Estee and Coco smothered their giggles as they hid behind Hikaru and Kaoru in the darkened lobby alcove where they were waiting for Rene to get home from work. All of the surprise guests had arrived and they, and everyone else, were already gathered in the apartment Rene shared with Yuzuru. "Do you think he'll be disappointed that we're not having his birthday dinner in the dining room like usual?" Hikaru whispered as he peeked around the corner when he heard the front door open.

"Nah. As long as the whole family is there, he probably won't care one way or the other," Kaoru murmured in response, crowding to look over his brother's shoulder. "Is he running late? Or is it just me?"

Checking the time, Estee commented, "He should be here within the next few minutes, unless something came up at work or traffic is heavy." She pulled the twins back by their shirts so she could peek around the corner at the front door.

Estee jumped when a voice questioned, "What are you doing lurking here in the dark? Making out before heading into the dining room for my birthday party?" Rene chuckled as his brothers and their wives spun around to eye him suspiciously. "Apparently, since you were watching the front door, you lot seem to have forgotten that I drive myself to work and park in the garage."

Coco laughed and clapped her hands in delight. "That's true, we did forget."

Kaoru shook his head in exasperation at himself. "Oh well, at least we got your attention to tell you that your birthday dinner will not be in the dining room this year. Since it's just family, Yuzuru wanted to have the party in your shared apartment."

Rene deflated slightly at the mention of the party being family only. "I guess Chisato and Fudo weren't able to make it from Yokohama."

Hikaru shrugged. "I haven't seen them."

Estee glanced sideways at him and remarked tentatively, "They may have arrived and headed directly to your apartment. Why don't we go see?"

Hikaru surreptitiously pulled out his phone and hit send on a text that he had created earlier.

Yuzuru paused in his story when his phone chimed with a text. He pulled it out and checked the message. Standing up, he announced, "Rene is home and headed up with the twins and their wives. Everyone hide while I turn the lights off."

People scurried around to hide behind the sofa, inside the kitchen doorway, and even behind the curtains. Yuzuru hushed them all as he turned out the lights and waited by the switch for Rene to open the door to the apartment.

Rene stepped out of the elevator and headed in the direction of his apartment with the twins and their wives trailing behind him, smiling and quietly giggling among themselves as they tried not to give away the surprise.

"I'm home," Rene called as he swung the door open. He puzzled at the dark room, expecting his family to be waiting for him.

After a dramatic pause, Yuzuru flipped the lights on and everyone popped out yelling, "Surprise!"

Rene jumped back and collided with Hikaru and Kaoru. The twins pushed him forward and followed him into the apartment. Estee and Coco stepped in and closed the door behind them.

Grinning, Rene looked around the room to see everyone from his family. Then his face lit up when Marinette slipped up to his side and pulled him into a hug. "Surprised?" she said with a giggle.

"Yeah," Rene stuttered as he looked around to see Nino, Adrien, Alya, Chisato, and Fudo. His brows pulled into a scowl as he fixed his gaze on Hikaru and Kaoru's grins. "You two devils!" He pointed at Hikaru. "You lied when you said it was only family tonight."

Hikaru moved his hand in a rocking motion. "I didn't exactly lie. You asked specifically about Chisato and Fudo. I just said I hadn't seen them, which I hadn't. Yuzuru was the one that said it was only going to be family."

Yuzuru called out, "With the Hinans, friends are family." He glanced over at Ritsu standing next to Tetsuya.

Rene rolled his eyes at his brothers before his attention was drawn back to his Paris friends. "Yo, dude," Nino called, holding out a fist.

Rene looked at it for a moment before he realized what was expected. He made a fist and bumped it against Nino's. "Thanks for coming. I was just thinking about you guys this morning. I'd planned to check the time difference and call Sabine to ask about you. And now you're here."

