pulled into a parking garage near the building where the obstetrician's office was located. He didn't even bother to check the parking fee, just entered and parked the car in a spot nearest an elevator. "You guys go - call me when you get out, Hiroki."
"What are you going to do, Usami-san?" Nowaki asked as they exited the car.
"I have to buy a gift for Misaki - oh, that reminds me." He turned towards Hiroki. "I got a present for you to give to Misaki - some suspense novel. It's in with the rest of the books - I'll show you it when I bring you two home."
"The kid actually wants a book?" Hiroki asked as they waited for the elevator. He remembered the kid - he had fallen asleep in his class more than once, though, in retrospect, he was sure Akihiko had something to do with that.
"Well, no, but it was the only thing I could think of he'd been comfortable getting from you, and the only thing you'd feel was worth giving," Akihiko said. The elevator arrived. "Anyway, he likes suspense shows, so it's worth a shot." He pressed the button for the ground floor to exit out to the street, then for one two floors up, which was the level adjacent to the doctor's office. Thankfully, the elevator began moving downwards first.
"Doesn't he work for Marukawa? How does he not like books?" Hiroki said, as he watched the number change above the door.
"He likes manga." Hiroki snorted and rolled his eyes. He never had liked those silly half-novels; this was only proving his point. The door opened, and both Nowaki and Hiroki got out.
"See you, Usami-san," Nowaki said a little to cheerfully as the doors closed, then turned to look at Hiroki."He really does care for that Misaki, doesn't he? Buying him a present he knows he might like just so you won't give him anything he doesn't?"
Hiroki resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, Akihiko is completely devoted to Misaki, just like I'm completely devoted to you, idiot. He definitely wasn't going to say that out loud. "Let's go, we're going to be late," he said instead, and Nowaki didn't say anything, just happily followed behind him.
"Before we begin the ultrasound, I need to know if you want to know the baby's sex."
Nowaki looked at Hiroki. He'd been looking anxious all through the appointment with Hayashi-sensei; he had a feeling Hiroki just wanted to get things over with. The medical book he'd read probably hadn't helped the anticipation at all. As it was, Nowaki didn't care what the sex was, as long as the baby was healthy, so when Hiroki shot him a questioning glance, he answered with a shrug. It's your decision to make, Hiro-san.
"Yeah, okay, I'd - we'd like to know the sex," Hiroki told the doctor, and she gave a small smile in response.
"Very good. I need you to lie back, Kamijou-san." Hiroki grumbled a bit but shifted his position as the obstetrician prepped herself to begin the ultrasound. She reminded Nowaki of the time he'd observed a surgeon for a requirement; for some reason, the resemblance between the two procedures made him shiver.
She lifted up Hiroki's shirt, revealing his protruding abdomen. "Now, I'm going to put the ultrasound gel on you; it'll be cold, so don't be startled, okay?"
"Just get it over with," he mumbled, averting his eyes away, his cheeks blushing red. For a moment, Nowaki felt a moment of annoyance at some else seeing - and causing - such a cute expression to form on his beloved's face, but it soon dissipated once the ultrasound clicked on and an image began to form on screen. "Looks healthy," the obstetrician said, and Nowaki could only stare in wonder. He'd seen ultrasounds of fetuses before, of course, in textbooks and once during his residency when he had to help perform one on a sickly pregnant woman when they were low on staff, but this was different: this was Hiroki's, and his, and that made a world of difference.
"Uh, what exactly are we looking at?" Hiroki said, and Nowaki turned to look him. He had the slightest blush on his cheeks, obviously embarrassed at being the only one there without appropriate medical knowledge to understand the ultrasound.
"Oh! You see, Hiro-san, over here is an arm - " he said as he gestured to the relevant spot on the ultrasound. Hayashi-sensei coughed lightly. He blushed. "Oh, sorry!" He didn't mean to take over her job!
She laughed lightly. "It's fine, I'm just not use to first time parents who know how to read an ultrasound," she said, and Nowaki felt a warmth in his heart at the words "first time parents" referring to Hiroki and him. The obstetrician looked over at Hiroki. "Now, Kamijou-san, as Kusama-san said, this -" she pointed to where Nowaki had been pointing, "is an arm, the right one. The left arm is over here, and the left leg is here." She continued to point out various body parts on the scan, Hiroki nodding along all the while. His face was strangely blank - no huge showcases of emotion, or telltale signs of his thoughts, like he often had on his face. He'd reacted like that to the heartbeat as well, however, so Nowaki really wasn't surprised.
"So, what sex is it?" Hiroki asked, and Hayashi-sensei turn her gaze from Hiroki to him.
"Kusama-san, would you like to try to read the gender on the scan?" she asked, and he looked at it again. It was nice of her to offer, but he didn't know if he'd be able to tell; the ability to even tell the baby's sex was based on the baby's position, and it involved looking to see if something was or wasn't there. Fetal ultrasounds weren't his specialty by any means, but if he had to guess he'd say -
"Female?" Hayashi-sensei nodded her head.
"Yes, going by the scans I'd say what we have here is a baby girl. Congratulations to you both."
Nowaki could only smile at her. He would have been fine either way, but it was nice to know. At the
very least they knew what names to focus on now for their daughter.
Their daughter. His and Hiroki's. He liked that thought.
"Thank you," he told Hayashi-sensei, and Hiroki grunted his thanks, then asked if he could get up yet.
