"Haruhi, we're going to be late !" whined Tamaki, frantically checking the time on his phone as he paced the study at a speed that more closely resembled running. "You can finish your schoolwork later; we need to leave !"

"Tamaki, we don't have to leave for another ten minutes ." Haruhi saved her work and shut the laptop with a sigh. "Seriously, stop freaking out."

Tamaki sighed and collapsed onto one of the couches. "I know; I'm sorry," he said, glancing out the window. "This is just the first 'real' adult-y thing we're doing with this…"

"What, like this whole situation hasn't been 'adult-y' enough?"

Despite her remark, Haruhi was just as, if not more, nervous than Tamaki was. Speaking to a lawyer regarding the legal side of bringing a new child into a family was already tedious and nerve-wracking; the fact that it would be with a Suoh family lawyer and behind the back of Tamaki's grandmother made it even more so. Both their fathers would be present as well, and although the dinner several weeks prior had run smoothly, she was nervous for the four of them to be together again—especially in such a legally binding discussion.

"Okay, but that still doesn't change the fact that we're going to be late !"

Haruhi shot him an unamused glare before finally standing up. "Let me use the bathroom first, okay? I'll be quick."

"You'd better! We don't want to make a bad first impression!"

After a quick bathroom break, the two were finally in a car on their way to the Suoh Group headquarters. While Haruhi looked out the window at the now-familiar route into the city, Tamaki fiddled with the edges of his sleeves.

"Have you heard from your dad yet?" he asked her, looking up from his fidgeting to look at her.

"No, but yesterday he called and said he'd try to be there by 5:45." Haruhi double-checked her phone for any missed messages, then looked back up. "Have you heard from yours?"

"Just the usual," replied Tamaki. "He has a meeting that should be over by 5:30, so he should be getting to the lawyer's office by six. He said he'd text me when he's on his way."

Haruhi nodded clearly, but pressed her lips together as she tried to think of a way to form a question without offending Tamaki. "Tamaki, if you don't mind me asking…"

He looked up with bright eyes, albeit a bit confused. "Of course I don't mind; what is it?"

Haruhi hesitated. "How is…your relationship with your dad?"

Tamaki was taken aback, and his mind grasped for a proper way to answer.

"I mean, in general!" said Haruhi, beginning to turn red from embarrassment. "Like, I know your relationship with your grandmother is solely business-based, but… Is your relationship with your dad anything like that?"

Tamaki hesitated, then let out a long sigh. "A little bit," he admitted sadly. "I know he doesn't mean it, though. When I still lived in France, he would visit whenever he could, and he's always been willing to listen. I know the reason we aren't closer is because of my grandmother, so it's not his fault." He paused, a sad smile appearing on his face. "I wish we were closer. I know it's a weird way to go about it, but maybe this whole situation is building our relationship up. Especially since it's something he can relate to…"

"That's…good?" Despite losing her mother at a young age, Haruhi hadn't completely realized that she sometimes took her relationship with Ranka for granted up until now. While he could be a bit much at times, at least he was…available, to say the least.

"I suppose it is, yeah." Tamaki looked at Haruhi again, the smile on his face now larger. "That's why I'm so adamant about having a close relationship with our baby. I don't want them to grow up only being close to one parent at a time."

Haruhi smiled sympathetically, not really knowing what else to do. She was extremely thankful Tamaki was wanting to be involved in the situation, but she still hadn't quite grown comfortable with him dumping his feelings and personal history all over her; though, at the same time, she was honored he trusted her enough to tell her.

Tamaki's eyes immediately widened and he began to panic. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you!" he exclaimed, only causing Haruhi to become even more bewildered

"What…?"

"I said I didn't want the baby to only grow up with one parent, and you—" He hesitated before letting the sentence fall.

"Tamaki, it's okay ," Haruhi reassured. "I was five . Yes, I wish my mom were still here sometimes, but I understand what you mean and where you're coming from. You're not hurting my feelings, I promise."

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure!" Tamaki laughed nervously and looked back out the window of the car. "I'm sorry, I just… I don't know? I think the whole situation is finally starting to catch up to me. Not that it hasn't been constantly on my mind since we found out, but now it seems more…real, I guess? Especially now that you're in the second trimester…"

Haruhi laughed softly. "Tell me about it," she said with a hint of a smile, slowly lowering her hand to rest on her stomach. "I... am a little bit worried, though; I still haven't felt the baby move yet…"

"Okay, I know I'd typically be the one to freak out, but you need to calm down," Tamaki reassured. "You're still only 23 weeks; really, it should be any day now. Maybe you've already felt them move, and just haven't realized it yet?"

Haruhi actually seemed to take this into consideration and was about to respond when the car pulled up to the tall building into which they were headed. Instead, she merely turned her open mouth into a nervous smile as the chauffeur stopped the car and walked around to open the door for them. "Well, here goes nothing," she said to Tamaki, and the two got out of the car and went inside.

