Japan sat close to the heater as he watched China's slow movements of tai-chi, his body having bent and twisted in graceful possesses and Japan had sat in such awe that he'd forgotten all about the little cap in his lap. He'd been happily sewing together a soft fabric in the shape of a baby cap, something that would resemble what they placed on a baby's head in the hospital, something that he'd had the grand idea to sew together in preparation for the baby. When China had taken those tests over a month ago Japan had been nervous that a home test wouldn't be as accurate as a doctor's test and so China had run about the house making an appointment for the test to be conducted and the boys had been in a state of absolute delight. No one had been more excited than his eldest, no one had been ore delighted to hear they'd be a big brother again and no one had been as happy as Xiong had been. The boy had been bouncing around in an uncharacteristic manner for usually he followed after Japan's calming presence but that day he'd been wriggling all over like a little puppy ready to burst free of the house. Genji, of course, was less than thrilled at the thought of being the middle child but he quickly got over it when Japan explained that he too would be a big brother and the boy had perked up quite happily at the news. It was sad that it had only been a handful of weeks ago that they'd made this discovery and the boys had been transported to the World Academy. Japan would never forget the sight of his sons beaming brightly as they accepted their uniforms and rushed to their dorm rooms to hurriedly put them on to show Japan as they smiled proudly at their mother figure. Japan still felt pride at the thought of his sons in their uniforms.

There had been a painful element to bringing the boys to America to attend school but the boys had seemed so absolutely delighted that Japan had hidden his sadness rather well considering that the boys never noticed anything wrong with their mother figure. Japan had been thrown into absolute despair when he'd flown home alone. He'd cried and sniffled to himself as he considered his boys being alone in a new country that they very rarely visited and there'd been a painful stab in his chest as he considered just how quiet his own home was going to be from now on. Of course there was relief at the thought that he would be seeing his children in four months time but there was still something sad about saying goodbye to the boys for any length of time, even if it was a wonderful opportunity to meet others. Japan blinked himself out of his rather downcast thoughts when his husband balanced on one leg, as firm as any tree as his arms stretched above his head before coming down to level his hands to his chest as he breathed out in a long whoosh and then planted his other foot onto the floor beaming at Japan. He waled over to the man plopping down onto his knees before him with a sparkle to those golden brown eyes of his and Japan found himself smiling softly at China who leaned forward pressing his lips against his cheek. The fluttering lips moved across his cheek to his nose, pecking the tip of it, then moving down to kiss the edge of his jaw with soft movements of his lips and Japan knew exactly where those lips would seek out next and he felt a flutter of excitement in his chest at the thought. China leaned in pressing his lips against Japan's once, twice, then moved his lips down to his chin.

"I can't thank you enough, Kiku -aru." China murmured as his lips continued to press against his jawline in between his murmured words and Japan felt hands grab at his own then fingers weaving in between his own making him grip onto China's hands happily. The Chinese Nation pulled back looking at Japan, lifting their right conjoined hands together in order to brush the back of his hand against Japan's cheek softly with a smile on his lips as he then leaned in capturing Japan's lips in another soft kiss. It was the type of kiss that made Japan's toes curl tightly, made his fingers clench tightly around China's and had his heart fluttering wildly in his chest as he held onto the Chinese Nation that was kissing him oh so tenderly at that moment. When China pulled back once again, Japan found himself chasing after the Chinese man's lips and that earned him a fond chuckle from his husband. "I want to say thank you once more. I want to scream it from the rooftop because thanks to you, Kiku, we're finally having a baby."

"It would make more sense to thank you, Yao-san. After all, you're the one carrying our baby." Japan replied in a mumble when China pulled his hands from Japan's and while there was a moment of regret Japan found his hands reaching for China's waist as those arms wrapped around his shoulders and in return he wrapped his arms around China's waist. The two sat cheek to cheek for a quiet moment as China hummed a quiet little melody as they rocked back and forth together as the silence around them pressed down on the two parents who opened their eyes as if expecting to be interrupted at any moment. It was instinctive after all! How could one not raise two boys and not expect for a moment to be interrupted by a child? Japan felt a stab of longing in his chest as he pulled his face away from China's with a soft sigh on his lips. "I miss our boys."

