"Akiya, you'd better hurry up! We're going to be late for school."

For the third time that morning, Victor knocked on his daughter's door. She had woken early and immediately claimed her brother, bouncing anxiously on the balls of her feet as Victor arranged the baby on her bed. She had then curled up next to him and shooed her papa out of the room.

That had been an hour ago. And although Victor had the luxury of driving her to school and cutting down on transportation time, they were still starting to get a little too close to start time for his comfort. He knocked again, louder this time. "Aki! Come on, let's go."

A small voice whined from inside the room, "But I don't wannaaa."

Biting his lip to keep from laughing, Victor reasoned, "The sooner we go, the sooner school will be over and I can come back and pick you up."

"That's not true. School gets out at the same time no matter when I get there."

Victor bit harder into his lip, making sure he had control of his voice before answering. "That is true, but what I meant is that it will seem to take less time if you just get started sooner."

There was silence as Aki appeared to be contemplating this. Then she said flatly, "I think you're wrong."

The cuteness was starting to become unbearable now. Pretty soon he wouldn't be able to resist. Leaning his head against the door in near-resignation, Victor pleaded, "Aki, please just come out. What if we bring Kolya along in the car? Would that help?"

There was a moment of silence, and then the door cracked open. "I guess that's fine."

"Good! Then I'll get him ready." Victor bustled into the bedroom, swooping up the baby.

The next several minutes were filled with the flurry of preparing to leave the house. Victor kept glancing nervously at the clock. Somehow they managed to get into the car with just enough time left for travel. As Victor wound through the streets of St. Petersburg he attempted to converse with his daughter. She hushed him severely at every attempt, never taking her eyes off her brother. When they pulled up to her school, he had to almost physically lift her out of the car so she would leave. She finally darted inside, stopping every few feet to blow kisses back towards the car.

Chuckling, Victor pulled back onto the street. "Well, Kolya, it's just you and me now. Should we run some errands before we go home? We can give Otousan a chance to sleep a little more." He hadn't really expected any answer, but his son cooed in reply. He looked in the rearview mirror in surprise. "Aww, do you love Otousan too? That's understandable, he is pretty fantastic in every possible way. And he is an amazing father. Of course you love him already." Glancing around the streets, he continued his cheerful stream of words. "Anyway, I'm thinking maybe we should go to the convenience store? We could get something for Otousan for breakfast, and get some diapers too. Just to be safe. Although you'll probably be growing out of this size before I even know it, won't you?" Another coo came in response, and Victor let out a squeal. "How did you even get this cute, rodnoy? It just isn't fair. Aki at least got to sit in the back and look at you. I have to be content with just listening to you." He paused, hoping Nikolai would make another noise. After a loaded moment, there was a tiny sneeze. Victor felt as if his heart had stopped, and he gripped the wheel tightly with both hands to avoid swerving. "Nnngh! How is that fair…that's just way too cute!"

He felt that it was rather admirable that he didn't pull over the car there and then to snuggle his infant son. He even managed to get to the convenience store without melting into a puddle of affection. Considering that, he felt it was understandable how quickly he got out of the car and got Nikolai's car seat out of the back upon parking.

As he saw his son's face, he felt himself grinning widely. "Hi there, Kolyatchka. Was it boring being stuck in the car?" Unclipping the car seat from its base, he lifted the carrier and settled it comfortably into the crook of his bent elbow. "We just have this one quick stop, and then we'll go back home and see Otousan." Closing the car, he walked towards the store, keeping up an inane stream of conversation. "What do you think Otousan would want for breakfast? I suppose you'll learn this sooner or later, but Otousan really does most of the cooking. I'm not very good at it. So it would be nice if we could find something that's already made, so there's no chance of me messing it up." He smiled happily down into the carrier, and the baby stared wide-eyed back at him before letting out a small sound. Victor's hand flew up to clutch at his chest. "Aaah, you really are too cute. Come on, let's focus on getting what we came here for. Or else I might not survive." Straightening up his spine, Victor strode purposefully through the store, quickly selecting the items he wanted.

As they approached the cashier, she looked up from her post and smiled warmly. "Ah, welcome! How are you today?" Then her gaze fell on the carrier in Victor's grip. She gasped, "Ohh, is that a baby?"

Victor felt his chest puff out a little. "Yes, this is Nikolai." He hastily dropped his items onto the counter so he could spin the carrier around to face the cashier.

"Aww, he's so precious!" Her hands went up to her mouth as her eyes grew wide.

Nodding, Victor agreed, "Yes, he's entirely too cute. It's a real problem."

The cashier laughed. "I can see how. He is certainly a little darling." She began ringing up his selections as Victor smiled benevolently at his son. He had to be brought back to earth when it came time to pay. He thanked the worker and watched happily as she waved goodbye to the baby.

Back outside, Victor loaded the bag and carrier into the back seat, saying conversationally, "It's nice to show off your cuteness, isn't it, rodnoy?" Nikolai gurgled in response, and Victor practically dissolved onto the seat. Pulling himself together, he poked the baby's cheek gently and got back into the driver's seat to take them the short distance home. Although the drive was only a few minutes, he felt like it took much longer since he couldn't see his son's face. The car had hardly been turned off before he leapt out and pulled the carrier free. Holding the loaded bag with his free hand, he started up the apartment stairs. "Now, Kolya. It's important that we try to be quiet for Otousan. I know that he was up with you last night even though I told him to leave it to me. So we want to make sure that he can sleep as long as he needs to. Got it?" A coo came in response, and Victor squealed. "That is just the cutest thing ever, how do you even manage to be so adorable?"

