"Gene, you can't kidnap a child," Yasuhara scolded.
"It's not kidnap! I was going to ask first!" Gene whined. He rolled over on the bed so that his chin rested on Yasuhara's chest. "It's a brilliant plan."
"It's exploitation."
"It's genius!"
"Mai will be furious!"
"Why?" Gene asked with a genuine frown. "Himeko's opinion is a very valid concern in this decision. Mai should be thrilled that we're including her daughter in it."
"Because you don't want to make a decision yourself," Yasuhara accused.
"Neither do you!"
"That is besides the point."
"Then you come up with a better plan," Gene grumbled. He scowled up at his husband before blowing a raspberry on his chest. Yasuhara pushed him away.
"That's gross."
"You're gross."
"You're childish."
Gene stuck his tongue out before turning over.
"Humph."
Yasuhara rolled his eyes.
"Sweetie," he said in a sickly sweet voice. "Honey dearest."
"Humph."
"Will you ever forgive me?"
"For what? Saying my plan is kidnapping or being patronising?" Gene asked in faux offence.
"Both," Yasuhara replied with a smirk.
"No."
"Even if I cook you breakfast?"
"Maybe."
"Poached eggs with avocado on toast?" Yasuhara asked, tempting Gene.
"Make me a coffee too and I suppose I won't kick you out of my house—"
"Our house," Yasuhara corrected with a smile. "I have the paperwork to prove it."
Gene muttered something under his breath that Yasuhara ignored. He got up, stretched and pulled on slippers before walking around the bed and kissing Gene on the forehead.
"Humph."
"Coffee will be ready in three minutes."
Gene watched Yasuhara leave their bedroom. He rolled onto his back and sighed. They had been saving for years for the deposit for their house. They had foregone holidays, eating out and had even toned their entire wedding down to a small private affair to scrape together every penny. With a little help from both sets of parents, they had managed to buy their first home together a little over six months ago. Compared to how stingy they had been while saving, the relatively small mortgage payments meant they now lived comfortably.
Comfortable enough for them to consider the next big thing in their life; their first child.
When Gene rolled out of bed and into the kitchen, he found a steaming cup of coffee on the breakfast bar and his husband plating up food for the both of them.
"Have I ever mentioned that I love you?" Gene asked.
"Hmm, maybe once or twice," Yasuhara replied.
Gene sipped his coffee and smiled.
"Now about my—"
Yasuhara's mobile rang, interrupting Gene, who scowled at the device.
"I swear, if that's your work then they can fu—"
"It's not," Yasuhara said quickly. "It's Noll."
"What? Why'd he call you and not me?" Gene pouted.
Yasuhara shrugged and answered the call. As he listened, Yasuhara's face morphed into an amused smirk.
"Sure, see you soon," he said and hung up.
"What is it?" Gene asked quickly.
"I swear you're psychic. I really do."
Yasuhara placed the two plates down and took his seat.
"So Mai is out today with Masako for some girly thing, Noll didn't quite know what, right?"
"Right?" Gene's frown did not dampen.
"And what time of year is it?"
"Summer?"
"Which means what for university students?"
"Holidays?" Gene guessed.
"And just before the holidays start, they have...?" Yasuhara prompted.
"Exams?"
"Which means your brother has to…?"
"Mark them? But he finished all of his! He took like ten minutes—"
"Yes, but then one of the other professors screwed up all his marking and is being investigated and so someone has to remark them all," Yasuhara told Gene. "Noll was the unlucky soul that was chosen for this delightful task. And he has to get them done by tomorrow."
"But that shouldn't take him long?"
"They were long answer questions, not mathematical ones."
Gene groaned in pain on his twin's behalf.
"Noll is going to be miserable."
"Exactly," Yasuhara agreed.
"But why did he call you about it? Does he want to sue them for making him do something tedious?" Gene asked with a laugh.
"No, he wants someone to keep Himeko occupied for the day while he gets it sorted and as Mai is busy…"
Gene grinned.
"We get her."
"We get her."
"Brilliant."
"You planned this, didn't you?" Yasuhara accused.
"What? How could I possibly know that?"
Yasuhara narrowed his eyes at his husband.
"She'll be here in half an hour. Eat your breakfast."
And half an hour later, there was a knock on the door.
Gene rushed to answer it.
"How is my favourite niece?" he asked, swooping down and picking up the young girl. "'Cor, you've grown again, haven't you?"
"Hello, Uncle Gene," Himeko replied with a giggle.
"Put her down," Oliver instructed. "She's perfectly capab—"
"Don't be a spoilsport."
"Yeah!" Himeko agreed. "Bye bye Daddy!"
Oliver rolled his eyes.
