Thank you all for your patience with the updates! ^_^ And for all the feedback and reads! This story is by far my most popular and I am delighted and oh so grateful.

This chapter is dedicated to my cyber seme Cerberus Revised :) who is the frosting in between my oreos.

(...oh god. that was a weird metaphor...should I even leave that in?)

But yes, she is beautiful and amazing enough to come up with the whole idea of the uke flu and let us all applaud her for helping me to spawn this angsty story.

Love and Food, (and reviews!)

TBF101

Chapter Twenty-four: Love and Nostalgia

"An-chan, could you bring me the takoyaki chips too?" Ritsu asked as he heard An puttering around in Takano's kitchen.

"Sure Rit-chan," The girl smiled, grabbing the bag off the counter and returning to the living room with more drinks and snacks. She handed Ritsu the bag and set the other containers on the coffee table before sitting down next to him on the couch.

Takano had left a while ago to make a long overdue visit to the office (and also to buy a new cell phone as he'd broken his at the hospital), so An had come over to spend some time with Onodera. The girl had been over quite a lot lately, and her presence had really helped to raise Ritsu's spirits, almost to point of normalcy, which had everyone in a good mood as well.

At the moment, the brunette was pouring over a couple pamphlets on pregnancy (though it had been tailored to include both sexes in these changing times), while An was flipping through a few bridal magazines in preparation for her wedding.

"Rit-chan, which do you like better," An suddenly asked, pointing to a couple different dresses. "Strapless or off the shoulder?"

Ritsu glanced over with a quiet smile.

"You'd be better off asking one of your friends." He said jokingly. "I can't really tell the difference."

An laughed back.

"I know, but you and Shou-chan have similar tastes, and I want to knock him off his feet when he sees me."

"We do?" Ritsu cocked his head. "Are we that much alike?"

An shrugged.

"In some ways you're very different, but in others you're not." She replied. "But sometimes he really reminds me of you. Like how he gets flustered in a large group of people." She grinned.

Onodera snorted laughingly.

"Oh!" An suddenly said. "That reminds me."

"What?"

The blonde girl smiled widely.

"Shousuke told me he wants you to be in the wedding party."

Ritsu's eyes widened.

"Huh? Really?"

"Mhmm." An nodded. "He wants you to be one of the groomsmen, since you can't exactly be my maid of honor."

While Ritsu knew he should be happy and honored to be given such a gift, he couldn't help but swallow uncomfortably.

"Umm An-chan," He said tentatively. "I'm very happy to hear that but…are you sure it's a good idea?"

"What do you mean?" The girl asked curiously.

"Well," He replied, chewing on his lower lip. "It's just… I—I wouldn't want to jeopardize anything with you and him…"

An's eyes widened as she understood.

"You mean about your pregnancy."

Onodera nodded.

"I mean…is it a good idea to let anyone know you're in contact with me? Your…your parents are close to mine and they were always just as strict when we were growing up… I just…I just don't want anything to happen to you An." He murmured, giving her a melancholy smile.

An appeared a little shocked by his disclosure, but her gaze hardened confidently.

"Well Rit-chan, if my parents and fiancé decided that I shouldn't have you be in the wedding or be in contact with you, then they would be extremely hypocritical…considering that Shousuke's best man and younger brother just had a baby with his husband."

Ritsu's mouthed parted.

"What? Really?"

An nodded, smiling elatedly as she reached over and began to rifle through her purse.

"I have a picture of them in here somewhere. But yes, Shousuke's little brother Shikijo got married to a basketball player while he was studying in America, and he just delivered his baby a month ago. Oh! Here is it."

An pulled out a small pictures and handed it to Ritsu, who immediately had to take a double look at one of the faces in the family portrait. The tall, lean muscular man was clothed in beautiful, dark chocolate skin that made his whites of his eyes and grinning smile all the more apparent. Ritsu had briefly seen African American people on world news and in airports, but never really up close, and he couldn't help but be fascinated by the different racial appearance.

Next to the black man (well more like two feet down) was a clearly Japanese man, with dark hair and a modest but happy smile who had his arm tucked around his partner's waist. And held in between the two men was a lovely baby boy with dark hair and skin with a caramel glow.

Ritsu felt a slight smile grow on his face as he compared the baby's faces to his parents, picking out eyes, ears, and noses into a meshing masterpiece of phenotype and DNA. The baby clearly was his fathers' son, and you could see by the light in their eyes just how thrilled they were to have him.