They were in front of their door now. He lifted a finger to his lips and whispered, "Now remember, quiet." He unlocked the door and slipped in as silently as possible, trying desperately to calm the excited Makkachin while juggling both the carrier and grocery bag.

Just when he thought he had succeeded in entering quietly, he heard a sleepy voice call down the hallway, "Vitya? Is that you?"

Victor gritted his teeth and mumbled, "Dammit." Putting on a smile, he said in a normal tone, "Solnyshko, ohayo! Did you manage to get any sleep last night?" Holding the bag up over his head to deter the interested poodle, he walked to the hallway and saw his husband shuffling towards him.

Yuuri nodded and kissed his spouse. Victor eyed him with suspicion as Yuuri said, "Let me take something. What's in the bag?"

"Oh! Yes, we got breakfast for you!" He handed over the bag. "There's also an extra pack of diapers in there and a small can of formula. Just to be sure."

The other man chuckled. "I think we're already prepared to host half the babies in St. Petersburg in the event of a nuclear fallout. But thank you, Vitya. It's never a bad thing to have backup." Rifling in the bag, he turned towards the kitchen. "What did you get for breakfast?"

Following behind, Victor set the carrier on an empty kitchen chair so it would be easier to undo the baby's buckles. He answered, "I got a couple different things. I thought you could pick whichever one you want, and I'll eat what you don't want."

Looking into the bag, Yuuri's eyes grew wide. "This is a couple things? How did this all even manage to fit inside one bag?"

Victor shrugged and lifted Nikolai free of his restraints. "I don't know, the girl at the store did it. I just took the bag. Besides, I don't think it's all that much."

Placing item after item on the table, Yuuri laughed. "Well, at least now we're ready to host the parents of all those babies if there's a nuclear fallout. Hmm, I think I'll take this one." He selected a pre-wrapped sandwich and settled down in his chair to eat.

Selecting a package at random, Victor sat next to him and opened his wrapper as well. "So, lapochka, what needs to be done today?"

"Hmn." Yuuri swallowed his mouthful of food. "I don't really think there's anything in particular."

"Okay then. I'll just make sure we're all caught up on laundry, then. I'm not sure if Aki has enough clean clothes for the rest of the week. I'll probably go later and pick her up from school with Kolya, too. She was so cute this morning at drop off. I almost had to drag her away from the baby."

His husband smiled softly. "I'm glad that she likes him. I was worried that she would think he was competition for our attention."

"Sibling rivalry?" Victor took a bite of his own food, chewing it thoughtfully. "I suppose I didn't really think about that, since I never had siblings. My mat always said I was more than enough." He winked cheerfully at his partner. "Did Mari get jealous when you came along?"

Yuuri looked pensive for a moment. Victor took advantage of the pause to get up and grab a glass of water for his spouse. As he was filling the glass, Yuuri spoke. "Mari was about Aki's age when I was born, so I guess it would be pretty similar. My mom never really said much about it, but I don't ever remember her being upset about me when I was little. A couple times when we were in a fight she would say that it was easier before I was born, but I think that's just normal sibling talk." He gratefully picked up the glass Victor set before him and took a long drink.

Victor sat down, looking thoughtfully at his son in his arms. "So you were worrying about this, huh?"

Immediately the air became tighter. The Japanese man answered in a guarded voice, "A little, I suppose. Nothing serious."

"Yuuri."

As he said the single word, he looked up and saw his husband flinch. Reaching his free hand out, he rested it on top of Yuuri's fist. "If you were worried, why wouldn't you talk to me?"

Yuuri fidgeted. "What good would that have done? Either way, Kolya was coming home, so it's not like we could avoid the situation if it happened."

A sigh escaped from Victor's lips. "That's true, but we could have thought of ways to deal with it together if Aki had been jealous. Dusha moya, do you still not trust me?"

Abruptly, Yuuri's gaze came up to meet his husband's. "That's not it! I just…I didn't want to make you worry over something needless."

"Your feelings are never needless." Victor stood from the table, pulling his spouse up by the hand. "Come on, zhizn moya. I want to sit with you today. I want to know if there's anything else bothering you." He pulled his husband over to the couch and sat, yanking the other man down to straddle his lap.

Yuuri yelped and tried to leap up, but Victor moved his free arm to hold him fast by the waist. "Vitya, the baby!"

"Don't worry, lyubov moya. I'm not going to squish him. Now come here." He pulled carefully on his husband until their heads tipped together. Utilizing their close proximity to its fullest, he looked hard into Yuuri's eyes and said, "Now tell me about anything else that you've been worrying about. I'll spend all day listening to you if you need."

The brown eyes that were locked on his own blinked, then squeezed shut. A small whisper came to Victor's ear. "You're much too good for me."

Panic seized Victor's chest. His grip tightened even more somehow, and he growled, "No. I'm not. I'm not good enough. But I want to be better for you." He hadn't even noticed this huge worry plaguing his partner. How could it be possibly said that he was too good for Yuuri?

He needed to do better. He knew what the alternative was, and he wasn't willing to walk down that path again.