"I'll let you know when I'll be back to pick her up. Bye bye, cheeky monkey."
Himeko giggled at the nickname.
"Have you been climbing on things again?" Gene asked as he shut the door and carried her through to the lounge.
"No!" Himeko squealed.
"Really?" Gene asked, his tone full of disbelief. "I think you're telling porky pies."
"I'm not! No tickling!"
"Tickling? As if I would tickle you!"
Naturally, Gene's fingered accidently slipped so that Himeko burst into giggles and wriggled to escape.
"No! No tickles!"
Yasuhara darted into the lounge and rescued Himeko from Gene's clutches.
"Stop bullying my favourite niece," Yasuhara accused.
"Don't tell your sister that," Gene muttered.
"Everyone knows her daughter is a brat," Yasuhara countered. "Even if they won't say it to her face?"
"What's a brat?" Himeko asked.
"It's a kid that's spoilt and rude and not very nice."
Himeko bit her lip as she pondered this new piece of vocabulary.
"Talking of brats," Gene went on, "We need your help today."
"Really?"
"Yes, really! See, Yasuhara and I want to have a kid too—"
"Ooh I know all about that!" Himeko exclaimed, causing both men to look at her in alarm. "Mummy told me all about it. You have to eat a special egg and then it grows in a mummy's tummy. That's why Daddy won't eat eggs, because he doesn't want a baby growing inside his tummy."
Gene's smile grew.
"That explains so much!" Yasuhara said, as if Himeko had just revealed the wonders of the universe to him.
"Well, you see, instead of making our own one with an egg," Gene said, "We thought about adopting a kid who doesn't have any parents right now, so they could be part of our family."
"Ooh, that's a good idea!" Himeko said. "But why do you need my help?"
"Well, you're an excellent judge of character," Gene said, "So we need your help to find the right person to be in our family."
Himeko beamed.
"Okay then!"
"Wonderful," Yasuhara said, amused by the grin on his husband's face. "Well let's all go to the toilet and then we'll head off, okay?"
Twenty minutes later, the trio were sat in the car with Yasuhara at the wheel. Ever since Yasuhara had found out that Oliver had taken Gene's driving test for him, he had refused to let his husband drive him — or anyone else for that matter — anywhere.
They arrived at the adoption centre just before ten AM.
"Have you got all the paperwork?" Gene asked, concern etched into his face.
"Yes."
"Are you sure? Have you definitely got that—"
"Yes, I have it all," Yasuhara replied. "Now help Himeko out of the car."
"Sorry, I'm just—"
"Nervous, I get it."
Gene fussed over Himeko's car seat for a few minutes to calm himself. Himeko took his hand as they walked in.
"It'll be okay," she said. "I won't let you pick a brat."
Yasuhara smirked behind his hand, but Gene appeared genuinely reassured.
"Thank you."
Himeko grabbed Yasuhara's spare hand and led them inside. The two young men shared an amused smile over her head, but let her take the lead.
"Hello, how may I help you?" the receptionist asked.
"We're here for the adoption event?" Yasuhara said. "I booked us in a few weeks ago."
"And your names are?"
"Gene and Osamu Yasuhara-Davis."
"Ah yes, and the young lady?"
"I'm their advisor," Himeko introduced herself, looking pleased at the use of such a grown-up word. "My name is Himeko Davis."
Gene laughed and ruffled his niece's hair. She pouted up at him.
"She's our niece, we're babysitting for the day," Yasuhara said in a low voice.
"I see, right well let me get your guest passes. We have the day room set up today. It's all very informal. There are a few activities going on to help break the ice. So just take your time."
The receptionist handed over three lanyards, each with a name on. Himeko took them and frowned down at the words.
"This one is me," she declared, recognising her own name. She handed the other two to Gene, who passed Yasuhara his.
"Well, this is it."
And the trio walked through the doors.
Himeko surveyed the room and nodded.
"Go over there," she ordered her uncles.
"But—"
"No, listen!" She pouted furiously. "I'm gonna find all the brats and then you can pick from the rest."
"That's not a bad idea," Yasuhara said.
Himeko darted off, leaving Yasuhara to lead Gene to the refreshments.
"Come on, let her do this, it was your idea after all to have her involved."
Gene relented. They collected cups of coffee and surveyed the room.
"I'm surprised there is such a range of people here," Gene mumbled.
"Really?" Yasuhara sipped his coffee. "I didn't really come with a preconceived idea."
"Where's Himeko?" Gene asked, suddenly tense.
"She's over there, by the colouring in." Yasuhara pointed and Gene's shoulders relaxed. "Don't worry, I kept an eye on her."
"I'm sorry, I'm just—"
"Distracted?"
"Yeah."