"I do too. But not to worry! They'll be home soon enough -aru!" China cheerfully replied as he kissed the tip of Japan's nose, tingles racing through the Japanese Nation at the casual affection his husband displayed and those golden brown eyes then glowed delightfully as they looked at one another. "How about we have some lunch? Something to eat will do us good and it will do the baby some good! Can you believe I'm a month along -aru?" China slid his arms from his shoulders using the wall behind him to hop up onto his feet and then held both of his hands out for Japan to take which he did rather gratefully and allowed himself to be tugged up onto his feet. The two men where smiling at one another, China's lips parting to ask a question when a flurry of knocks accompanied by the doorbell ringing interrupted whatever it was that China was about to say. "Aiyaa, who in the world could that be -aru?"

"I'll get it while you go get lunch started." Japan suggested with raised brows as they turned towards the front doors and China sighed out in a huff but together the two of them walked across the room out into the hallway where the flurry at the door had yet to relax or slow in the slightest bit. China branched off into the kitchen while Japan continued waling down his hallway to his front hall and stepped down before shuffling across the shoe wrack then tugged open the door with curiosity budding inside of him. What greeted him at first were large excited brown eyes that glowed at him and only then did he piece together the face before him, the long hair that quivered with her excited bounces on her toes. Even the familiar bright pink colored qipao with the gold trip that was her iconic style as the sleeves bounced over her hands. Beside her was a rather serious faced woman who possessed golden-honey colored eyes that glowed brilliantly against her dark brown locks of hair. "Taiwan? Vietnam? What are you doing here?"

"We're here to visit of course!" Taiwan happily replied as her hair continued to tremble lightly as she bounced on her toes and her partner sighed softly as she reached up to press down on Taiwan's head in an effort to get her to stand still but the girl merely trembled on her toes since she was no longer able to bounce freely. Vietnam rolled her eyes affectionately at the trembling Nation beneath her hand and Taiwan's bright eyes sparkled at Japan. "I heard that China was pregnant! Hong Kong told us! The last time he was pregnant it was with Uri! And that was thirteen years ago!"

"We were about to have lunch but I suppose we can make extra for the two of you to join us." Japan murmured as he looked down at his feet for a moment before looking upwards to find Taiwan had her fingers laced together below her chin with those wide brown eyes sparkling at him hopefully and he found he really didn't have the heart to turn her away. "Alright, come on in but make sure to take your boots off." Taiwan shouted happily as she threw her arms around Japan's shoulders making him stutter wordlessly for a moment but he accepted the hug by awkwardly patting Taiwan's back and Vietnam merely shook her head with a sigh on her lips as Taiwan released Japan with a bright smile and kicked off her boots quickly then ran up on the smooth wood floor in her socks when Japan turned to Vietnam who entered after her partner. "It is nice to see you again, Vietnam."

"Come on, Liên!" Taiwan called over her shoulder as she slid along the wooden floor like it were ice and her socks the ice skates making Vietnam roll her eyes once again but the affection that glowed from her golden-honey eyes spoke volumes as Taiwan giggled happily then spun rushing for the kitchen. No doubt she was following the scent with her nose and it was Japan's turn to shake his head at the girl's behavior; he was glad, however, that she was still a bubbly girl despite her tendency to worry and he was glad to see she was still her usual self. She was amazingly balanced out by Vietnam and it was a relationship that truly spoke volumes on opposites attract. Vietnam bent over to slip her feet out of the boots when Taiwan appeared in the hallway feet away with her hands on her hips. "I said come on! You guys are such slowpokes!"

"It's better to take my time than rush forwards, Lin." Vietnam replied calmly as she got her second boot off then stepped up onto the wooden floor and Japan followed after her when together they began walking down the hallway together. It was times like these that Japan felt that it seemed wild, even bubbly personalities always met their calm ands strong headed counterpart which was absolutely a trope in and of itself but one that Japan found his fingers itching to draw out. He peeked at Vietnam as they walked and the woman turned her head slightly to peer back at him making his face flush when a stiff smile formed on her lips. "Lin can be a lot, so I understand if you're a bit overwhelmed. She used to be overwhelming to me too in the beginning but I think I've grown used to it."

