Thank you all so much for the positive reviews! I wasn't expecting such awesome feedback when I woke up the morning after I posted the story and now I'm super pumped to keep writing! I'll do my best and try to incorporate more humor (though TBH I don't think I'm that funny).

I did respond to all the replies at the end of this chapter, so be sure to check it out (if you want)!

This chapter is dedicated to everyone who followed, faved, and reviewed. (There are so many of you...!) Thanks for enjoying my story!

Oh, and yes, Riko does ship KagaKuro, if that wasn't obvious in the first chapter. X]

EDIT: [Oct. 12, 2016]

I guess as repentance I'll be editing and reuploading one chapter per day, then on the thirteenth day I post new content and we go back to my sporadic updating. Cheers

Chapter Two:

Twice the Trouble

It had been almost three full days since Naoya had found his parents in this world. He smiled to himself, thinking how differently his own life had been just under 72 hours ago. Before coming here and announcing his intentions so blatantly, things hadn't been going well, to say the least.

Shaking his head, he willed the dark thoughts away. This was no time for negativity, not now that he'd found Kagami and Kuroko. Naoya shifted on the rather plain couch, finding that his foot had lost feeling after being sat upon for so long.

The little electronic device in his hands was sleek and brand-new, purchased especially for him by both Kagami and Kuroko. It was a silvery blue color, thin and light. He'd messed around with it for some time in order to get accustomed to its functions. It was relatively simple, considering all he really needed access to were his contacts, call history, and text messages.

What an old-school cell, he mused.

Naoya swept his eyes over the modest apartment his father owned. Kuroko's family would question Naoya's extended stay at their household, but Kagami had offered his place instead. After all, his parents couldn't really say anything if they weren't there. Bored, Naoya flipped through some TV channels, but a majority of the programs were soap operas and toddlers' shows. Daring to check the time, Naoya flipped open his cell phone: it read Thursday, 1:57 PM.

A groan echoed through the space. Seirin didn't let out until 3:30, and even then he'd have to wait for his parents to collect him so they could do a bit of shopping together. Kagami's clothes were a little too big for him and he couldn't even get his arms through most of Kuroko's shirts. Luckily, he only ate a decent amount, nothing like his dad's monstrous appetite. That would have killed everyone's wallets.

But the wait proved too long. Having already spent yesterday and the day before that the same way was a real drag.

And it was lonely.

Four minutes later, Naoya's legs itched and he wanted to do something. Slipping on a fresh pair of socks and donning his shoes, he headed out towards Seirin High School. It wasn't that far a walk, and he could seek out Nigou for a playmate. The traveler closed the door softly behind him, mindful of the spare key Kagami had given him, and ventured out into the glory of fresh air and sunlight.

It was only an eight-minute commute to Seirin's grounds, but then again, Naoya had jogged most of the way. He went around the main building and headed for the gymnasium. From there, he could navigate towards the locker rooms and snoop around Kagami's and Kuroko's "natural environment."

At least, that's what Naoya had planned.

On his path behind the main building, someone yelled and prevented him from advancing any further.

Naoya turned to see that he was being approached by a fuming, stocky man in his late 50s. "You there!" he bellowed. "Get back to class this instant! The rest of the staff may tolerate you young people and your incessant wanderlust, but not me!"

"Uh..." he stuttered. God help him, dealing with people wasn't his strong point. "I'm not a student here, actually."

The man gave him a flabbergasted stare. "Then go back to your own school and get back to class there!"

Naoya rubbed the back of his neck. Kagami and Kuroko were going to murder him later, but he couldn't lie to anyone, not even for their sake. "I don't go to school anywhere," he admitted. The teacher looked about ready to choke on his own tongue.

"Sir, let me explain first! I just moved to the area a few days ago." Not a lie. "My parents haven't had the chance to enroll me yet." Not really a lie. "And they're busy today, so I came to check out the premises." It was a bit of a stretch, but still not a lie.

The man's pallor returned to normal and his expression softened a bit. "Trespassing is inexcusable, but if that's the case, then I can escort you to the front office and get your papers filled out to some extent. When your parents have time, they can come in to finish up, but you can still attend classes regardless. If you hurry, you can catch the last period of the day."

Cold sweat prickled the nape of his neck and his temples; Naoya couldn't argue his way out without being inconspicuous. He had little choice but to play along. "Th-thank you, sir."

