Confessions of a Married Man 14

It's not just a house, it was home.

It was not the prettiest house.

When Kyouya first saw it on the brochure, the thought of actually purchasing it never crossed his mind. He had protested heavily-he could remember a smirk, a loud no, a pout-but you can never win an argument against a pregnant woman, he decided. So Aki won.

They were moving along neatly-cut hedges and elegant-looking picket fences on a pristine European subdivision and Kyouya was on the driver's seat. Aki was at the back, two months pregnant and chatting animatedly with a heavy-set Australian real estate woman Hikaru had introduced them to. And half a year after the wedding, they were looking for a house.

A week earlier, they had talked about it through dinner and Yoshio thought it was a good idea. He meant, he didn't want Kyouya out of the house that bad but, it was about time he lived independently, especially now that he was married and having a child. His two older brothers did. Not that Kyouya was being too dependent on his father. He made his way through college alone; he broke into the company through his own will, yadda, yadda. Suddenly, the voices rose but remained calm. Suddenly, the tension was suffocating. Suddenly, Aki had to play referee, "I want a cake. Can you get me a cake, Kyouya? Please?"

Kyouya had insisted they move out in less than a week. The cake hadn't calmed his nerves. He'd hire the best architects and engineers and interior designers and have their house tower from the ground in seven days, good seven thousand miles away from that old man.

"Are you insane?" Aki sat on the bed, aiming pillow missiles at his back while he worked on his computer. He dodged three good aims; the fourth one barely missed his ear and the pillow landed on the carpet. "Even Superman can't build a house in a week."

"You don't know me, Aki," Kyouya said with conviction while pecking the keyboard with his fingers with vengeance. "Believe me, I can do it."

"Oh, shut it." Aki punched the fifth pillow to a good shape before throwing it to her target. She hit bull's eye.

"You should stop throwing pillows, you know?" Kyouya told her while putting his computer down and taking one of those wretched pillows that landed on the floor. "It's very rude."

"Maybe we should try real estate."

So seven days later, here he was, driving five miles per (no wonder Tachibana had made excuse), complimenting those beautiful Victorian houses and wishing inwardly he would win to get the house he wanted. Which was hardly the case since he never heard a, "Is this okay?" or "Are you fine with this house?" from any of the two since they began the tour of the subdivision this afternoon.

"Aki?" Kyouya interrupted their babble and he could see through the rearview mirror that the heavy-set Australian real estate woman was not very pleased with him.

"Yes, Kyouya?" Aki replied while looking up to meet his eyes.

"Maybe I should have a look at the houses as well."

The Australian heavy-set woman replied, "Maybe you should drive first, and then you can have a look at the houses after."

And he didn't argue, because he didn't want bloodshed because Aki was there. He made a mental note to send threats to this real estate woman before sending her away-far, far away. He met Aki's eyes, and he knew that she knew what he was thinking so he dismissed the thought. At least the sending-threats part.

xoxox

His initial reaction was a no. It's too . . . bright, no.

The house was too European-the roof flat instead of sloped, the walls glass-paned instead of bricked. Sunshine streamed freely through the large glass windows and it was too bright, it hurt his eyes. He could argue about privacy but he was sure Aki would rebuff it so he chose not to say anything. It was not a very big house, just enough for a kitchen, a living room and a dining room fit on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second. The roof had a balcony and the basement was half-buried. The only thing he appreciated about the lot was the yard. It had a patio and well, Kyouya could landscape the-no, no, he didn't like the house.

Kyouya would have preferred the quaint Victorians-he turned to Aki and she was delighted; he turned to the agent, her eyes spelled profit-but in this one, he was sure his suggestion would receive veto.

He said no many times, but Aki was whining so he said yes. Two days later, they had moved in-there were boxes everywhere and half of those on the living room were still unpacked. The kitchen was the only part of the house fully furnished-Aki spent the whole day making it look more like a dwelling place than their bedroom, which in case she didn't know, was more important because they slept there. And sleep was very important to Kyouya more than food.

They were slouched on the divan after they had finished unpacking all the boxes on the bedroom. Kyouya's head was nestled on Aki's lap and she was threading her fingers through his soft hair while humming a song they both loved to play on the piano. There wasn't any piano on their new house because there wasn't enough room for an organ but Aki bought along that miniature piano Tamaki had given as a present on their wedding, which Kyouya thought was too cheeky. Maybe it was Haruhi's idea. He knew his best friend too well; Tamaki would have given them an eccentric gift that wouldn't have fit inside the reception.

"Aki," Kyouya spoke her name while closing his eyes. He could admit he enjoyed hearing his voice speak her name but he wouldn't.

"Hm?" Aki's head was nestled on the backrest and the serenity was precious.

"Welcome home."

Her face broke into a smile. Aki pinched his nose as if telling off a child. "I thought you didn't like the house."

"Well, you know." Kyouya shrugged. "It has a lot of downs. I hate the windows, the wallpaper. The lawn is tolerable. But at least I got you here. You and that little buddy on your stomach."

"Uhm-hm?"

"And well, it's in this place where I can look forward to more little buddies with my hair and your eyes running around the house making chaos."

"And you'd have a lot of renovations to do."

"Gladly."

They waited for silence to settle and Aki resumed humming their song.

"Aki?"

He sat up and touched her arm. Aki looked at him.

"You're beautiful. When did I last say that?"

"About ten minutes ago before we sat here."

"Ten minutes! How rude of me!"

Aki chuckled vehemently and punched his arm. "You're silly."

Kyouya reached for her shoulder and pulled her closer. He bent down to kiss the top of her head. "This is home."

"Welcome home, Kyouya."

xoxox

A/N: Hello, I'm alive. College kept me busy. Took me a while before I realized I had to make this happen. Leave reviews and tell me what 'ya think.