"Dabu! Dabu! Dabuuuu!"

"Saint Mary and Joseph!"

Furuichi instinctively curled himself into Oga's back before grabbing the baby to make sure he didn't touch anything dirty.

"Oga!"

"Da!"

"What?"

Oga opened crusty eyes to see a freaked out Furuichi and a pissed off baby.

"Why the hell did you bring the baby here?"

"I didn't!"

"He walked?"

Furuichi held the baby at arm's length which was hard since Baby Be'el started swinging himself for amusement.

"Oga we're a mess." Furuichi announced through gritted teeth while using his eyes to point out yesterday's affair. It was the first time Furuichi ever saw Oga turn pink. "Berebo! Cover your eyes!"

Baby Be'el quickly used his chubby little hands to shield his baby eyes from their nakedness. Furuichi was torn between marveling at Oga's body and the fact that the baby understood his command. When Oga cleaned up and was ready to go, he gave Furuichi time to take care of himself.

Going to the kitchen to fix them breakfast, Furuichi took a moment to snapshot the picture of Oga being a pretty good dad into his memory. Oga'd made a bottle for Baby Be'el and was currently reading a Brother's Grimm tale as an apology for sleeping in so late. Making coffee, a cold knife twisted in Furuichi's gut. How was he going to tell his family?

The answer came the first day of the November festival. Classes had been shortened to accommodate each on campus club's final preparations for the school wide event.

Since it was Baby Be'el's first illumination festival, the new couple decided to enjoy the festival together.

"Bottles and formula?

"Check."

"Diapers and wipes?"

"Check."

"Wallets, phones and keys?"
"Check and check."

Furuichi couldn't contain his excitement while gathering Baby Be'el and the baby's bag in his arms. He'd always wanted a family of his own to do this with. They walked under the setting sun, bundled up against the cool air. A few trees were already illuminated and Baby Be'el clapped excitedly at the brilliant colors of autumn leaves.

"Oi Furuichi. Go get me some gyoza."

"Me? Aren't you supposed to pay for everything, dad?"

"Hah? What kind of stupid rule is that? You just made that up right now, didn't you?"

"Ugh! You're so annoying. You're lucky I'm hungry anyway."

They ate, strolled through the chilly evening and spent well over two hours enjoying the festival as well as each other's company. Standing before a particularly lonely tree, Oga snaked an arm around Furuichi. Furuichi let it happen, caught up in the magical moment of his own.

A silver head rested on the brute's right shoulder. Berebo began to fall asleep bundled up in his stroller. A few moments passed and Furuichi made a telling sigh.

"Junior year."

"Hm?"

"Hilda and I met in high school, junior year."

Furuichi shifted to get a better look at the rare pained expression on Oga's face.

"We had a weird way of showing it, but we were in love. Senior year, she got pregnant. I wasn't ready, but we both knew I'd give it my all. Then one day, she announced that she didn't want Berebo to have a deadbeat dad and left. When the court finalized our custodial rights, she told me that I had no visiting rights until I finished college. I missed that day because I was here for orientation. I still had feelings for her, but then there was you."

Oga gave Furuichi an intense look that the silvernette would've mistaken for love, but he knew better.

"You didn't know me. The only time you heard my name were because of the fights I caused. You went to the dean. Hell, you went up to the school board to give me a second chance. Hilda never even gave me one. And when I thought that all my feelings for her had gone, she knocks on my door with our son. My parents wanted me to have a normal family, and I thought I wanted the same thing, so, I…I kissed her and then you walked in."

Furuichi couldn't deny that he didn't understand the feeling. Wanting to feel like they had a chance at something normal, when they were as "un-normal" as they could get. Furuichi hated that he forgave Oga. He hated that tears gathered in his eyes. He hated that he continued to listen to the brute's story. This whole situation made it harder for Furuichi to ignore his feelings.

"After she told me about taking Baby Be'el and violating my rights, that was the last burn I'd take from her. She knows that. And Misaki wasn't wrong. When she said that you were good for me. Even I knew from the day you came back from the school board, I knew you'd be a better partner than I'd ever deserve."

Furuichi couldn't help being caught up in the moment. It was something out of a cheesy shoujo manga serialization, but he couldn't find himself to care. He kissed Oga forgetting that they were two men in public.

"Furuichi Takayuki!"

"Mom?"

"What were you doing? And in public!"

"We're deeply disappointed in you son."

"Hey, how old is the baby?"

Furuichi sat pale and thin-lipped on the couch looking like he was about to throw up any minute. Oga sat next to him looking about the same way. Furuichi's parents tore into the silvernette way more than he could've ever imagined.

Strait-laced people wishing for the same from their son and daughter. To them, it wasn't hard to blame the ruffian by his side to confuse their first-born son with sick delusions. Until Furuichi told his family why Annetta, his only girlfriend, didn't work out. His parents stared back at their son in disgust and horror when Furuichi told them that Annetta had caught him making out with one of her classmates, Hisaya Miki, while at Saint Ishiyama Academy.

Oga tried to slide his hand over to Furuichi for support but Furuichi shifted his body away from him entirely. "Ah mama," Honoka mumbled to get her parents attention. They held their breath until Honoka continued, "The baby looks sleepy and so am I. Can we go home now?"

Relieved, the Furuichi's gathered their things without another word to Takayuki. Honoka dove to hug her brother before rushing out the door, hurrying after her parents. To even have one person by his side meant the whole world to the silvernette. Furuichi held his tears until he pushed passed Oga to go to his room.

"Wait, Takayuki-"

Furuichi slammed the door in Oga's face. Sliding down the door to his knees, Furuichi knocked his forehead on the door. What had he done?

