When all of the wedding guests had offered their congratulations and had filed out of the community center, the group plus Masanori, Tomoko, Alrik, Katina, and the kids piled into Alrik's van. Together, they drove to the hotel where Nowaki and Hiroki would be staying until the cruise in the Baltic launched in the afternoon the next day. When they arrived, everyone got out of the car to say goodbye to their newlywed friends in the hotel parking lot.

"Hiro-san…" Nowaki whispered as he said goodbye to the last person, Katina, to whom Hiroki offered Fuyumi. Hiroki looked guiltily at Nowaki, who stared back at him with pained eyes. "We're… not taking Fuyumi?"

"I only have tickets for us two. I didn't know you'd be so upset about it until after I had already gotten the tickets. I tried to get another, but they had already closed ticket sales."

Nowaki frowned, staring at his baby girl as Katina awkwardly held her, not knowing whether to go back to the car or give Fuyumi to her daddy.

"Hiro-san…" he breathed again. Hiroki's eyes softened. He gestured for everyone to give them one moment, then took Nowaki a few yards away. He faced him, reaching up to cup his husband's face in his hands.

"Nowaki, we're not being bad parents by leaving her here. Mom and Dad are going to watch her for us. They extended their vacation time just to do that. They… they won't get many chances to bond with Fuyumi after this, because they live so far away."

"I know…" Nowaki trailed off, reaching out to take Hiroki by the hips. "But it seems like we've been just… going through the motions of taking care of Fuyumi and then putting her to bed. I feel like we haven't really bonded with her enough."

"We've been busy with taking the final steps of our own relationship. We have the rest of our lives to bond with her," Hiroki whispered, stroking Nowaki's cheek with his thumb. "This week is the last time we can focus completely on each other. Fuyumi's childhood is a staircase that only Fuyumi can walk, and we can only follow behind her. This week will be the final step on our staircase. I want it to just be between you and me."

Nowaki looked back over at Katina and Fuyumi, his lips still frowning but his eyes becoming submissive to Hiroki's words.

"Please? She'll be in good hands."

Nowaki looked back at Hiroki and sighed.

"I'll try."

Hiroki smiled and brought Nowaki into an embrace, to which he responded with a slight whimper. Hiroki kissed his neck before pulling away.

"I love you, Nowaki."

Nowaki smiled waveringly.

"I love you, too."

Nowaki and Hiroki made their way back to the group hand-in-hand.

"Can I hold her?" Nowaki asked Katina quietly, releasing Hiroki's hand for a moment to outstretch his arms. She nodded and handed Fuyumi to Nowaki. He held her in the crook of his arm and stroked her cheek with his index finger. She cooed and reached up to wrap her tiny fingers around Nowaki's finger. Nowaki pulled the finger away to open his palm to Fuyumi. She looked at it for a second before reaching up with her own little hand to press it against Nowaki's gigantic palm.

"Aba," Fuyumi whimpered, looking up at Nowaki and pouting her trembling lip.

"Don't cry," Nowaki said gently. "You're a Kusama, now. You have to hold your own like a big girl."

Fuyumi looked away for a moment and groped around Nowaki's chest to grip a fold of his shirt. She looked back up at him, her brows furrowed.

"Dada."

Everything went completely silent as Nowaki's eyes widened and his lips parted.

"Was that her first…?" Hiroki trailed off, walking to Nowaki's side to grasp his arm. Nowaki nodded jerkily.

"But she's so young," Tomoko whispered. "How could it happen so fast?"

"The Appendix Theory," Hiroki said, looking up from his daughter with glimmering eyes.

"What's-?"

"The rapid development of male-born babies because of pheromone levels and appendix alignment in the male body," Nowaki recited absentmindedly. He smiled down at Fuyumi, who was tugging on Nowaki's shirt. Hiroki came around to Nowaki's front so he could put one hand on her tummy and the other hand on the top of her fluffy hair-covered head. Fuyumi grabbed a fistful of Hiroki's shirt and tugged both of her parents' shirts. She had a determined look on her face as her body tensed.

"We love you, Fuyumi," Hiroki murmured, lowering his head to kiss Fuyumi's forehead. Nowaki followed suit, and Fuyumi tugged on their shirts harder as she lifted her legs and scrunched up her face.

"I think she's telling us that she loves us, too," Nowaki said with a smile as he pecked Fuyumi's forehead one more time. Hiroki grimaced.

"Actually, that's her poop face, Nowaki," Hiroki chuckled. Nowaki jerked his head away and blinked.