She laughed. "Of course! Just let me wipe up the gel, then you're good to go."
Nowaki took care of scheduling the next appointment for two weeks later and the same time while Hiroki called Usami to pick them up. He really didn't have a problem with Usami, not since he'd discovered the exact relationship between the man and his housemate, but it was hard not to be jealous of someone with a bank accountant consisting of billions of yen, especially when that person was his lover's childhood friend and once unrequited love.
They met Usami down by his car; he had a large shopping bag with him that he placed in the front seat, securely setting in between two smaller bags of books. Nowaki and Hiroki shared the back seat again; Hiroki put on his glasses, picked up one of the books in the back, examined it for a moment, than opened it up and started to read.
"How did the appointment go?" Usami asked, and Nowaki felt it his duty to reply; Hiroki had started reading, and disturbing him while he had a book in front of him was akin to poking sticks into a hornet's nest and a beehive at the same time.
"We're having a girl," he said, since that was probably what Usamiwas curious about.
"So they say," Hiroki said, mumbling as he continued staring at the page in front of him; Nowaki blinked and turned to look at him - he hadn't realized he was listening.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Then a momentary terror seized him. "Do you not want a girl?"
"No, no, that's not it. It's just... the ultrasound looked strange. And blurry. I didn't really believe it."
Nowaki just stared at him. He hadn't expected that. "What do you mean 'you didn't believe it'? It's an
ultrasound; what's there to believe?"
Hiroki sighed and picked his head up from reading, then looked at him. "It's just... well, the image wasn't really clear. It felt almost like it depended on too much interpretation."
"It's not a Rorschach Test, Hiro-san. They know what they're looking at."
Hiroki shifted in seat and frowned. "See, this is why I didn't say anything when we were there. I know that. It's just... I don't know, I need to see it for myself." He paused for a moment, then added, "without someone telling me whats' there."
"In all fairness, they told Misaki's parents they were having a girl before he was born," Usami said, interrupting their conversation. For some reason, he was smirking at this; Nowaki didn't really want to ask why.
"It's not just that," Hiroki said. "It's not just the sex. It's more like I didn't really think the ultrasound looked like a baby."
Nowaki wasn't quite sure what to say to that; luckily, he didn't have to, as Usami choose to say something instead. "Well, it being you, Hiroki, I wouldn't be surprised if the child was an alien from Mars."
Hiroki went red at this, dropping his book and glaring at Usami. "If my child was from Mars, yours would be from Neptune!"
"That's good, I like Neptune," Usami deadpanned, and Hiroki looked about ready to smack Usami over the head, which, really, Nowaki thought might just be a good idea.
"But, Hiro-san, I still don't understand what you mean by the confusion over the ultrasound."
Hiroki looked about to answer, but Usami-san interrupted again. "Hiroki's just the type of person who will understand what's happening, but he won't fully accept everything until he has the baby in physically in his arms - at which point, of course, she'll cry, forever traumatized by his horrendously ugly face."
"Bakahiko!" Hiroki shouted as Nowaki tried to decide what he was more upset over - Usami insulting Hiroki or Usami understanding just what Hiroki meant when he did not.
"Hiro-san is very cute," he decided to say, in part to get Hiroki to pay attention to him. Hiroki looked at him, face flushing red as he gave Nowaki a look that he probably thought was threatening but was actually quite adorable.
"No one's cuter than Misaki," Usami muttered, and Nowaki took that as a sign of Usami-san signaling that he wasn't a threat to their relationship and very happy in his own rather than as a challenge, because if he took it as a latter, the argument would never end.
"What did you think of the ultrasound when you saw Misaki's, Akihiko? Didn't it look weird to you?" Hiroki was apparently attempting to bring the topic back to less embarrassing territory.
Some emotion passed over Usami's face, but it was hard to tell what. "I felt the same way about it that I did about the heartbeat," he said, but didn't elaborate, and a quick look at Hiroki indicated he had no idea what Usami meant by that, either.
"We're here," Usami announced, ending all any further contemplation of the subject at hand, and he pulled into the parking lot. "They gave me a parking pass for the day; let me help you get some of these books up."
Well, good, because you brought them, Nowaki thought but didn't say, and collected some of the paperbacks in a small bag for Hiroki to carry. Usami singled out the book he told them to give Takahashi - he had put a bookmark between the pages, one with a design of, for some reason, a rabbit holding a flower - and helped haul the books upstairs. It took a few trips to get them all up, and Nowaki thought they'd never had enough room to fit them all, but Hiroki seemed happy to be surrounded by such shiny new books, and, really, Nowaki couldn't complain.
"Consider this an early birthday present," Usami said before he left, Hiroki yelling that his birthday wasn't until September at the closing door.
"I think we have wrapping paper from your mother's birthday last month in the book room, let me go check," Nowaki said as Hiroki settled down with a book in one of the softest chairs in the living room; he hadn't taken off his glasses from when he put them on the car. Hiroki just nodded, humming softly as he began to read, looking genuinely happy.
Nowaki just sighed, shaking his head. Whatever made Hiroki happy. As he walked into the book room to look for the wrapping paper, he realized something.
This was the only extra room in the house, and therefore the only one suitable for a nursery.
Considering Hiroki's reading habits... and the amount of books he'd probably buy for their daughter as soon as she was born... and the way Hiroki's mother would probably spoil her with toys and things, even if they tried to get her not to...
They were going to need a bigger apartment.
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