Oga went back to gather a groggy bundle and took him to the black laced crib to rest. With one last look at the door down the hall, Oga closed his door and went to bed.

The rest of the week before winter break dragged longer than Furuichi wanted but faster than he hoped. He'd gotten away with avoiding Oga for long periods of time. They'd taken turns taking care of Baby Be'el and when it was time to switch Furuichi shot out of sight before Oga could say anything. The silvernette also began looking for local work. His scholarship was as good as over at this point. He hadn't seen Oga crack open a book.

Taking the last quiz to officially start winter break, Furuichi sighed. Going home seemed like the most sensible option, but he didn't really want to go home if Oga was there. The rumbling of his stomach and the spare coins in his pockets helped him decide that cooking something would do him much better since he'd probably have to save as much money as he could from here on out.

He'd tried to call home once while walking to his apartment, but he'd gone straight to voicemail. It hurt so much to hear his family's cheerful voices that he doubled over on the sidewalk. There was no repairing this was there? Suddenly furious with himself, thinking that he'd be okay loving who he wanted, Furuichi wanted to beat Oga over the head with the nearest cast-iron pot.

"Whoa there. Are you alright young sir?"

Furuichi cringed inwardly at the voice. When he turned to look at Alaindelon towering over him Furuichi tried not to cringe outwardly as well. "Ah. Yeah. Alaindelon, was it? Just hungry."

"Oh ho! I have just what you need. Come, you can invite me in."

Furuichi gave a queasy smile at the packed baskets decorating thick mast-like arms. Furuichi really just wanted to lay in bed and wallow, but if there was anything his parents taught him it was to entertain your guests no matter how you were feeling. Furuichi's stomach flopped thinking about his parents.

Furuichi allowed Alaindelon inside who was very glad to see that Baby Be'el's things were put in a "natural" order. The silvernette went on auto-pilot giving vague answers to even vaguer compliments. With only Furuichi there to attend to Alaindelon (Oga and the baby were nowhere to be found), Furuichi thought everything was going great.

"Ah. I'm terribly sorry. You look like you'd rather be alone."

Furuichi snapped out of his auto-pilot apologizing profusely. "What's eating you, son?" Struck with the similarity of what his dad would usually say, Furuichi couldn't stop the tears even though he really wanted to. The silvernette opened up to a man he had only met once before. Alaindelon reached an over-sized hand to place on a quaking shoulder. Between Furuichi's hiccupping sobs he spoke, "Don't let anyone stop you from loving the person you care about. More often than not they're scared by the amount of love you're holding for that person. Some are even jealous."

Alaindelon stayed for a little while longer, comforting a torn Furuichi, then left as the sun began to set.

Oga returned home mentally spent. It was Baby Be'el's pediatric checkup, but Oga didn't know that shock top needed shots. Oga was in such a panic just looking at the needle, he carted the baby straight out of the hospital room. It took a screaming Hilda over the phone to convince Oga to re-schedule the shots for a later date.

Fatigued eyes shifted to a contented baby making grabby motions which meant that Baby Be'el wanted to sit on Oga's shoulders. Yeah. He couldn't take the little guy back to the nurse's torture chamber.

"Dabubuuu!"

The baby beat at Oga's unresponsive legs until he could crawl over to the couch. Oga hadn't even noticed the tired looking Furuichi when he first got home. The silvernette smiled and took the fussy shock top of green hair into his lap. The taller man slowly made his way to the couch. Furuichi managed to stop the gasp at seeing the brute with huge purple circles under his eyes. Deciding to give the brunet a break, Furuichi preoccupied himself with the baby, handing him a teething toy shaped like a scythe.

To Oga's surprise, Furuichi spoke first. "So, where'd you guys go today?"
"Be'el had an appointment to see assailants with medical degrees."

"Oh. How did the shots go? Wait. I don't see bandages…"

Oga recounted the day's events and felt much better about everything that happened when Furuichi gave a hearty laugh. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Furuichi pushed Oga's helping hand away. Even after everything Alaindelon said, the silvernette couldn't bring himself to open his heart to Oga knowing that his family wouldn't be around to support him.

"Look, I'm sorry about your parents…"

"I'm nothing without them."

"But we could-"

"No."

"You're not letting me fin-"

"I said no."

"Argh! Annoyichi listen-"

Furuichi rose from the couch to set Baby Be'el on the floor. Oga grabbed the silvernette's wrist and he still managed to pull away. "Takayuki!"

Furuichi raced to his room and spoke through the door locked between them. "I will not shame the family that raised me by…by loving you!"

Oga stopped rattling the doorknob.

"I'll be your friend. Hell, even your best friend. But…that's it."

"So, you're going to throw away my feelings for you too?"

"Yes."

Bang!

"Damn you Furuichi!"

Bang!

"Fuck you too!"

Bang!

Baby Be'el began to wail in the background at the sounds of Oga's yelling and pounding at Furuichi's flimsy door. Hearing Oga's stomping feet head toward the living room, Furuichi panicked. Concerned with the baby's safety, he rushed outside. "Oga. Wait."

Oga was mid-way into picking up Baby Be'el who was instantly soothed by his father's gentle hands. "What? Did you think I was some monster who was going to take his anger out on his own son?"

When Furuichi didn't answer, Oga's eyes darkened with the same expression he gave Hilda when she last came to the apartment. "Tch. Keep your shallow friendship."

Furuichi was stubborn enough to keep from becoming a sniveling mess until he knew Oga was truly gone.

A/N: Sad days at the OgaFuru apartment :( Happier days to come? Stay safe and healthy everyone. See you next week :)