The interior of the Suoh Enterprises headquarters was intimidating, but the two teens didn't let it phase them as they slapped on their best "adult faces" and entered the elevator to go upstairs. Fortunately, the two did not have to wait very long for their respective fathers: within minutes, both Ranka and Yuzuru had arrived, and the group headed down a hallway towards the office of the lawyer they were meeting with.

"Ms. Kosaka is the best of the best," Yuzuru told the others as they approached the door to the office. "I've obviously briefed her on the situation beforehand, but everything we discuss will be kept confidential."

The group reached the door, and Yuzuru opened it before anyone else could grab the handle. "After you all," he said, gesturing towards the now-open office.

Haruhi and Tamaki filed in first, with Ranka and Yuzuru following closely behind. "Everyone, I would like you to meet Ms. Kosaka, the Suoh family lawyer."

Haruhi and Tamaki both started to bow, but as Ranka laid his eyes on the woman they both stepped back in shock

"Yuko?!"

"Ryoji?!"

The two stared at each other while the others looked on, confused. "You two... know each other?" Haruhi asked, unsure of what was going on.

Ranka's face began to turn red, but Ms. Kosaka remained calm and composed despite the unexpected reunion. "We were neighbors growing up," she quickly explained to the others, beginning to feel a bit embarrassed as well. She turned back to Ranka, hesitating a bit. "It's…nice to see you again."

Ranka smiled sheepishly, trying to shake the blood from his face. "You as well, though I wish they were under… better circumstances.

Tamaki and Haruhi exchanged glances, both of them unsure how to react to the whole situation, as well as feeling uncomfortable that they were the reason for the reunion.

Ms. Kosaka recomposed herself. "Well, let's move along to the discussion at hand, shall we?" She opened one of several manila folders spread out on her desk, and handed both Yuzuru and Ranka copies of the same sheet. "I'm going to be frank: I don't think this next conversation will be pleasant at all; however, it is absolutely necessary given the circumstances."

"How so?" asked Tamaki, eyes nervously darting to look at his father.

Ms. Kosaka cleared her throat and briefly looked down at the documents sitting on her desk before continuing. "Well, Tamaki, I think you will have to make some pretty big choices soon, some of which you probably weren't hoping to make this soon. However, they're extremely important, if not completely necessary."

Tamaki could feel the fear creeping up his stomach, but he took a deep breath. "Yes, ma'am, I understand."

"Moving on." The lawyer thumbed through some pages. "Okay, before we begin: Haruhi, you have registered with the Office of Health, correct?"

Haruhi nodded. "Yes, I have."

Kosaka nodded in approval. "Alright, that's great; it'll make things a lot easier, since the pregnancy is on file with the health office. But, that's only one piece of the puzzle." She spun around in her chair and grabbed a book from the bookshelf, which Haruhi saw read Civil Code of Japan . Kosaka quickly flipped through the book before finding her intended page, then cracked the spine and set the book down in front of her. "As I'm sure you all know, this child will be considered illegitimate, and as per Article 790 of the Civil Code, all illegitimate children are automatically placed on the mother's family registry, and, legally speaking, when the child is born they will be a Fujioka rather than a Suoh. Tamaki, you can recognize paternity, but unfortunately, your child will still be considered illegitimate unless you either marry Haruhi, which you can't do until you turn eighteen with parental permission, or adopt the child as your own, which you can't do until you turn twenty. And, it would definitely be in the best interest of your child to make them legitimate, since illegitimate children may face many problems down the road."

Yuzuru subtly squeezed Tamaki's knee, both to show mutual understanding and support. Nevertheless, Tamaki felt like screaming, but kept his composure. "I obviously want to recognize this child as my own, but...what do I need to do to put their name on the Suoh family registry?"

Kosaka clicked her tongue. " That is where things get complicated." She turned to Yuzuru and hesitated. "Forgive me for stating this, sir, but…your son is illegitimate; therefore, he isn't more than a footnote on the Suoh family registry either. Furthermore, he has dual citizenship, which poses the… other problem."

Haruhi was about to say something, but bit her tongue.

"Tamaki, I know I'm just repeating information you already know, but I want you—and everyone else—to understand the situation in legal terms. You were born to a French mother and a Japanese father. France's nationality law incorporates both principles of jus soli —nationality based on birthplace—and jus sanguinis —nationality based on the parents' nationalities. So, in France, any child born to at least one parent who holds French citizenship automatically is a French citizen—which, in this case, applies to you. However, Japan is solely a jus sanguinis country, so at least one parent needs to be a Japanese citizen for their child to be a citizen as well. Since your father acknowledged his paternity of you before you were born, that makes you a Japanese citizen too. Therefore, you are currently a dual citizen of France and Japan. However, in Japan, any adult is not permitted to hold dual citizenship."

