So, this was supposed to be a birthday gift to Cerberus, but it turned into a super long belated gift. Especially since I spent the last two and a half weeks in the hospital. I haven't been without the internet that long since I went to a third-world country. Not fun. But I am making a speedy recovery and doing very well now that I'm back, though I want nothing more than to spend about a month writing like crazy. This is going to be a two-part story, and yes, the second part will be an Artistica lemon.

This story takes place about two years after the epilogue of my Uke Flu story, so seven years after the kids were born.

Cerberus my darling dog, you are my inspiration as well as an exceptional friend, and I hope you enjoy your present.

Flu kisses everybody!

TBF101

Tied up With a Bow

An Uke Flu Omake

I

Birthday Party

"Whew," Yuu breathed as he stepped down from the small ladder, having just finished tacking up a colorful banner above the kitchen door. He peered around the living room with a calculated eye and grunted in approval. The entire room was decked out in streamers, balloons, and other party paraphernalia he had picked up at the store. He had decided on orange and blue for the colors and had to admit he did a damn good job in just a few hours.

Quiet footsteps came from down the hall and Yuu turned as his husband Hisashi entered.

"Holy crap, Yuu," Hisashi said in amazement. "This looks great."

"Thanks," Yuu smiled. "Are the other rooms clean?"

"Cleaner than they've ever been," Hisashi snorted. "Yes, they're fine."

"What did you do with all our shit?"

"Closets," Hisashi replied. "Don't open the one next to the bathroom, or the coroner will never find your remains. I figured we could just put everyone's coats on the bed or something."

"Fine with me," Yuu said, glancing at his watch. "Renaka-san and Shi-chan should be back any minute."

Hisashi wrapped an arm around his partner's lower back, giving him a smile. "The decorations really do look great Yuu."

Yuu leaned over and kissed Hisashi's cheek, a familiar glint in his eye. "Well, if you like them so much maybe we should just leave them up. After all, your birthday is less than two months away."

Hisashi retracted his arm and groaned. "Quit reminding me."

Yuu rolled his eyes. "Oh get over it already. Turning thirty isn't so bad."

"It is to me," Hisashi sighed. "I feel old."

"You're not old," Yuu retorted. "Come on, you didn't see me get all dramatically mopey when I turned thirty."

"Really? So all that tequila was strictly celebratory?"

"Besides," Yuu cut in, avoiding the topic of his unscrupulous alcohol binging. "It's not like we even look thirty anyways. We could pass for twenty-five."

"Yeah," Hisashi scoffed. "If we claim I had our son at eighteen."

Yuu chuckled. "Let me make my point. You know that Emerald editor Kisa?"

"I think so. I'm not really around the Shoujo department though."

"Well get this: Kisa is almost forty."

Hisashi's blue eyes went wide. "Seriously? No way!"

"I know," Yuu remarked. "Guy found the bloody fountain of youth or something. Anyways, the decorations are up, the house is decent, Saki-san is making the cake, we have our presents ready, and the guests should start arriving in a half hour. Are we forgetting anything?"

Hisashi went through his own mental check-list and shrugged. "I think that's it."

The two men glanced towards the front hallway as they heard familiar barking and the front door open.

"We're back," Renaka called.

"Kou-chan!" stammered a frantic voice. "Wait so I can get your leash off."

Yuu and Hisashi both braced themselves as Kounotori, their two-year-old golden retriever bounded into the living room, her fluffy tail wagging and her tongue lolling out of her mouth. She immediately began to sniff the decorations with enthusiasm, her curiosity sparked. Renaka came out of the entryway, followed by seven-year-old Atsushi, who looked quite out of breath.

"Welcome home," Yuu smiled at his son. "Did you have fun at the park?"

"It was quite lovely," Renaka said, placing a hand on Atsushi's shoulder. "The trees are very beautiful this year."

Atsushi nodded in agreement, then turned to Hisashi. "Kou-chan still won't heel."

"She still has a little puppy left in her," Hisashi replied. "But if we keep up her training, she'll catch on eventually."

Atsushi nodded again then caught sight of the adorned living room, which had his blue eyes wide.

"Oh Shi-chan," Renaka smiled. "Doesn't that look great?"