The brunette felt his free hand drift down towards his ever growing stomach as the read the names scripted along the bottom edge of the picture, Michael, Shikijo, and Mark Fraser.

"They're in Osaka right now, but they'll be coming in next month in preparation for the wedding." An explained, also smiling at the picture. "I can't wait to meet them. Little Mark is so adorable."

Ritsu nodded.

"Yeah. They all look very happy together."

An's eyes shifted over to her friend, and she couldn't help but detect a tint of sadness in Ritsu's voice, even while his face appeared calm.

"You should leave An-chan," Ritsu said, glancing over at the clock. "You'll be late for your appointment."

"Oh that's right!" The girl exclaimed, beginning to stuff her things back into her bag. "Well I'll call you later Rit-chan. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will." He replied, giving her a quick hug before she flew towards the door. But she stopped suddenly when it opened before her and a laden Takano poked his head through.

An quickly bowed, ducking out as he held the door for her.

"Sorry to miss you Takano-san!" She said.

"You too, An-san. Ja." He replied, kicking the door behind him and walking into the apartment, carrying a couple boxes.

Onodera glanced over as he set them down in the hallway with a sigh.

"What are those?"

"Books." Takano breathed, shrugging off his slightly sweaty coat. "My great uncle passed away and he left these for me so my mom mailed 'em."

"Oh." Ritsu nodded, though he couldn't help but shift energetically at the mention of new tomes.

After putting away his jacket, Takano dragged the two boxes into the living room and sat down on the couch, starting to rip through the packing tape.

When he'd finally gotten the thing open, Takano reached in and brushed aside a layer of packing peanuts, but Ritsu looked over curiously as his face lit up.

"Oh man," Takano grinned, taking a small hardcover book out. "I remember this one. I used to read it when I was a kid."

Ritsu turned his head and read the title.

"F—Ferdinand the Bull?" He said with some difficulty, as it was clearly a read with foreign origins.

Takano nodded.

"I think it's from America. Wow…I haven't read this thing in so long." He mused, flipping open the pages with an air of reverent nostalgia. Ritsu listened quietly on as he read a couple lines out loud.

"Once upon a time in Spain, there was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand. All the other little bulls he lived with would run and jump and butt their heads together…but not Ferdinand. He liked to sit just quietly, and smell the flowers…"

Takano flipped through to the end of the book, then set it down on the coffee table, his face still set in a content smile. He began to dig through more of the box, pulling out more tomes and looking at each of them with a quiet smile.

Ritsu scooted closer and took a large paperback off the top of the pile, glancing at the first couple of title pages. Takano glanced over and gave a light chuckle.

"Kinda feels like old times doesn't it?" He mused casually.

"Hmm?" Ritsu grunted.

"You know? Back in high school, when we would read in the library."

"Oh…yeah. Guess so." Ritsu replied, pursuing his lips at the thought. Takano's statement had technically only been half right… as he had read at the library and Ritsu was too preoccupied with stalking him to turn a single page….

He continued to read through the first couple of pages, half aware that Takano was still scrutinizing him. He only looked up when Takano made a muted grunt under his breath.

"What?" Ritsu asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Nothing." He replied. "Just noticing the way you hold your books."

"Huh?"

Takano reached forward, tapping a finger on the back of the brunette's hand.

"You clench you books really tight when you read. I always just noticed that. Even when you were reading manga in the office you would."

"Oh," Onodera replied. "Yeah, just a habit I picked up when I was younger. Well, actually more of a counter habit…"

"What do you mean?" Takano asked.

"Well," The brunette said, setting the book down on his lap. "When I was a child, I used to chew on my nails, but my mother said it was filthy. Whenever she saw me doing it she would slap my hands down to get me to stop. So I would hold things really tightly in my hands so I wouldn't bite on them, and when I took up reading it just kind of translated over."

Takano nodded in reply.

"Hmm." He said with a slight smile. "From the two minutes I saw of your mother, I guessed that she was kind of strict."

Onodera rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You have no idea." He muttered as Takano continued to listen. "She always kind of told me that the common, outside world was this awful place, and that I shouldn't try to fit into it. She kept me very sheltered, and I wondered what normal kids were like and what they did, but at the same time I was too afraid to find out. It really…it really gave me some issues. Huh, that's probably why people kept telling me I was so jumpy and awkward in school."

Takano stared at the brunette, his expression unreadable as he didn't quite know what to think himself. With the way the Onoderas had acted in the hospital, he had guessed something along these lines, but to have Ritsu tell him personally was something else.

