Suzuki wondered if octopuses ever had these sorts of problems.
They, apparently, had near human intelligence. They formed friendships, decorated their homes, and even kept small animals as pets. When he had been a child, until the age of ten, he had thought that he'd been an alien. He had always had that feeling, that he wasn't completely human, because of not only what he could do but what he couldn't. Human interactions had always been confusing to him, a bit like an octopus interacting with a human being. They could communicate with humans, somewhat, though he imagined that everything got lost in translation. He knew that things, when he'd been young, had gotten lost in translation.
Even now he had that problem.
Shiori was to the left of him. Hatori was to the right. A documentary about the human like attributes octopuses had played on the television. There were several rings in his pocket. He had no idea what Shiori's ring size was. He had no idea what sort of ring she would have liked. He had no idea if she wanted a plain band, something worthy of her, or something he'd had to liquidate several assets to be able to afford. He had no idea if she even wanted…of course she wanted this. This wasn't complicated. If octopuses and aliens could do it then he could do it too.
At some point. Any point now.
"You guys think that they're going to take over at some point?" asked Hatori as he poured himself another champagne glass full of ginger ale. This was…alright. If he had been back home with the others then he could have been free to drink as much as he wanted to but also he would have had to deal with drunk Shimazaki. Drunk Shimazaki was worse than any other kind of Shimazaki. He'd been going through a lot, too, and it was making him even worse than normal. No, being here was way better than being with the group would have been.
Even if he was kind of a third wheel here.
Shiori and Suzuki were all cuddled up together on the couch. This was a pretty good couch, actually, Shiori had a really nice house. There was cathair everywhere but the plants didn't feel like they were going to kill him, nobody was laying in wait to mess with him in some way, though her taste in movies was kind of weird….a little weird. These things were as smart as people…he hadn't known that. He kind of felt back about eating them now, actually, especially if they could think like people did. This was not how he had wanted to end the year. He didn't know which was worse, the movie or Suzuki and Shiori cuddling…
Or the fact that she had probably put this movie on so she and Suzuki could cuddle…and he could sit here like a third wheel…or a ninth octopus tentacle.
"When they amass greater numbers, perhaps, right now we outnumber them. It wouldn't be advantageous to attack at this point." Said Suzuki
"True, but we do eat their children. I mean I don't have any kids but I know that if someone ate mine then I'd go after them. What else can you do? Right, Touichirou?" asked Shiori. If he mentioned them having kids again then she was kicking him out…oh, who was she kidding. She'd just grin and bear it. When he wasn't being clingy then he could be sort of sweet…like now. Touichirou had his arm around her, he was letting her put her head on his shoulder, and his aura enveloped them both. She was perfectly capable of protecting herself, and there wasn't anything around that she needed protection from, but…well it was nice. Having someone to protect her.
Having someone to protect her was like having an octopus. Kind of a headache, completely unneeded, but still nice to have.
"It depends on which child." Said Suzuki. If an octopus tried to eat Sho then he would try and stop it. If he couldn't then, well, it was what it was. If an octopus ate Shigeko or Mukai….or Tetsuro, he supposed, he would have wiped the species off the planet.
"Touichirou!" laughed Shiori. He couldn't have been serious…maybe…she honestly wasn't sure. He talked about his daughters like they hung the sun, the moon, and the stars above. He hardly spoke about his son at all. He wondered, too, why she wasn't one hundred percent about having his kids. Wonder of wonders.
"He's serious." Said Hatori as he reached for the bottle of champagne on the table. Suzuki reached over with his powers and shoved a bottle of ginger ale into his hand.
"You know better than that." Said Suzuki. The last thing he needed right now was Hatori becoming inebriated. No, he was not going to spend the last few moments of this year making sure that Hatori didn't do anything stupid…or embarrassing….or if he choose to remake some of his most disgraceful moments.