Atsushi's face lit up and his lips pulled into a small smile. Yuu was so reminded of Hisashi in their child's face that his heart all but melted. Atsushi was growing and changing so fast he could hardly believe where the time had gone. When he was younger, his hair had been as blond as Hisashi's, but over the years had darkened to a golden brown, though he still retained his wispy curls. His skin was also a shade tanner thanks to plenty of the recent summer sun.

"Happy birthday, Atsushi," Yuu said, kneeling down and hugging his son. "Are you excited for your party?"

"Mm-hmm," Atsushi murmured, resting his chin on his father's shoulder briefly before they released their arms.

Yuu carefully took in his son's expression, looking for any signs of fear or nervousness. But it seemed he was genuinely thrilled. Atsushi's appearance hadn't been the only change that had taken place in the last few years. The boy had been painfully shy throughout preschool and kindergarten and was almost always seeking comfort from his fathers. This had worried the couple immensely, and they were very close to seeking professional help.

But halfway through his year of second grade, they started to notice a turn for the better. Atsushi had started looking forward to school, and even liked staying after to play on the grounds instead of rushing home. Atsushi had also started talking about the friends he had made over dinner, and Yuu thought it interesting that most of them were girls. Their son was slowly growing out of his shell, and his fathers were grateful for it. However, they had been downright floored when Atsushi had asked if he could have a birthday party with his classmates this year.

It wasn't that Atsushi's birthdays were a trivial matter. On the contrary, between his fathers, Renaka-san, and Hisashi's parents, all of whom lived on the same city block, the boy was spoiled rotten whenever one of them could find an excuse. It was almost a nuisance at times, as it had taken the three parties over an hour to plan out Atsushi's birthday so he would have equal time with everyone. Renaka-san had taken the morning and early afternoon, having lunch with her godson at his favorite ramen shop, followed by a trip to the ferris wheel, and then a walk around the park with the dog. Yuu and Hisashi would have their son for the duration of his party, and Atsushi would have dinner with his grandparents and spend the night at their house.

"Shi-chan," Hisashi said. "Why don't you go change? Your friends will be here soon."

Atsushi nodded and bounded off to his room with Kounotori on his heels.

"We should probably tether the dog in the backyard before anyone gets here," Yuu commented. "She's going to go nuts."

Hisashi nodded in agreement and turned to Renaka. "Should we go ahead and give him our presents now? I doubt we'll have time later. You know how my dad is."

Renaka smiled. "Yep, he'll show up forty-five minutes early but won't leave for two hours. By the way, I have the cake from Saki-san. Do you want it on the table?"

"That's fine," Yuu said as Renaka took a large white box out of her shopping bag. But something else in the bag caught Hisashi's eye. It was an equally large rectangle wrapped in colorful paper, but it was flat. Hisashi thought for a moment at what could be inside it. It could be a large picture book, but Renaka's gifts for Atsushi were usually more elaborate than that. But he shrugged it off, as they would find out soon enough.

Atsushi appeared a few moments later, wearing clean jeans and a rust-orange collared shirt. His small hands fumbled with the buttons and Hisashi kneeled down to help him while Yuu got their present from the top of a bookshelf.

"Shi-chan," Hisashi smiled. "You want to open your present from Papa and me?"

Atsushi's face lit up and he was visibly squirming by the time Yuu handed him the small package. The boy tore through the wrapping paper with gusto and his eyes brightened as he found a single volume of manga. His head cocked to one side as he thoroughly examined it, and when he read some familiar names on the cover, he gasped.

"Did you make this Papa?" he said with excited wonder.

Yuu beamed. "Yes Shi-chan, and you get the very first one. It's not supposed to be in the bookstores till next month."

Atsushi was thrilled at the prospect of a new manga to read, especially the one his daddies had been working painstakingly on for the past year. He began to flip through the pages, his eyes seeming to take in even the smallest of detail.

"Congratulations on your first manga, Yuu," Renaka smiled. "You certainly deserve it for all your hard work, not to mention assisting me with my own series."

Hisashi almost saw a blush color his husband's cheeks at her praise.

"Well," Yuu replied, nodding to Hisashi. "I couldn't have done it by myself."

"Don't be so modest," Hisashi said. "You did almost all the work on the concept, story, and character designs. I simply corrected a few hands along the way."

"What is it about?" Renaka inquired.

"In a nutshell," Yuu said. "It's about a painter whose creations start coming to life. I tried to incorporate a lot of humor as well as action so it would be well balanced, this being my first manga and all."

"I can't wait to get my own copy," Renaka smiled. "Now Atsushi-chan, do you want to open my present?"