A male cleared his throat behind Rene. Turning around, Rene was pulled into a hug by Chisato and Fudo. "Happy birthday," Chisato said as she tousled his hair like she would one of her younger siblings.

"Hey!" Rene exclaimed indignantly as he tried to pull away. Fudo laughed at Rene's reaction before pulling Chisato to his side.

Yuzuru clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "The buffet is set up in the kitchen. Help yourselves and settle wherever you find space. Kairi will be bringing the dessert up later."

After they were settled around the living room enjoying the meal, Marinette commented, "Okay, so when you all showed up in Paris five years ago, there were seven Hinans. Just how many are there now?"

Rene looked at Kyoya with a puzzled expression. "Hey, otou-san, what is the current count?"

Grinning, Kyoya asked, "So, Marinette, do you want that with or without spouses?"

With a mischievous expression, she tapped her chin in contemplation before replying, "Just the adopted ones. Then you can list the spouses."

"Very well," he remarked as he stood and closed his eyes to mentally count. When Kyoya opened his eyes, he said definitively, "There are twelve…" He grew quiet for a moment before continuing, "Well, there were twelve. It's been nearly two years since Shima passed away."

Rene sighed as he remembered the housekeeper who was more a grandmother to him than Shizue ever could have been. Softly he remarked, "Shima was one hundred when she died. She said that the time spent with us was the happiest of her life."

Yuzuru wrapped an arm around Rene's shoulders and gave him a side hug. "Shima was someone incredibly special. She is greatly missed."

Laying his head on Yuzuru's shoulder, Rene murmured, "You're right, Dad."

"Wait, 'Dad'?" Nino asked. "I thought he was your brother."

The Hinans laughed. Hikaru said, "Yeah, we have some strange relationships in this family. Now Ageha, Kaoru, and I were siblings before, and we came as a package deal. On the other hand, Kyoya and Fuyumi were siblings before, but Kyoya was adopted three years before Fuyumi."

Mitsukuni interrupted, "Takashi and I were cousins before we were adopted. And then there's Kirimi who was my cousin-in-law and is now my sister."

"That makes me feel like the stepchild at a family reunion," Tetsuya teased. "All the rest of you have some connection to another family member. I guess I'm the odd man out."

"But we love you anyway," Haruhi quipped as she gave him a side hug. He ruffled her hair and she harumphed in playful protest.

Once the laughter died down, Nino asked, "So who are the spouses, now that we've established the adoptees?"

Fuyumi stood up and started to point out the couples around the room before anyone else could. "Mitsukuni is married to Reiko. They had a little girl, Minami, just six weeks ago."

"So we have a next generation as well as spouses," Yuzuru pointed out.

Fuyumi continued, "Takashi married Chiharu. Kyoya married Haruhi, officially making them otou-san and okaa-san."

Kyoya shook his head and Haruhi rolled her eyes. "You're never going to let us live that down, are you?" Kyoya remarked.

"It's just too much fun to tease you about it," Fuyumi said. Then she continued, "Of course you know about Hikaru, Estee, Kaoru, and Coco. Or as my daughter Hibiki likes to refer to them HE and KC."

Alya squealed excitedly, "They even have ship names! That's so cool!" She started to search her pockets, frowning in disappointment when she realized her notebook was packed away. She turned to Nino and started to insist he go get it for her.

Nino grabbed her hands between his and looked her directly in the eye. "This is not some exclusive story that you have to write about. It is my friend Rene's birthday party."

She tried to tug away as she whined, "But you don't understand…"

Haruhi interrupted, "You can always just look through the official Hinan scrapbook later." The Parisians looked at her quizzically. She smiled and explained, "A few years ago a lot of people were asking about the Hinan family. Rather than constantly repeating the story, Estee, Coco, and I discussed writing a book. However, we realized that it would have to be revised every time there was a major change in the family."

"As often as that happens, it was just impractical," Estee added. "We finally hit on the idea of a scrapbook because it's easy to add pages."