Yasuhara put an arm around Gene and gave him a quick squeeze.
"Don't worry. Remember what the lady said when we started this? It will take some time and we're unlikely to find the perfect fit straight away."
"I just keep thinking about… About what if we find the perfect kid and we love them and then their real family comes back and takes them away?" Gene bit his lip. "Noll used to worry when we were kids that our real father would come for us and try to get us back to claim benefits or something. Luella insisted that she wouldn't let it happen but—"
"Gene, if the kid wants to be with their real parents again, are you going to stop them?"
"No."
"And if they don't want to be with them, then we'll fight tooth and nail to keep them. The courts won't allow a kid to go somewhere that they aren't safe," Yasuhara said in a calm voice.
"I know you're right but I just—"
"Worry. I know."
Gene took a deep breath to calm himself and looked out at the various couples. He frowned when he spotted Himeko. She was talking to an older kid. Gene reckoned the kid must have been in their early teens.
"Look who Himeko is talking to," he muttered.
Yasuhara looked around.
"You know, I hadn't considered an older kid," he replied. "Had you?"
"Not really. Aww, look she's hugging them!" Gene pointed out. "Aww, that's cute."
Himeko released the poor, confused looking teenager and took their hand. She dragged them across the room and deposited them in front of Gene and Yasuhara.
"This is Charlie," she introduced. "Charlie isn't a brat."
And with that, she darted off again, leaving Charlie standing alone.
"Hi, I'm Gene."
He held out a hand. Beside him, Yasuhara rolled his eyes.
"Are you gonna give Charlie your business card too?" Yasuhara asked.
"I don't have business car—"
"I'm Yasuhara. I see you met our niece."
"Yeah, she's…" Charlie stared at the floor, one arm dangling down and the other hand grabbing their elbow. "She's alright I guess."
"Yeah, we brought her to weed out the brats."
"She told me. But most of the kids here are alright," Charlie mumbled.
"You want a drink?" Yasuhara offered.
"Nah, I'm alright."
"You don't have to talk to us if you don't want to," Gene said quickly. "I went through the whole adoption process, so I know it's awkward as hell."
"You did?" Charlie looked up.
"Yeah. My mother died and my father left me and my brother to fend for ourselves when we were eight."
"Sounds pretty rough." Charlie looked back down.
"So why are you here? If you don't mind me asking," Gene prompted. Yasuhara frowned, but Charlie did not seem reluctant to continue the conversation.
"Mum died in a car crash. Never had a dad."
"Sucks."
Charlie shrugged.
Before any of them could say anything else, one of the helpers wandered over.
"How about we get you all doing an activity?" the helper said in a painfully high and bubbly voice. "What do you fancy doing?"
Charlie, who had slowly been opening their body language up, shrank back within themself. Gene scowled at the helper while Yasuhara took the lead.
"Do you have any cards?" he suggested.
"Yeah, over there by those tables."
"Excellent," Yasuhara said with a false smile. "Shall we?"
Charlie shrugged again, agreeing to get away from the helper more than anything else. Yasuhara led them to the table and dealt the cards.
"I know they're trying to help but jeesh. They're timing sucks," Gene muttered. "What are we playing?"
"Cheat," Yasuhara replied. "Do you know how to play?" He aimed this question at Charlie, who nodded.
"Where's Himeko?"
"She's back at the colouring table," Yasuhara muttered, without looking up. "No doubt she's creating something to torture your brother with."
"Aww he loves her art really."
"If you met Oliver," Yasuhara told Charlie, "You would understand why I find this so funny. He's very introverted and doesn't really show affection a lot. But that little girl has him wrapped around his finger and he goes from all cold and offish to a pile of goo."
"It's brilliant," Gene added.
Charlie gave a half smile to acknowledge what they had said. They played cards in silence for a while before Charlie blurted a question out.
"Are you gay?"
Gene laughed at the bluntness.
"Well I am," he said. "Yasuhara's bi."
"Oh."
"Are you?" Gene asked back.
"I… I don't know what I am yet," Charlie mumbled.
"That's fine," Yasuhara said. "Took me ages to figure out I was bi."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it wasn't until… I dunno, maybe the third year of university that I finally settled on it," he said.
Charlie mused over this for a few more hands until they asked another question.
"But will whoever you adopt call you both 'dad'? Or what?"
"Well I'd prefer 'dad' to 'or what'..."
Gene groaned at Yasuhara's 'joke'.
"What did I tell you about dad jokes?"
Yasuhara feigned a look a shame.
"Not to do them until we'd found a kid that liked us…"
Charlie sniggered a bit.
Himeko rushed back over, drawing in hand.
"Look what I did!"
They all admired her drawing, dutifully pointing out how well she had stayed in the lines.