Atsushi was a little reluctant to put down his new book, but he carefully set it aside as Renaka pulled the large, flat package from her bag. Atsushi tore through the paper curiously and his eyes went wide when he saw the beautifully framed painting. The picture was of a golden griffin soaring amongst the stars, and Hisashi's lips parted in shock as he immediately recognized it.

"Wow," Atsushi said, bedazzled by the vibrant gold and purple colors. "It's so pretty. Daddy can we hang it in my room?"

Noticing Hisashi's stunned expression, Yuu stepped forward and smiled. "We can put it anywhere you like, Shi-chan. Now why don't you take your presents to your room before the party starts?"

Atsushi nodded eagerly and carefully took the painting and book down the hallway. Once he was gone, Hisashi pressed his fingertips to his mouth, looking very overwhelmed.

"You didn't have to do that, Renaka-san," he murmured, his lips curling into a sad smile.

Renaka smiled as well, her dark eyes growing foggy. "Just seeing the joy on his face was well worth it, Hisashi. It seems to me that he was meant to have it. Besides, with my downsizing from a house to an apartment I really don't have the space."

Yuu smiled sympathetically. "In any case Renaka-san, thank you. I know how much that painting meant to you."

The air became heavier as a sense of silent nostalgia seeped into the room. The artist of the painting had been Renaka's late son and Hisashi's childhood friend, Hajime Atsushi. It was one of his finest pieces, and to have Renaka give it to her godson almost seemed like a blessing.

Everyone was suddenly taken from their thoughts as the doorbell rang, which was quickly accompanied with excited barks from the dog and Atsushi racing down the hallway.

"Papa!" he said. "My friends are here!"

"I heard," Yuu replied, grimacing at Kounotori's never ending yips. "Hisashi will you get the door? I'm taking Kou-chan out back."

Hisashi nodded and he headed to the entryway with Atsushi on his heels. It was a little early for the party to start, but everything was ready so it didn't really matter.

"Welcome," Hisashi bowed as he opened the door. "Ah, Onodera-san. Good to see you."

"Likewise Araki-san," Onodera Ritsu said, trying to bow and balance the two packages in his arms. "I'm sorry we're early, but we were in the area."

"It's not a problem," Hisashi replied. Over the editor's shoulder, he spotted the Onodera twin girls, Ritsuka and Masako, running up the sidewalk.

"Atsushi-chan!" they called simultaneously.

Immediately turning sheepish, Atsushi gave them a shy smile. "Hello."

"Come on in," Hisashi gestured. The two girls didn't slow down as they took off their shoes and bounced into the living room with Atsushi in tow, gawking at the decorations.

"Will Takano-san be joining us?" Hisashi asked, not seeing Onodera's partner anywhere.

"Yes," Onodera said. "He's just getting a few things from the car. Thank you again for letting us bring Iori-chan."

"No trouble at all," Hisashi said.

"Onodera-san," Yuu said as he came over to join them. "How was hell week for Emerald?"

"I'm just glad it's over," Onodera sighed wearily. "But we were able to catch up on our sleep yesterday so things are already much better. By the way, I'll apologize for Masamune in advance. He's a little smug today."

Yuu cocked his head curiously. "How so?"

Onodera gestured to his girls, who had their long hair done in intricate French braids and tied with ribbons. "His practice finally paid off, so now he thinks he's the rain man of hair dressing."

Yuu chuckled, finding the thought of that hard-ass editor obsessing over his daughters' hair rather amusing. Onodera, however, looked a little weary from it all.

In truth, Takano had gone rather wild with this latest hobby. Seeing the other girls' hair-dos at school, the twins had fast grown jealous and entreated their fathers to do something other than ponytails every day. Ritsu had found his fingers far too clumsy to do anything complicated, but Takano, of course, took it as a personal challenge. He had sought out the advice of Ritsu's good friend An, as well as video tutorials on the internet. Even still, the videos made the styles look far easier than they actually were. On his days off, Takano had devoted large amounts of time to practicing all manner of hair-dos. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the attention, even as their steaming father had to constantly bite back strings of obscenities.

Onodera sighed in exasperation at the memories. "I'm hoping it's just a phase. But, it does keep his mind off other things."

"Oh yeah," Yuu said. "How's he doing with the smokes?"

"Much better. He only needed two this week, and he was very reluctant to take them."

