"Hiro-san, I can explain," Nowaki said hastily as Hiroki bit his cheek and crossed his arms expectantly. He was seated on his bed, with the door to his bedroom opened just a crack so he could supervise Fuyumi, who was being played with, cuddled, and kissed by her grandparents. She seemed to like the attention from what Hiroki could tell, because her giggles filled the house like jingle bells.
"Well? Explain," Hiroki demanded. "First you missed like five of our scheduled phone times-"
"Sorry."
"-and then you went ahead and told my parents where I live?"
"I'm sorry, Hiro-san. I assumed they wanted to mail you or something, so I just told them and didn't worry too much about it. I didn't expect them to hop on a plane and rush over there, I swear!"
Hiroki rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Nowaki. They're my parents. You know how fast I jump to conclusions. They probably thought I was over here gettin' murdered or something."
"Hiro-san… don't say things like that."
"I was just kidding, you idiot!" Hiroki snapped. Then, he pursed his lips. "Well, whatever. They're here now, there's not much I can do."
"…How much did you tell them?"
"Everything, Nowaki," Hiroki sighed. There was a pause.
"And? Their reactions?"
"They were surprisingly…" Hiroki trailed off, glancing into the living room to see Tomoko laughing at Masanori, who had been spit up on by Fuyumi. "Hey, guys?"
Tomoko and Masanori looked up as Hiroki called them.
"The spit-up towel is next to her baby gym," Hiroki called, pointing in the general direction of the baby gym.
"Sounds like they're enjoying Fuyumi," Nowaki said. "I'm going to guess that they were pretty supportive?"
Hiroki turned back to Nowaki.
"Yes, they were. They were a little hesitant at first, but when I told them that Fuyumi is their blood granddaughter, they were really into it."
"Are you glad they're there?"
Hiroki thought for a moment, then smiled shyly.
"Yeah. I really am, actually."
There was a comfortable silence. Hiroki observed Nowaki, noticing the sudden lack of shadows around his eyes and tiredness in his features.
"Hey, you look very energetic today," Hiroki commented kindly, smiling. Nowaki grinned back at him.
"Really?"
"Yeah. The bags under your eyes aren't as big as they usually are."
"I've been sleeping a lot sounder recently."
"Haha, have you gotten used to Akihiko's and Misaki's moaning?" Hiroki joked. Nowaki smirked at him.
"Nah, that's not it. I've gotten used to you not being around me all the time."
Hiroki stared blankly at Nowaki, the ghost of his smile still frozen on his face. Had he heard him right? He was used to what?
"Ah! Hiro-san, I've got to go get ready for work. I'm going to be kind of busy this week, so we might miss a few video chats, okay?"
Hiroki sputtered. Usually Nowaki waited until the last minute to get ready, and Hiroki always had to force him to get off the computer before he went. They never missed a video chat unless it was because of Hiroki's schedule, but now…?
"Uh… yeah, that's fine, Nowaki. Goodbye," he said.
"Talk to you later."
Hiroki nearly fell over when the screen went black. No pleads to stay? No scolding?
No 'I love you'?
"Hiro-chan, come in here for a moment. I want to show you something that will help you with Yumi-chan," Tomoko suddenly called. Hiroki had to tear his eyes away from the screen to face his mother, but the image of the black screen on his computer did not fade.
Something was wrong.
Nowaki contentedly shut his laptop and stood from his desk chair. He went to his bed and picked up his medical coat that Misaki had kindly washed for him. Turning back towards his laptop, he smiled gently.
Nowaki decided that it would be best to keep Nagasaki's death between him, Misaki, Akihiko, Emiko, Jun and Toshiyuki. The Japanese CIA had already disguised his death as something completely normal, and so far it was going well.
He couldn't trouble his Hiro-san. After all, he was busy with Fuyumi, and Nowaki had seen the bags under his eyes from late nights with their daughter. Every moment he spent on video chat with him took away from Hiroki's resting time. With all possible threats gone, Nowaki no longer felt unbelievable pain when he got off of video chat. Surely Hiroki would be relieved, too. Hiroki would get so frustrated with him whenever he insisted that they talk longer.
Yes. Surely, Hiroki would be completely fine.
"Huh?" Hiroki asked, blinking. He was seated in his armchair as his parents sat on his couch. Fuyumi sat in Tomoko's lap, sucking her fingers.
"We'd just love to help out with Yumi-chan. Since we're already in Sweden, we might as well stay for a while," Tomoko said sweetly, stroking Fuyumi's hair back.
"Y-Yumi-chan…? Mom?" Hiroki asked slowly. Tomoko grinned.
"Hehe, she's just so cute, so I had to give her a little nickname! I hope you don't mind."
"Uh… no, I guess. But Mom, Dad, don't you…?"
"Hiroki, it's fine. We want you to rest as much as possible. It must be hard without Nowaki around. It's really fine," Masanori said.
"We have to catch up with little Yumi-chan here," Tomoko cooed, cuddling with Fuyumi. She gurgled and laid back against Tomoko, arching her body slightly. Hiroki's gaze flicked down to Fuyumi, then back up to his mother.
"Oh… yeah, alright. You can stay. You guys can take my bed, and I'll set up a futon in Fuyumi's nursery for me… or sleep on the couch or something," Hiroki offered, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, Hiro-chan! Thank you!" Tomoko squealed. She turned to Masanori. "Oh, Masa-darling, it'll be so nice to have another Kamijou in our family!"
Hiroki blinked. He laughed nervously.
"Actually… Fuyumi's a Kusama. And uh… I'll be a Kusama, too."
Tomoko and Masanori stared at Hiroki as if he had just broken out into singing.
"Wait… you're the…?" Masanori trailed off. His eyes widened and he paled.
"Um… yes, Dad. I was the one who was impregnated, after all," Hiroki said quietly, hunching his shoulders slightly.
"Masochist!" Masanori exclaimed, pointing at Hiroki as a scarlet blush rose to his cheeks and spread down his neck.
"Dad!"
"Doesn't having a… a… thing in your butt hurt?" Masanori asked. Hiroki shot to his feet.
"DAD!"
Masanori got to his feet as well and fell over himself to get to Hiroki. He took him by the shoulders and shook.
"You could die of rectal trauma, you know!"
Hiroki and Masanori had a blushing contest, their faces nearly turning purple.
"Masanori, you let go of him this instant!" Tomoko suddenly barked. Masanori turned to his wife and obediently released Hiroki. Tomoko took a deep breath and turned back to Hiroki. "Now, Hiro-chan… darling… your father has a good point. How… how big is Nowaki's…?"
"Oh my God, MOM!"