"I'm not going to get drunk off of one glass of champagne." Said Hatori
"I'm not going to risk it. Now drink your ginger ale before you get dehydrated and die. That's the last thing I want to deal with this year." Said Suzuki
"Are you sure that's the last thing you want to deal with this year?" asked Shiori
"Yes. The last thing I want to deal with is Hatori getting drunk. It's not pleasant for anyone involved." Said Suzuki with a shudder.
"So I guess you won't mind, then, if I do this." said Shiori as she reached across the table and stole Touichirou's glass of champagne. It wasn't like he was going to drink it, it had just been sitting there going flat, and there was no sense in wasting good champagne. Well there was no sense in wasting any champagne, of course, but Touichirou had gotten the good stuff. Not sparkling wine, real champagne, from the special caves in France. He sure did know how to ring in the New Year.
Her boyfriend sure did know how to ring in the New Year.
This had all been his doing. He knew that she would rather have spent the night indoors where it was warm and quiet and pleasant. He knew, too, that she wouldn't have wanted him to bring his other kids around. Just Hatori, of course, since he wasn't actually a kid. She didn't know what she would have done with three kids running around here…two near teenagers and a toddler. God. She had no idea how Touichirou could handle it. Three kids…and he wanted more.
He wanted to add an infant to all of this.
"I don't mind at all. I could never mind anything you do." Said Suzuki. He didn't mind how she got up thrice a night and woke him. He didn't mind how she kept pets despite their uselessness. He didn't mind how she cut and painted her nails right at the table. He didn't mind how she left her dirty clothing all over the floor. He didn't mind how she left spackles of saliva and toothpaste on the mirror whenever she brushed her teeth. He didn't mind how she left the television running when she wasn't home. He didn't mind how it had taken this long for her to even consider marrying him. He didn't mind how she hadn't given him any concrete plans, yet, for what their married life would be like. He didn't mind that she constantly stole from his plates and drank whatever beverage he left in her vicinity. He didn't mind a single thing about her.
That was what love was.
"Aw, you do love me." Said Shiori. She leaned over and kissed him. He did love her, which was…not something that she had foreseen, but not something that was unwanted. Suzuki Touichirou was hers. She had the most powerful man in the world practically squirming in her lap. He loved her, he actually loved her, and he would have done anything at all for her. He would have pulled the moon from the sky if she had asked. He just had to go and ruin it all with his clinginess…though he'd been really good tonight.
"Like no one else." Said Suzuki. She kissed him so he kissed her in return. Beside him Hatori's aura retreated inwards. He was such a child sometimes. This was what married people did and he would have known that if he hadn't had his crippling fear of intimacy. Alright, after he married Shiori and had their son he was going to find a woman for Hatori, or a man, or one of the assorted others that Shigeko had attempted to explain to him. Maybe Fukuda…he would have been good for Hatori.
He stopped kissing Shiori.
Fukuda wasn't his. They'd had sex, a lot of sex, and now he could say that he'd gotten Fukuda Tadashi out of his system. The sex had been amazing but a person couldn't start a relationship, or sustain one, on sex alone. That was one of the mistakes he'd made with Masami. He'd gone to bed with her, Sho had been conceived, and then she had left. He hadn't known her well enough to share his life with her. If he'd had more time, if he had thought it through, then he would have come to the conclusion that a normal woman would not have made a good partner for him. A normal woman would never have been able to share in his life in the way that an esper could. Shiori was clearly the superior partner. He didn't care about Masami anymore. He couldn't even picture her face…or remember her voice…or the smell of artificial berries that clung to her…
He buried his face in Shiori's hair.
She smelled like coconuts. She was using a new shampoo. Coconut oil was very good for the hair and scalp. Shigeko had explained it to him many times before…not that he was going to think about his daughter right now. No, not Shigeko or her hair…or what she had done to her hair….what was done was done. She had destroyed her hair, it was hers to destroy, and that was fine. She was a woman and she could make her own choices about her hair. He was a man and he could make his own choices about everything else. She was getting to be beyond his command and he had always been beyond hers. He had to…to accept that about her. She was different, the person that she'd been was gone, and he had another daughter in her place…and he would have another…hopefully many. With Shiori. With his wife.