The man started on their way to the main office, snorting at Naoya's response. "No need for the 'sir,' boy. I'm Fujimoto-sensei."

"Naoya..." he replied shakily. "Kagami Naoya."

"Kagami?" Fujimoto echoed, holding open the door for Naoya. "Well, this will be interesting." Naoya's neck prickled again.

"Sensei?" The dread pooling in his stomach only continued to build. He should have just stayed put at the apartment, but what was done was done. He stood before the door to the registration office.

The stout man waved it off. "Think nothing of it, Kagami-kun. I'll see you later."

Naoya heaved a lengthy sigh and slid the door open.

Thursday, 2:57 PM

The glowing letters and numbers on the phone screen seemed to mock Naoya. Forget today and yesterday, his life just an hour ago was vastly different from now! He was nervous; without a Seirin uniform on his back, he really stood out amongst the other students who were staring out into the hallways. He hoped he wouldn't be seen by anyone from the team or end up in their class. It'd be easier to explain to Kagami and Kuroko what had happened if they didn't know beforehand. Naoya glanced up at the classroom sign and sighed. He hoped 1-C would be relatively enjoyable.

Naoya noted that he must have been some spectacle, judging by the number of people staring out at him. He was alone again, waiting for the period's teacher to introduce him to the class.

"Ah, Kagami-san," a voice addressed him. Naoya turned to see Fujimoto. "Nice to see you've been assigned to class 1-C."

"Are you here to announce me?" Naoya asked. The other gave a slight nod.

"Hmm... I wonder..." the man pondered aloud. He shook his head, paying it no mind. "Just listen for your introduction, then, Kagami-kun. And don't be nervous, I'm sure you'll find a friendly face in the crowd, if my hunches are correct." He patted Naoya's shoulder reassuringly, though the latter was only sent into a full-blown internal panic.

Oh, stab me with a rusty fork, he cursed, he's talking about Dad.

Fujimoto left the door open as he entered the class, making it easier for Naoya to hear his cue. He fought the urge to just peek around the corner and see who he'd recognize, but his gut wrenched. I definitely should have just stayed home and watched a soap opera.

"Sensei, please excuse the interruption. This is just a brief announcement. Class, we have a new student joining us today. He's arrived only recently and therefore hasn't yet acquired a uniform, but do try to make an honorable impression. It's not often that we have someone enroll so late in the year. Please come in, then, Kagami-kun."

Naoya flinched at Fujimoto's use of his last name. It was a sure-fire dead giveaway as to what trouble he'd gotten himself into. Nevertheless, he gathered up the remaining shreds of his nerve and stepped in, head slightly bowed. He heard the whispers of "wow, he's pretty tall" and "maybe he's related to Kagami Taiga" and "why do you think he moved so late in the school year?" But before he could even open his mouth for self-introduction, he was interrupted.

"NAOYA?" a gruff voice roared. A desk and chair screeched against the floor as, Naoya assumed, Kagami tried to rocket to the front of the class to confront him. Instead, he saw that Kagami was leaning backwards, the back of his collar seized in time by his Shadow. Naoya sent Kuroko a silent thanks, only to be met with a we'll talk later glare. His spine crawled; even in this world, his mom could terrify the hell out of him. Kuroko jabbed Kagami in the side, forcing his Light to sit back down to nurse the pain.

"Kuroko, you jerk...!" Kagami groused. "I'll kill you later!"

Fujimoto looked on, ignoring the commotion, and gestured for Naoya to continue with his self-introduction. Naoya gripped the chalk in his hand and went through the strokes that spelled his name out on the blackboard:

火神 直哉

Doing an about-face, Naoya drew a calming breath and spoke to the class. "I'm Kagami Naoya. I got here not too long ago, like Fujimoto-sensei said. It's nice to meet you all, and I hope we get along." He bowed, as was customary when introducing oneself. As soon as he was upright again, he was bombarded with questions.

"Where are you from?"

"Are you related to Kagami Taiga-kun?"

"How tall are you really?"

The inquiries came rapid-fire, something like a Gatling gun of curiosity. Naoya struggled to piece together the phrases, scrambling to answer them as best he could.