Tamaki inhaled sharply, but continued to listen.

Kosaka briefly coughed before continuing. "Now, I'm sure you know that you have until you're 22 years old to decide between French or Japanese citizenship; however, if you want this child to legally be a part of your own family, you're going to have to decide sooner than that."

Tamaki's face went blank. He knew this would be coming at some point; he just didn't expect it to be so soon .

Ms. Kosaka briefly coughed before continuing. "That doesn't mean you're stuck here; it just means you'll no longer have French citizenship. Either way, seeing as you are the only child of your father, you are pretty much set to inherit Suoh Enterprises eventually."

"But…what about my grandmother? She still has to formally decide whether or not I'm inheriting the company, doesn't she?"

"That shouldn't be a problem." Mr. Suoh raised his eyebrows at her, and she took that as a cue to move on. "Anyway. Do we have any questions?"

The four on the opposite side of the desk exchanged glances simultaneously before each raising a hand.


The ride back to the second Suoh mansion was spent in almost complete silence, both Tamaki and Haruhi digesting what the lawyer had told them. Both were thankful to have the whole situation and what needed to happen broken down into simpler legal terms, but neither of them realized just how complicated it would be just to give the baby the last name of Suoh.

"You know, we don't have to get married."

Tamaki's sudden break in the silence caught Haruhi a bit off-guard, and she simply looked up at him.

"Not like I'm completely opposed to the idea, of course!" He nervously laughed, face beginning to turn red. "If you find someone you really like, though, I want you to be happy. I don't want you to feel like you have to marry me just because of the baby."

"I mean,…yeah." If she was being completely honest, this wasn't something Haruhi had thought about at all until Kosaka brought it up during the meeting—all the focus up until then had really been on generally preparing for the baby and what Haruhi would do while she wasn't physically in school. The meeting had added a completely new layer to the situation, one that the both of them just wanted to tear off and throw away.

"You sound…unsure."

"That's because I am?" Haruhi sighed and turned to look out the window. "It's not something that really occurred to me, you know? I've just been so focused on school and everything else, and I haven't really thought about it." She habitually unlocked her phone to check for messages, but finding none she simply locked it again and set it back down. "I mean, think about it: we already live together, and you're planning to be as involved in the baby's life as you can. Would it really be that bad to just go ahead and get married as soon as we can? It would definitely make things less complicated, and it'd be the quickest and easiest way to legitimize the baby."

Tamaki sighed, scooting a bit closer. He took Haruhi's hand in his, looking intently into her eyes. "Haruhi, I mean it when I say you don't have to if you don't want to. I'd rather you not be with me and be happy than you just marry me because you feel like you have to and be miserable."

"Who'd want to marry someone who had a baby while they were still in high school?" She pulled her hands away and looked back out the window. "Not to mention, if we were to get married, you'd have to go ahead and give up your French citizenship." She let out a lengthy sigh. " God, this sucks ."

"Haruhi, I have to give up my French citizenship anyway. Either way, we don't have to talk about this now. We still have lots of time to think about it."

The two of them didn't say anything else regarding the matter, and they sat in relative silence for several minutes.

Suddenly, Haruhi furrowed her brow and straightened her back. Tamaki looked at her curiously, but his curiosity turned to panic when he saw her hand move to her stomach.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, closely watching her facial expression before deciding which direction to take his concern in.

Haruhi paused for a moment, but gradually a smile appeared on her face. "I think… I just felt the baby move."

"Really?!" Tamaki's smile was just as large as, if not even larger than, Haruhi's smile, and he scooted closer to her. "May I?" he asked, reaching his hand out to feel her stomach but waiting for permission to do so.

"I'm not sure if you'll be able to feel anything, but go ahead."

He pressed a hand to her stomach, but after a few moments of trying to feel for something he simply sighed and pulled his hand away. "Not this time," he said with a bit of a disappointed laugh, reaching down to straighten his own shirt before scooting back over to his own seat.

"I'm sorry; like you said, I'm only 23 weeks, so it's still pretty early. It'll probably be a few weeks at the least ." Haruhi gave him a sympathetic smile.

Tamaki returned the smile, though more genuine and much brighter. "It's fine; I was expecting something like that! I'm just happy everything is okay—even though we have so much more to worry about now, at least our baby is okay."

And despite the overall hectic day, the two both knew that, in the end, everything would be okay.


(A/N) i meant to have this out sooner but i had to write a 15-page paper about rights of illegitimate children in japan *wiggles eyebrows*

to quote my friend, "tamaki thanks for being a bastard babe"

also by the time i finished writing this the legal adult age in japan has been changed from 20 to 18 but idk what the future implications of that will be so we'll just have to see ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

tumblr is merryvrismas, follow me for shenanigans and random posts about my thoughts