With the love of his life.
"Guys….I'm right here." Said Hatori. Ok, if they started making out then he was leaving. He didn't know where he'd go or what he'd do, they were staying here instead of a Claw house, but he knew that taking his chances in the cold was better than sitting here and watching those two make out. If he'd wanted to watch people making out then he could have spent New Year's Eve with Shimazaki and Minegishi.
"Take your glasses off." said Suzuki, his face still buried in Shiori's hair. She smelled like herself. She smelled like Shiori and he didn't want to smell anyone other than Shiori. He didn't want her to smell like berries or cinnamon. He wanted her to smell the way she smelled and he still wanted her hair to feel the way it felt. Like someone had spun silk and threaded it into her skull like she was one of the children's dolls. He liked her long hair. He didn't want it to be short…he didn't want her shoulders to be broad…he didn't want her to pin him to the couch and-
He wanted her. That was what mattered.
"I can still see without them, you know, just long distances." Said Hatori
"Then close your eyes." Said Suzuki
"Touichirou, come on. Before he goes blind." Said Shiori
"Do you think he's on the verge of hysterical blindness?" asked Suzuki
"Yes! I am!" said Hatori
"Then I suggest you take one last look at the world." Said Suzuki. Shiori laughed. He didn't know why she was laughing, he had been completely serious, but he wasn't going to stop her. Her voice, her laughter, was the greatest sound that he'd ever heard. Even better than…no, nothing could compare. Nobody could compare. She was the love of his life and he was going to spend his remaining years with her. He was going to marry his life hers. He wanted her and her alone.
He felt the rings in his pockets.
They were digging into him. He needed to give them to her. He needed…he had rehearsed this. He was going to take her hand in his and tell her that he had done as she asked and now they were going to get married. Then he was going to put all the rings on her fingers and then their child would be conceived on the first day of the New Year. Then in September their child would be born. He would wait for her to heal and then on the first day of the following you they would conceive another child. Then another and another until she reached menopause. Then he would enjoy his children and grandchildren. A good plan, the best that anyone had ever conceived of, and all he needed to do was…was go through with all of it.
He had done this before. He had no reason to be nervous.
"Touichirou, have I ever told you that you were adorable?" asked Shiori
"Many times." Said Suzuki
"Good. Then I don't have to say it again." said Shiori. She smiled and tapped him on the nose. She was the only one who got to do this. She couldn't imagine that the great Suzuki Touichirou ever let anyone touch him like this. Or at all. From what she had heard he never indulged, ever, in anyone. Not his underlings, not his rivals, not even random women he picked up on the internet or wherever he found his women….well that was the point, wasn't it? That he was never with anyone. Nobody would have ever had the chance…nobody but her.
Well he did love her, of course.
"I wouldn't mind it if you said it again. I am…I am always happy when I hear your voice." Said Suzuki. She smiled, her face flushed, and she leaned in to kiss him. She leaned onto his body….onto his leg…onto his pocket.
"I'd ask if you were happy to see me but, honestly, if that were the case then I'd be worried." Said Shiori
"Really! I'm right here!" said Hatori
"Alright, alright, we're sorry for making the last moments of the year socially award for you." Said Shiori
"Is…is it really the last moments?" asked Suzuki. Clocks. He missed clocks. When he had been young he could have just looked over on the wall and seen the time. How could time have gotten away from him like this? He needed…he needed to calm down and he needed to get to work…right now.
"Hang on…it is." Said Hatori as he checked his phone, grateful to have an excuse not to at…all of that. He was glad that Suzuki had a girlfriend, he had been a hell of a lot nicer since he'd met her, but he didn't need to watch them be in love.