"Oh I'm used to her! She used to live with us for a while so I can get accustomed to her rather wild and bubbly personality." He paused then smiled at Vietnam who had a tremble to her stiff smile which had him tilting his head to the side as they walked. "I'm glad she has you at least. You're like her weights, keeping her from floating away. I do the same for Yao-san and I do the same for our sons because I think they'd just float away if they were given the choice to do so." He chuckled to himself as the smile dropped from Vietnam's face as she sighed and together the pair entered the kitchen to find Taiwan having her sleeves pinned backwards revealing her pale, slender arms and China mumbling to himself as he pinned his little sister's sleeves backwards. "What's going on?"

"Lin wants to help me cook and I refused to let her start a fire with these wretched sleeves -aru!" China grumbled as he finished pinning her long sleeves backwards then slid a ponytail off of his wrist and gestured for Taiwan to spin around which she did rather huffily. "And all this hair too! I swear you are a walking fire hazard -aru!" China began scrapping her hair backwards while being careful not to include her ahoge in the rest of her hair and tugged her hair as efficiently as he could and Taiwan hummed softly to herself as she looked down at her pink painted finger nails which glistened lightly in the light when her hair was dropped by China. It fell in a thick pony tail down her back and it gave her face an open, youthful look to it as she then slapped a hand to her forearm and gave Japan a look of determination.

"Let's cook!"

It was hard to feel the house was lonely, hard to feel that the house was too large when they suddenly had two new houseguests. Accord to Taiwan, the woman wanted to stay until China gave birth but Japan had a feeling that she would leave halfway throughout the pregnancy. After all, she and China couldn't truly stand one another despite being brother and sister. She had many a time in the past told China to stay away from him and had done so in such a threatening manner that China had taken her threats very seriously and left Japan alone countless times due to her words. Despite raising Taiwan as a little sister there was still some tension between the two of them t hat refused to be absolved or resolved in the slightest bit what with the two of them refusing to even acknowledge this tension between one another. At least China refused to acknowledge it. Japan always scolded the elder to resolve things with his little sister but things were tense between Taiwan and himself that often times they ended up bickering with one another before they could finish talking about their problems. Japan was somewhat thankful that Taiwan at least wanted to spend some time together and wanted to watch the pregnancy advanced but he had the feeling that it had more to do with the fact of the news that she had shared with them. She and Vietnam wanted to try and have a baby. They were looking into donors from other Nations but it was rather tough to get a Nation to agree to have a child that wouldn't involve them and Japan understood the women's frustrations. Their choices were dwindling leaving them only with India, Macau and Osaka but they weren't above asking America or one of the European Nations if they'd be willing to help but they wanted to use up their backups first.

They wanted to make sure they went every single route they possibly could before they became desperate but they had rather high hopes when it came to India or Macau and Japan found himself hoping the women got the donor that they were looking for. Japan had to shake his head to get the conversation from flowing throuhg his head as he returned his attention back to the dishes and began scrubbing furiously at the bowl in his hands as the hot water flowed over his hands and he gripped the bowl tightly. He carefully rotated the bowl as he scrubbed to keep his hands from dropping the sudsy bowl and rinsed it off when he felt two arms wrap around his waist from behind. It was a welcomed touch that he found his eyes fluttering shut at before forcing them open again and he peered over his shoulder to find China resting his chin on his shoulder, their cheeks pressing together softly. "How are the dishes going? Do you want me to help you with them?"