The couple nodded, commending Takano's progress. His quitting had become one of the hottest topics of gossip in Marukawa, as that editor smoked more than a train when he had to deal with Emerald's deadlines and difficult authors. More than a few pools and bets had been made on whether or not he would succeed, but Ritsu knew that Masamune was fully committed to kicking his addiction.

Earlier that year in spring, the twins had come down with colds, and Ritsuka's dreadful coughing lingered for weeks even after they recovered. They had taken her back to the doctor, who suggested that it was likely mild asthma and could be due to the lingering smoke on Takano's clothes. From the moment they were born, Takano had never once lit up around his children, but could never completely eradicate the smell. Horrified beyond belief that his habit could ruin his daughters' health, Takano went cold turkey that same day, only to find out that breaking a long addiction wasn't as easy as it sounded.

Three days later, Kisa had raced up to the Literature department and told Onodera in a panic that Takano was going on a rampage and was on the edge of pissing off Ichinose Erika, one of their best-selling authors. She normally took Takano's advice without question, but his anger and nit-picking at her storyboard was fast turning into a disaster.

Onodera had cancelled his next meeting and hurried down to Emerald, and even he was surprised at the state the normally functioning department, as well as his partner. Takano was practically screaming at Hatori, but his usually sound criticism was turning into an indecipherable rant. Onodera had quickly stopped the fight and took Takano into an empty work room, where he proceeded to scold Takano for a good twenty minutes until his partner calmed down. Onodera then had a long talk with him about seeking support to help him quit smoking. Knowing his partner and tendencies to rush things, Ritsu had thought ahead and produced a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He had given Takano three, as well as a nicotine patch and escorted him to the smoking lounge.

Over the next few weeks, Ritsu had overseen Takano's cigarette consumption at work and rationed them accordingly. Takano had not originally been keen on quitting so slowly, but over time was able to fall into a controlled pattern, though he greatly preferred the nicotine patches over the cigs. Recently, he had gotten down to so few that even Ritsu was amazed, as were all the people at Marukawa who had bet against the Emerald editor. Particularly a certain dark horse in the sales department who said that if Takano ever quit smoking there was a good chance the world was ending.

Yuu glanced up the driveway as Takano finally emerged from the car, carrying a couple bags and a young boy with light brown hair. Sure enough, the air around the head editor was decidedly boastful.

"Araki-san," Takano said as he approached, nodding to Yuu. "Heard you got your manga done right on the deadline date."

Yuu smiled. "Sure did. It's at the printers now."

"I might have to give it a read when it hits the shelves," Takano said. "Kirishima said it wasn't bad for a first volume."

Ritsu shot Takano a sharp look, and Hisashi rolled his eyes as Yuu responded.

"I like to think I've been in this business long enough to know what makes a good manga," he said coolly. "Even more so than the editors who don't quite understand the entirety of the creative process."

"Pardon me, gentlemen," Hisashi interrupted. "But there's a draft. Could you possibly continue your argument inside?"

"No need for that," Onodera replied crisply. "Masamune has already promised me a weekend without any business talk. Isn't that right?"

Takano's lips tightened and it was Yuu's turn to look smug when the head editor folded rather easily, though he certainly didn't look happy about it.

"Yes, Ritsu," Takano sighed. "Iori-chan, do you want to go play with the others?"

The quiet boy in his arms nodded and Takano carefully set him down. Hinajima Iori padded into the house with the adults right behind him.

"Is Iori-chan usually this shy?" Hisashi asked Ritsu as he shut the door.

Ritsu nodded. "Very. He's so different from our girls it makes my head spin. Though I've heard it's actually pretty common among flu children for the boys to be laid-back and the girls to be more…outspoken, though I partially attribute that to their father."

"Isn't Iori the child of your friend, Onodera?" Yuu asked.

Ritsu nodded. "Yes and he's also my godson. But An-chan and Shousuke-san are in Osaka on a business trip this weekend, so he's staying over."

"How old is he?" Hisashi said.

"Six," Onodera replied. "He's just about a year younger than the twins."

Yuu watched as Iori joined the other three children, and between the rampant energy Ritsuka and Masako exerted, Atsushi almost looked a little relieved to have someone quieter around. But his father didn't have time to study them for long before the doorbell rang again. One by one, the rest of Atsushi's guests arrived, and the house filled with the joyful sounds of celebration.

Part two to come soon!