"I'm Japanese but I lived in LA for a few years, I'm related to him, 179 centimeters tall, my hair color is natural, I don't have a girlfriend, my best subject is English, and I have a sister or two," he wheezed. Regrettably, reacting to his new classmates' curiosity only served to spur on their uproar. It was only to his (and his parents') relief that Fujimoto quieted the class down again.

"Well then, Kagami Naoya-kun, you may have the seat next to Kuroko-kun," the teacher instructed. "And I can only hope that you'll perform better in my English class than Kagami Taiga-kun." Naoya glanced over in time to see Kagami hurriedly redirect his gaze out the window.

He took his seat quickly, nodding a small apology to the duo again, wanting to appease their tempers. Kuroko's expression softened—thank God—and Kagami gave a resigned sigh. Naoya smiled to himself; if they weren't too mad, then being at school with them could be beneficial to his meddling in their relationship.

Sadly for Kagami, the class period ended with Naoya as his English tutor.

Practice after school, however, was an entirely different story.

Naoya cowered in a corner of the gym, clasping his hands over the spot on his head where Riko had clocked him with her clipboard. He tried not think about the pain as Nigou nuzzled against his shin affectionately. Kagami looked over sympathetically, knowing all too well the consequences of enraging Coach. Kuroko seemed concerned for Naoya's well-being in general, hoping that the blow wouldn't bruise.

"Naoyaro!" she shrieked. "They told you to stay put at the apartment, didn't they? Why didn't you listen to them?"

"I just wanted to get out of the house..." he reasoned. "It was really boring waiting by myself! It was lonely! It's hard to just sit there and wait for Mom and Dad to get home and bring me over, and I still have to find—" Naoya cut himself off, not wanting to come across as whiny.

Kuroko and Kagami wandered over to where Naoya was squatting, worried. They shared a concerned gaze; they hadn't considered what Naoya himself could do so much as what they could do to take care of him. With nine other companions to search for, one including his younger sister (and their daughter), it was no wonder why he needed some company.

Why hadn't they thought of it before?

"Naoya," Kuroko called softly, "we're sorry for leaving you by yourself."

Kagami scratched the back of his head guiltily. "Your being here was so sudden we just thought about what we need to do... and we forgot you have your own agenda to work on."

"We can have the office mail the forms to Kagami-kun's apartment in order to 'fill' them out as your parents. We'll tell them you're there temporarily while we're supposedly looking for a house. Before school tomorrow morning, we can fill out a request for your uniform so it's ready by next school year."

"And after practice, we can go ask around for any of your friends while we shop for your clothes. And we can pull you from school tomorrow so we can keep looking or go sight-seeing, if you want."

"Just let us know if you need something, Naoya-kun. We're still new to this, so we don't really have a clue as to what we're doing as parents... but we'll definitely try our best to help you. Right, Kagami-kun?"

"Mmm," the ace hummed in agreement. "You're our son, after all. We're here for you. We'd do anything for you, kid."

Naoya stood to face them, Nigou circling his feet. Through his tears, he smiled warmly and put an arm around each of them.

"Thank you so much for understanding!" he exclaimed. "You guys are the best parents ever."

"Oi!" Kagami yelled, suddenly nervous. "Don't cry. I can't deal with crying."

Naoya sniffled, wiping away the streaks from his eyes. "Yeah, I know." Kuroko and Kagami exchanged a relieved grin over Naoya's bowed head. They might not have known the first thing about being parents, but this was a good start.

And then a squeal cut through the light atmosphere.

"Oh, you guys are too cute!" Riko blurted, holding her hands to her cheeks. "You look like a real family!"

Naoya's head snapped up, eyes still red from his waterworks display. "What do you mean, Auntie Riko? We are a real family!" Abruptly, he caught himself tumbling over towards the floor and put his hands out as a buffer. What the hell...?

Turning over his shoulder, he noticed that Kagami and Kuroko had distanced themselves from the other again, faces flushed. They'd dropped him in the process. Right, he sighed internally. They're not together yet.

YET.

An unsubtle cough broke through his reverie, refocusing his attention on the stern face of Hyuuga in front of him. "As much as I'd hate to destroy this family moment, we have to get back to practice," he deadpanned, adjusting his glasses.

"We weren't having a moment!" Kagami argued, blushing harder than before. "And we'll get back to practice, right, Kuroko?"