"It hasn't changed yet?" asked Suzuki
"Not yet. I mean in other countries but not here." Said Hatori
"Another year gone by…still waiting for my flying car and underwater house, though." said Shiori
"Neither of those are feasible….but for you I would try. I would…I would do anything for you." Said Suzuki. The air had gotten very thin. The language that he had been speaking for his entire life got very complicated. His aura was trying to protect him from nothing. This was…he knew what she was going to say. She was going to say yes. She…wasn't pregnant…which was the only reason that Masami had said yes. There was nothing that bound them together…but….but he knew that she loved him and he knew that he loved her and…and yes, it had been easy the first time, but he was Suzuki Touichirou. He could rise to any challenge no matter how difficult.
"Someone's had too much." Said Shiori. He was so flushed, it was kind of adorable. If her phone hadn't been charging she would have taken a picture to embarrass him with later in that way that only she could, because he was hers. He was weird, he was clingy, and he put ketchup on everything but he was hers and hers alone….and that was something. She had always told herself that she would never be one of THOSE women, those women who's ambitions seemed to begin and end in marriage. A good husband with a good salary, a nice house, and two or three perfect cherubs for kids. Her ambitions had always been centered around herself….but she wasn't opposed to…what this was right now. That was the good thing about being forty, she was getting past the point of caring about what other women did with their lives. Her ambitions were hers alone, they existed on their own, and she didn't have to compare them to anyone else's.
But if she had to compare not only what she wanted but also what she had right now then she knew that there wouldn't have been any contest.
"I wish that I'd had too much…or anything at all." said Suzuki
"So do I." muttered Hatori
"Ok, I'm sorry I drank your champagne. Don't get upset, I can just uncork another bottle and-" said Shiori. She tried to get up but Touichirou grabbed her hand. That wasn't strange for him, though she didn't much like it. She tried to pull her hand free, if he wanted to say something to her then he could say it without trapping her, but he didn't let her go. He was…a lot stronger than her. She was strong for an esper, and for a woman, but he was Suzuki Touichirou. He was the strongest man in the world and if he wanted to keep her there then he would….
He would try.
"Use your words, Touichirou." Said Shiori. She tried once more to tug her hand free but he didn't let go.
"I'm trying…I'm trying to figure out what to say. I mean I've said it before but…but the context has changed." Said Suzuki
"What context? I'm going to get more champagne, I don't see what that has to do with anything." Said Shiori
"The context of the fact that you…that you are not pregnant." Said Suzuki. Shiori rolled her eyes…that was not at all what he'd been expecting.
"Well that's not going to happen any time soon, Touichirou, and maybe this isn't the time or place to discuss this. As Hator's been saying, he's right there." said Shiori
"I think I should-" said Hatori
"Marry me, Shiori." Said Suzuki. There. That was all that he had to say. He'd rehearsed this, he'd come up with a ten minute speech, but as soon as he took her hand everything had left his head like a balloon with a hole in it. But now it was over. He'd said it and…and she wasn't saying anything.
"Y-Yeah, I should go…" said Hatori. There was nowhere for him to go. He had the end seat, there was a coffee table in front of him and a wall to the other side. Unless he wanted to crawl over the back of the couch, or climb over Shiori and Suzuki, he was trapped. He had a front row seat to…well to this train wreck. Shiori wasn't jumping up and down like girls were supposed to. If anything she looked freaked out…and Suzuki didn't notice. He was too busy freaking out, too, Hatori didn't have to watch his aura to know what he was feeling….poor Suzuki…poor Shiori….
But most of all poor him!
"Touichirou, we talked about this." said Shiori. He'd had such a good run, this had been such a good night, but now they were back to this. She tried to pull her hand away again but even as nervous as he was he wasn't letting go. She wasn't a dog, she wasn't going to gnaw her arm off to get away. She needed to get away, though, to think. Touichirou had made himself perfectly clear. He loved her and wanted to marry her. She had made herself perfectly clear, it was a lot to think about right now. She had made herself perfectly clear that she needed more time….well it looked like time was up.