"Hai, could you dry while I wash?" Japan questioned as he placed the bowl in the strainer and China bobbed his head in a little nod before releasing Japan's waist making a stab of longing shoot throughout his chest as those arms left his waist and China plucked up the towel. He playfully flicked the towel at Japan making him laugh lightly as he caught the end with his fingers when he tugged China forward pressing their lips together in a kiss that warmed his chest rather fiercely as he released the towel and backed away to pluck up a plate and began scrubbing at the glass item. It was a comfortable silence of Japan scrubbing the dishes and China rubbing the dishes in the strainer dry when Japan peeked upwards at his husband who was happily humming softly to himself as he dried the forks and spoons in his hand when Japan finally spoke up. "So what do you think about Taiwan and Vietnam staying with us for a while?"

"I think it's silly of her to want to stay here for the next nine months. Especially when we're getting the boys back in four months you have to thin of how full our house is going to be with all these people in it and Lord knows how long Lin will want to stay after the baby is actually here -aru." China rolled his eyes as he spoke but he smiled at Japan in a way that almost betrayed itself as relief as the Chinese Nation placed the utensils to the side and plucked up the bowl that Japan had just finished washing. "It might be interesting though. After all, all it's been quiet around the house lately and perhaps Lin can fill that silence. Besides I think our house is big enough to maybe host the two of them for a while -aru."

"It would be nice to have a feminine touch to the house." Japan replied in a marveling tone as he handed the plate to China who took it and immediately began rubbing the towel over it furiously in an effort to dry it quickly when Japan looked to his husband with a smile on his lips. "I'd love to help Taiwan and Vietnam with their pursuits, however. If anyone seems worthy and seems ready for a baby it's them. Taiwan was telling me after dinner that back at Vietnam's home they have a whole bedroom dedicated to having a baby. A bassinet, gender neutral clothing and toys along with diapers and wipes and formula stocked up. They would be great parents, don't you think?"

"I think that Lin has some growing up to do before she settles down with a baby -aru." China replied when he accepted a cup from the surprised Japanese Nation and he shrugged his shoulders then as he lowered his eyes to the glass in his hands. "I'm just saying that there's a difference between buying all that baby stuff and being ready for an actual baby. Lin is merely romanticizing what having a baby would be like and she, in reality, has no clue how complex and difficult it is to raise a baby. Maybe while she's here she'll see just how difficult it is to care for a newborn and it'll make her wait for a while. I don't want her rushing headlong into a decision that is as permanent as having a child -aru."

"I agree that there's a certain level of maturity that comes with having a baby but if Taiwan thinks she's ready then who are we to stand in her way?" Japan looked to his husband who sighed softly then raised his golden brown eyes to Japan's warm brown ones and both men shared a shrugging movement of their shoulders. Japan turned the water off and flicked his fingers to shake the droplets of water off the tips then accepted the damp towel from China rubbing his hands dry. "Let's support them, okay? After all they ARE supporting your pregnancy in their strange way. Why would they come all this way just to see you if it didn't mean something to Taiwan? She cares about you in some strange and twisted way but she does and she dropped all of her plans to come here." He then whipped the towel out striking China in the shoulder making him yelp. "Be nice to your little sister."

China reached out to catch the towel only to laugh as Japan shuffled backwards tucking the towel behind his back as his brown eyes sparkled in a devious manner that reminded him of Genji and the Chinese Nation stepped forward with a wicked grin on his face. When Japan flicked the towel out China caught it rather easily and tugged Japan forward causing him to stumble but he laughed as he stumbled into China's chest and he felt his heart flutter wildly in his chest as he rested his cheek against China's shoulder. "Alright, I'll be nice to my little sister. In return you must give me, oh, all of your love tonight -aru."

Japan tilted his head backwards with a light sparkling in those brown eyes as they peered up at China and the man used the angle of Japan's head to kiss his chin making the Japanese man laugh delightedly as if struck breathless for a moment. "But of course!" He got out around a laugh as he curled his arms around his husband, swaying in time with him as lips pressed against his cheek softly moving upwards to his cheekbone and he clung to China with a smile on his lips. "I think that can be arranged. So long as you give me all of your love as well. No holding out on me, got it?"

China laughed with his own delight and clung to his husband in a similar manner that Japan clung to him while they swayed together slowly together. "Shi, I'll give you all of my love. Every last bit of it."