"Sorry, Hyuuga-sempai, I don't believe that's an option." The team as a whole sent him stunned glares. Kuroko was staring rather blankly at his phone screen. In a wordless response, the Phantom turned it over to face them, displaying his justification.

From:
Aomine Daiki

Tetsu, I have a bit of a problem. There's a kid here who says he's mine.

And Kise's.

What the hell do I do?

Naoya glanced up at his mom, wide-eyed and hopeful.

"Coach, we're going to have to leave early," Kagami announced, patting Naoya on the head. "I think we've just found one of Naoya's friends."

179 centimeters: Equal to about 5 feet, 10 inches. It's between Kuroko's and Kagami's heights, which are 5'6" and 6'2" respectively.

Naoyaro: Similar to Bakagami, Naoyaro is a pormanteau of Naoya's name and an insult. In this case, it's "Naoya" + "yaro(u)," which means "jerk" or "bastard," depending on the situation. (Riko says it to mean "jerk.")

So... Most of you are probably going to kill me for leaving the chapter where it is, but... :D I did it anyway!

I just wanna space it out, since this chapter would have been closer to 5K words if I'd gone with my original plan.

And I didn't want to keep you wonderful followers/reviewers waiting too long, so I just posted. But I can guarantee that the 3rd chapter will be posted by Friday or Saturday. X3 Look forward to it~

–Randomness

EDIT: [Oct. 12, 2016]

Yup yup, fixed some inconsistencies, changed the time school gets out to 3:30, and made it so that Fujimoto is not the English teacher. It doesn't have any bearing on the story whatsoever, but he's the principal now.

It's like 11p where I live and I have to be at school by 7a for my final tomorrow haha wish me luck

Responses to reviews, anyone?

Reimei-Jennoir: I know I have to continue! Even I'M excited about finding out what happens next! Glad you think it's epic. :D And about that kid... you'll see.

Ell (guest): LOL I know. XD I got that game for my birthday this year, but I actually came up with the kid OCs before I thought of their storyline. So why not throw some Fire Emblem references in there? I just love that game so much.

DarkAle85: Oh, thank you! XD I'm glad you like it so much. :3 And... you'll see.

madluv: You love this story? XD That's awesome! I was hoping it would do okay here. And Ryuu? Hush, that's for later. We'll finally meet another kid next chapter, though~

luchiaseiren: Glad you think it's humorous! (I really do think I have the humor of a cynical 40-year-old woman in a dead-end job, so thanks!)

Himitsu26: Thank you! I'll continue to do my best in the future as well.

Fantita: Thanks~ And I can't wait to introduce the rest of the kids~!

Kuruizaki-hime: Awesome! XD Thanks for thinking so!

Guest (guest): Yay! Glad you loved it! I'm relieved that there weren't any noticeable typos... and I'm ecstatic that you're so into the story. :3 And sorry if it wasn't clear, but yes, Kuroko, Furihata, and Himuro (though not seen) are girls in the AU.

lito . dellamas: Haha! Good. I'm glad you loved the story! It's going to be a whole lot of fun writing about how the kids get along with their parents. :D

Crazy anko (guest): Yeah, I gave most the couples in the story two kids. And I'm glad that the three KagaKuro kids gave it a twist and separated it from other stories! (I've got a headcanon that Kagami really likes kids, but he's scared he's going to hurt them so he gets shy around them.) Thanks for the suggestion, I'll change the second genre to humor. Thanks~

LoveGonzo2: Oh, gosh beans, all you reviewers make me blush. Thank you~! I love the kids, too, they're so much fun to develop! The second of the main pairings is introduced here, so I hope you look forward to meeting their kid~

DivineCluster: Thank you~ And the kids? Yes, the other parallel universes' timelines run slightly faster or slower than this universe, so I'm having fun with this. And you reviewers seem to ship AkaFuri a lot... :D

The Second Hand of Time: XD Thanks for thinking so! And really? There was something similar to this? I don't spend too much time in the Ouran section since I watched the anime around 5-6 years ago... I hope my story doesn't seem like a rip-off! DX But I'm happy that the parallel is an interesting aspect~ It'll be explored more later, when the "Find the Kids" arc settles a bit. And I'm glad you'll continue to read the story! I hope it turned out funny... I've already got scenarios planned out for later when the story is more developed. (Also, thank you for being the first "update-or-die" reviewer I've had! I'm flattered!)