"…Oh."

"We can change her," Tomoko said, laughing quietly as she came up to Hiroki and Nowaki's side.

"Enjoy yourselves," Masanori added softly, appearing behind Tomoko. Nowaki and Hiroki glanced at each other before Nowaki slowly handed his baby girl to his new in-laws.

"Thank you," Nowaki murmured. He looked around at all of the friends and family that surrounded him. "Thank you all for everything."

"Anytime," Miyagi said. Everyone nodded. Nowaki and Hiroki smiled at each other and held hands as Alrik went to the car and grabbed two luggage bags with wheels: a green one and a blue one. He gave Hiroki the handle of the green one, and Nowaki the handle of the blue. With a final whispered goodbye to everyone, Hiroki and Nowaki turned away, took each other's free hands once more, and wheeled away.

The last thing they heard before their honeymoon began was Shinobu whispering to them in a sing-song voice.

"Don't forget the luuuuube."


As soon as the door to the hotel room closed and the lights went on, the newlyweds immediately knew what was going to happen.

And it was awkward.

Hiroki absolutely refused to look Nowaki in the eyes as he stalled for time by wandering around the room and finding out what switch turned on what light. Nowaki, meanwhile, stood next to the door, reading the fine print on the back of his hotel keycard. No one said a word.

Turning to the two queen-sized beds, Hiroki went to one to run his hands across the quilt.

When he thought about which bed they were going to use to celebrate their marriage, he snatched his hand away and flushed scarlet.

"Hiro-san?"

Hiroki nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled around, expecting Nowaki to be right behind him. However, Nowaki had remained in the same spot. Nowaki cleared his throat and jerked his thumb towards the door of the bathroom.

"Um… I'm going to take a shower," he said awkwardly.

"Yeah… uh… yeah, you do that," Hiroki said, equally awkward. He glanced down at the luggage bags. "I'll… um… pull out the clothes we need for tomorrow."

"Oh… okay."

Nowaki ducked into the bathroom and Hiroki sighed in relief. When he was sure that he heard the shower water running, he knelt down in front of his green luggage bag and unzipped it.

On top of a pile of lingerie lace panties was a bouquet of blue flowers. Hiroki blushed and pulled it out. For a split second, he questioned what the hell he was doing. He shut his eyes briefly, reminding himself that it was his wedding night and he'd never have another excuse to be so corny ever again.

Hiroki hauled himself to his feet and went to the hotel bed that was the farthest away from the bathroom so that there was no chance of Nowaki hearing him. He set the flowers down on the bedside table between the two beds. Silently, he grabbed the top quilt of the hotel bed and pulled it off, leaving only the plush, white comforter underneath. He then grabbed the bouquet, untied the string holding them together, and spread the flowers all over the bed. He gulped audibly as he finished, trembling. He threw away the string, then tiptoed to the bathroom door to listen.

Nowaki was very quietly mumble-singing to himself, and the water could still be heard pouring over his body. Hiroki blushed yet again and silently moved away from the door. He reached behind his back and untied his bow. He deposited it in his luggage bag.

Soon, the sash was joined by his wedding shirt.

Finally, his black pants were dropped into the mix.

His black shoes were placed neatly beside the bag. Hiroki closed the bag and zipped it shut before padding to a nearby mirror. Slapping his hands over his face, he groaned in utter humiliation.

He was dressed in nothing but a pair of snow white panties with plenty of lace and ruffles attached to the elastic. From the depths of the ruffles came a white strap that was connected to Hiroki's sheer, translucent stockings. The tops of the stockings were also ringed with ruffles, but one side was a little more ruffled than the other.

It was a garter.

"Oh, God," Hiroki moaned, peeking out from between his fingers. He couldn't do this. He reached down to take off the panties.

However, he heard the shower water abruptly turn off and the curtain slide open. Hiroki hastily pulled the panties back up and stooped down to hurriedly unzip the front pocket of his luggage bag. He snatched a white, silk collar with a lacy, floppy bow on the front. He fastened it around his neck, and the tails of the bow reached down just above his ribcage. Tiptoe-running, Hiroki dashed to the bed and launched himself onto it. He tried different poses, including lying on his stomach, on his back, and on his side with his head propped up by his elbow. He was about to try kneeling on the bed, but he heard the door to the bathroom open and had to settle with sitting back and letting his knees splay out on either side of him.

Clutching a flower to his chest and blushing furiously, he awaited his husband.