"I know. You told me to….you set your terms and I met them. Now we can be married and…hold on, I have rings." Said Suzuki. He let go of her hand and pulled a handful of rings out of his pocket.
"Wait, does that mean that you-" said Hatori. He knew what Shiori's terms were. Suzuki had told him, before, that Shiori was so into the whole guy on guy thing that she told him to sleep with Fukuda. Then and only then would she marry him. Well that meant…things that Hatori didn't want to picture. But he was. That was…gross…really gross…he was seeing it and he couldn't unsee it!
"You're not a part of this. Be quiet." said Suzuki. If Hatori really wanted to know the particulars of his sex life then they could discuss that later. Right now he had a life to get on with.
"Are those…are those real?" asked Shiori. He nodded and held her hand, this time in his telekinetic grasp. He splayed her fingers out and began to cover them in rings. Gold, silver, platinum. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and stones she couldn't name. Her entire hand, every finger, had at least two rings on it. It felt heavy….these were real…
This was real.
"These are for you. I had no idea what sort of ring you would have liked, you seldom wear precious metals and gems, so I procured an assortment. I hope that this is a sufficient offering and shows that I will be able to provide for you." Said Suzuki
"What are you talking about?" asked Shiori
"That's why men given women rings, to show that they are capable of providing for their wives and children. On the subject of children I'd like to conceive one as soon possible, preferably tonight, that way it will be easier to calculate your due date. Once you're pregnant I'll provide you with a house, though we can all live in this one if you're attached to it, but I will have to purchase the ones around you in that case to keep you safe. As for genders I need a son, at least one, but after Tetsuro is born I'd like to have many daughters. I read that woman have trouble conceiving at your age but I also read about ways to increase our chances of conception so you don't have to worry about that….oh! Also at some point my other children will want to meet you." Said Suzuki. She wasn't saying anything. She was just staring down at her hand…she must have been so happy that she was speechless. He knew that he would have been if he had been a woman…well a woman marrying a man. Homosexual marriage was still illegal in Japan. So he would have been getting prosed to by Tadashi-
He was proposing to Shiori. Fukuda had nothing to do with this.
"Uh…." Said Hatori. If they started going at it right then and there then he was running away. He didn't care who he had to climb over or how much barefoot running he was going to have to do. This wasn't for him to see! None of this was for him or-or-or anyone to see!
"Touichirou…." Said Shiori. She….she was going to faint. She was going to force herself to faint. She was going to force herself to faint, land on her coffee table, and then have to go to the hospital where she would be put in a medically induced coma. There. That would give her some time to process….all of that. She wanted to slap him. She wanted to slap him from one ear to the other, over and over again, until she concussed him on both sides. Maybe then she would have managed to knock some sense into him!
Who DID this!?
Who in their right mind….well he wasn't in his right mind, now was he? He was out of his mind. He was…she didn't even know what he was. Lovesick? Love-insane? Just plain insane? She had told him, before, that she wasn't up for marriage right now. This was…he was cute, he was funny, he was sweet, but he was also a lot. Too much.
He was too much sometimes.
"Yes?" asked Suzuki. This was it…it was coming. She was going to say yes…but then why hadn't she said it. She closed her hand and sat down beside him. The couch dipped and sprang back up. Something heavy hit the ground. The house shook. Somewhere a cat made some sort of cat noise. Behind him a man made a man noise. Hatori. He had jumped over the couch…he was such a child…like his child was going to be. He was just a little boy like Tetsuro was going to be a little boy. Suzuki didn't have to correct him like he could correct Tetsuro…or maybe Masa-maybe SHIORI would, since she would be his mother. She was going to be the mother of his children….
All she had to do was say yes.
She didn't say anything, though. She silently reached across the table with her unencumbered hand and took Hatori's glass of ginger ale. She downed it in one gulp and slammed it onto her coffee table. That was…he didn't know what the purpose of that action was. He didn't know what the purpose of anything that she was doing was. All she had to do was say yes…preferable soon….preferably before the year was up….
Please…please Shiori…just say yes.