"Hmm." He grunted. "I can see that."

Ritsu's eyes shifted over to Takano. He felt he'd just had a layer of clothing removed by his disclosure, and he didn't quite know what to do with the feeling.

"My parents were the opposite." The man suddenly murmured, staring at the ceiling with his arms crossed behind his head.

"They were always so caught up in their marital issues that they didn't have the time or energy to deal with me. If I had told them I wanted to run away and become a male stripper they probably would've given me a bus ticket and sent me on my merry way." He muttered, giving a slight chuckle at his last line.

"My high school and college years were a wreck, though you heard that from Yokozawa. I found out the year before I left for college that…my dad wasn't my biological father. Turns out my mom had been sleeping with several people when they decided to get married. You know, I bet she can't even tell me who my real dad is… That pretty much was the final straw and they got divorced. What you saw in the hospital was pretty much all our drama in a nutshell."

Ritsu stared in disbelief at the other man, and he slowly dipped his chin.

"I'm sorry." He murmured.

Takano glanced at him and smiled.

"You're the last person who needs to be saying that. In fact, I don't even think you know what an impact you made on me back then."

Ritsu folded his lips together, silently battling over whether he wanted to know or not. But curiosity won over anxiety, and he creaked out a word.

"What?"

Takano leaned farther back, deciding it would be better to not look at Ritsu while he told him.

"After a lot of years of thinking things over, I discovered my main issue (well, one of them anyways) was that I never felt loved as a child. It was just like I was… there. I know that doesn't sound like a good explanation."

"No." Ritsu shook his head. "I understand. You were…just an obligation to them…" He replied, averting his eyes.

Takano nodded and continued.

"Yeah pretty much. But then in the middle of all that mess, something changed. One day, completely out of blue came along this little first year boy who blushed like a girl and flat out told me he loved me. Man, I didn't know what the hell to think…but, you know as time went on…I began to love him too."

The dark haired man turned to smile at Ritsu, only to discover that his eyes were fixed on his lap in silent contemplation. Takano eyed him for a moment, but his face was unreadable. Instead he sat up, and reached across the coffee table, fingering a stack of manuscripts he had yet to look over.

"Onodera."

"Hmm?" Ritsu grunted, still in meditation.

"How would you feel…about going back to work?"

Green eyes widened, and Ritsu finally lifted his face to meet Takano's gaze.

"…What?"

fauchocolat, Lumoa, Annalisse Rubisher, fuijiwara yume projects, hinatagirl18, SangoSnow26, Otaku Frappe, Shirasu, puppyfacetwo, and Silver Rose27- thank you all for your awesome reviews and I'm so happy you all liked the Domestica chapter :) I feel so relieved to know that it was not in vain.

cigarettesandlatte- I hope you will continue to review, because yours was freaking awesome! ^_^ It is such an honor to be called a top 5 SIH author! Thank you thank you thank you! Hope you enjoy the Nostalgia to come and I will make it extra special for you my dear :) Arigato x 100 And thanks for giving M-Preg a shot!

Hana- Thank you for the awesome review! And I love that you have read all my stories and I am incredibly honored. And yes, I'm sure there's enough people on the web (especially around here) to put together a blog just to spite on Hatori XDD LOL. And I totally agree with you on the Domestica relationship. They always seem like the odd one out because while they balance each other, they also use each other in very negative ways. Said rape scene never happened in the anime (or if it did it was off screen) but it did happen in the drama CD and Domestica novels (which I have only read summaries of). I downloaded the drama cd off somewhere or other, they're pretty easy to find, but I've only ever listened to it once because the rape scene left me with kind of a sick stomach.

And Nakamura needs to draw faster :) because I want more SIH as well. (honestly! what is she doing with all this time!)

Thanks again! :)

Cerberus Revised- Your praise of my domestica chapter makes me blush my sweet seme :3 however yes, it will be a LONG, LOOONGG time before I write Domestica again. *cough* forever *cough * ^_^ LOL! Well here is your update and I hope you enjoyed it! Love you LOTS!

MORE NOSTALGIA NEXT! THANKS FOR READING MY LOVELY OREOS!

P.s I got the idea for Ritsu's nail biting from Katlynn888's Nostalgia fic "Hime Hajime" which is the best Nostalgia lemon I have ever freaking read. And I really thought her idea really seemed like Ritsu, so I included it :)