"Then we decided to make one for each member of the family, as well as a couple extras for future additions," Coco finished.

"But it can wait," Nino insisted, much to Alya's disappointment.

Kaoru patted Nino's shoulder as he assured, "We have our copies at the Hitachiin estate. She should have plenty of time to look it over before we leave on Sunday."

Rene was startled from watching the spectacle by Marinette handing him a phone. When he looked at her questioningly, she said, "You mentioned checking time differences. Here's my mom. Why don't you go to a quiet corner to talk to her while we contained the…overly enthusiastic journalist."

Just as Rene ended the phone call five minutes later, there was a knock on the apartment's door. Yuzuru opened it to reveal Kairi pushing a cart with an elaborate dessert. "Happy birthday, Rene," Kairi called.

"I can't believe it! It's a croquembrouche! I haven't had one since before I left France!" Rene practically danced around with his hands clasped under his chin. Abruptly he stopped and looked at Kairi with a serious expression. "I don't know how to thank you."

Grinning, Kairi replied, "Your reaction was the best response I could hope for." Sweeping a bow toward the sugary confection, "Enjoy."

While Rene fawned eloquently over the elaborate dessert, Marinette and Adrien drew Kyoya aside. "We can't thank you enough for the work your security firms have done on investigating the talent agency and Gabriel. It has been instrumental in building the case against the agency for cancelling the models and photographer at the last minute, nearly ruining my premiere," Marinette stated.

Adrien added, "Not to mention helping me get out of the clutches of Gabriel. I refuse to call him my father." Marinette rubbed his back soothingly. "It was so much worse than I imagined when I found out my university bills hadn't been paid. It turned out that, not only had he failed to pay me for all the modeling I did for his fashion house, but he also spent the trust that my maternal grandfather left for me." Adrien's fists were clenched in anger by the time he finished.

"Glad to help," Kyoya replied. "Please let me know if you need any other assistance."

Marinette twisted her fingers together and Kyoya raised as eyebrow questioningly. "Well," she started. "I don't mean to complain, but the invoices we've received for the work your firms have done seem a little low." She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. "You haven't had them reduced because you think I can't afford it, have you?"

Chuckling, Kyoya remarked, "No. The reason they seem low is because the information is also being used by several other clients, so the costs are being split among you."

"Other clients?" Adrien asked in confusion as he finally relaxed.

The dark smirk on Kyoya's face made both of the Parisians take a step back. "Based on the information my security officers gathered, they contacted authorities about criminal charges as well as other designers who were sabotaged, like you were. In addition to entities you are pursuing damages against, Style Queen Magazine and Audrey Bourgeois have been implicated in blackmail, industrial espionage, and theft." He barely contained the urge to cackle and rub his hands together like a cartoon villain getting the drop on the hero, but in reverse. "Just another bite out of corruption," he thought to himself.

Haruhi swatted her husband's arm gently. "Stop scaring the guests." She turned to Marinette and Adrien. "Don't mind the Shadow King. He just can't help himself."

Wrapping his arm around her waist, Kyoya drew Haruhi to his side and kissed her temple before remarking, "Hey, I'm not the only one who takes delight in the bad guys getting their comeuppance. Just look at Cormorant Construction, the Sendo Syndicate, the misogynistic jerks during university…"

"Okay, okay," Haruhi laughed. "Point taken." She kissed his cheek. "That, however, does not negate my point about you scaring our guests."

Adrien gulped. "I'm glad you're with us. I'd hate to get on your bad side."

Suddenly Rene appeared and draped his arms over Marinette and Adrien's shoulders. "Come, mes amis. You must come have some of Kairi's amazing creation." He pulled them in the direction of the cart. "Marinette, you must tell me how it compares to the one your parents make."

As the group started to gather around the delicious pastry, Fuyumi suddenly straightened, looked pointedly at Kaoru and asked, "What did you mean by 'before we leave on Sunday'?"

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