"And all the other kids are poopy," Himeko declared. "I like Charlie best."
As if to prove this point, she climbed into the chair next to Charlie and peeked at their cards. They continued to play cards for the rest of the open morning.
"So, I'm afraid times is up, but we've got these feedback forms here," a helper interrupted. "We'd like you to mention anyone you'd like to meet again. Charlie, there are separate ones for the children, if you'd like to go and get one."
"It was nice to meet you Charlie," Gene said quickly.
Charlie shrugged, waved goodbye to Himeko and disappeared into the mass of children at the other end of the room. The helper moved on.
Yasuhara took a form and began to fill in their names.
"So the idea is that if a child requests us and we request them, then we can meet again," he read out. "What do you think?"
"Himeko, why did you pick Charlie?" Gene asked.
"Because Charlie looked sad and you're good at making people not sad," Himeko replied. "And Charlie hasn't got a daddy, so if you adopted Charlie I'm sure one of you would be a good daddy."
"Double the odds," Yasuhara agreed.
"What do you mean one of us?" Gene asked in mock offence. "Do you not think we'll both be good dads?"
"No! You tickle me! You're a poopy butt." Himeko giggled and hid behind her hands.
"Yeah, definitely a poopy butt," Yasuhara agreed, smirking at his husband. Gene scowled.
"And," Himeko went on, "'Cos you haven't had a kid before, a baby would be really hard but Charlie can already walk and talk and everything."
"That's true," Yasuhara agreed. "It would mean neither of us would have to change our schedules really."
"Do you think Charlie liked us?" Gene asked. "I don't want to try and force anything on the kid."
"There's only one way to find out," Yasuhara said. "I don't think it would be a mistake to put Charlie's name down. We can meet again and see how things go. There is no rush."
"Yeah I guess. They looked like they needed a good meal, perhaps we could take them out somewhere. We'll have to feed Charlie up a bit before we introduce them to Mum, because she'll go nuts over how skinny they are…" Gene muttered.
"The kid is still growing, leave them alone."
"There!" Himeko said. "I've put Charlie's name on the thingy."
Yasuhara and Gene both looked down to see that Himeko had stolen the piece of paper and attempted to write Charlie's name in the box.
Carlee
"Okay then," Yasuhara said, "I'll go hand this in."
He surreptitiously corrected the spelling while Gene took Himeko's hand and picked up her drawing.
When Oliver came to pick Himeko up that evening, she presented him with the drawing and began babbling at him about their day. After they had finished at the adoption centre, they had all gone for lunch and Gene had treated Himeko to ice cream.
"Thank you," Oliver said. "I appreciate your assistance."
"Nah, Himeko was helping us," Gene said. "Your first kid helping us find ours. There's something almost poetic about it, don't you think?"
Oliver reached down and covered Himeko's ears.
"Talking of kids, Mai has been talking about a second one…"
Himeko pouted up at her dad and tried to wriggle out of his grip.
"Mum will be thrilled," Gene said with a grin. "What do you think?"
"I'm… Not opposed to the idea."
"Daddy! Let me go!" Himeko whined.
Oliver released his daughter, who poked him in the side.
"Come on, Monkey, we need to go and cook tea for your mother."
Gene and Yasuhara waved them away, satisfied with their day.
Omake - The following Christmas
"Right, now I want all of you in the photo," Luella insisted. "Mai, dear, you sit in the middle. Himeko, mind Mummy's bump! Ooh! Yes that's perfect. Oliver, you sit next to Mai. Charlie, you stand behind them with Yasuhara and Gene flanking you and then Himeko, if you just kneel at the front. Martin, look, isn't this adorable?"
"Yes dear," Martin agreed, not looking up from his book.
"Mum, just take the picture, we're all starving," Gene complained. "Think of poor Mai and the baby!"
"Don't you use me as a scapegoat for your own hunger."
Gene stuck a tongue out at Mai.
"Eugene Davis if you don't smile like your brother is and ruin my Christmas photo—"
"Well that's a first," Oliver muttered.
Everyone laughed. Luella took her photo and they dispersed to help with bringing the food out from the kitchen. Once the table had been laid and everyone had taken their seats, Luella spoke again.
"Now I would like to formally welcome Charlie to the family, as this is our first Christmas with them—"
"Mum—"
"Don't you 'mum' me, Eugene Davis! I am this close to sending you to the naughty step," Luella threatened. "If I want to welcome my grandchild, then I shall."
Charlie's cheeks had tinged bright red, but they smiled and accepted the cracker that Luella offered.
"Everyone grab your crackers."
On the count of three, they pulled the crackers apart, donned party hats and told bad jokes. Everyone had a smile on their face; a truly happy family.