When Yashiro and Kuon arrived at the photographer's studio across town, Yashiro had mostly forgotten his terror at the prospect of a pregnant Kyoko. Mostly. He parked the car and went to Kuon's side to help him out of the passenger's seat. Kuon slid both of his legs out of the car, and Yashiro took both of his hands to pull him up… when something gold caught his eye.

Yashiro forgot to breathe for a moment. "What is THAT?"

Kuon gave him a sheepish grin. "Well, um… Kyoko and I got engaged yesterday."

The Friend part of Yashiro was internally whooping with glee at the prospect of his two favorite people deciding to live their lives together. The Manager part of Yashiro stared at the ring in horror. "You know if anyone sees that, they're going to have questions right?"

Kuon sighed and nodded. As they still weren't ready to reveal that Kyoko was his baby momma to the public, he understood that the presence of an engagement ring was problematic. "If I take it off for the shoot, you will take good care of it, right?" There was a malicious undertone there, suggesting that if Yashiro did not take care of the ring, that Kuon might possibly strangle him.

Yashiro looked aghast. "Ren, you know I wouldn't lose such an important thing!"

Kuon nodded. "I just needed to know that we were on the same page." He pulled at the ring to get it off…

But it did not budge.

Kuon tried again, only to find that the ring was quite stuck. He paled. "Uh… Yashiro-san, I can't get it off."

Yashiro's eyes bugged out of his head. "No. This cannot happen right now. Why isn't it coming off!?"

Kuon had slept with the ring on, and it had been a little snug to begin with, owing to the fact that Kyoko had used old information from the costume department to get the size. Since becoming pregnant, Kuon's fingers and feet had swollen, as he was retaining about as much water as a dromedary camel.

Yashiro took his turn to try and pry the ring from Kuon's finger. Kuon snatched his hand back as the skin pinched. "Ow! Shit!"

Yashiro paced back and forth next to the car in a panic, mussing his hair. "What do we do!? Ren, this is bad! Really bad!"

Kuon winced. "We could say it's a gift?"

Yashiro stared at him as if to say, Why, yes, Ren, because all single men are gifted with GOLDEN RINGS on the THIRD FINGER of their LEFT HAND.

Kuon pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're right, that was a dumb idea, I'm sorry."

Yashiro stopped, took a breath, gloved up, and pulled out his cell phone. He scrolled through his contacts, hit send, and held it up to his ear.

Across town, Lory Takarada's cell phone burst into It's Raining Men by The Weather Girls. He paused the dating sim on his console and answered. "Good Morning, Yashiro-san."

"Good morning, President-san. We have a situation."

Lory could hear the stress in Yashiro's voice. "What's going on?"

"Your Gorgeous Star has a certain ring on the third finger of his left hand that he can't remove. We're in the parking garage at the studio for the paternity shoot right now. I would like to know how you want this situation handled."

Lory sat up straighter, his eyebrows raising into his hairline. "A ring? Third finger, LEFT hand, you say?"

Yashiro nodded. "Yes, sir."

Lory laughed uproariously. "Put him on the phone!," he said through tears. He was still laughing when Kuon took the phone.

"It's not that funny."

Lory's laughter dissolved into a coughing fit. He took a moment to compose himself. "No, no it really isn't. Firstly, congratulations are in order, I think."

Kuon blushed. "Thank you."

"Secondly," said Lory, lighting a cigar, "If you really can't get it off, you're going to have to own it."

Kuon leaned against the side of Yashiro's car. "No way around it, then?"

Lory took a puff of his cigar. "Unless you want me to send someone to cut it off of you."

Kuon frowned. There was no way he was going to let anyone cut Kyoko's ring off of him. "No, that won't be necessary." He sighed. "So, what do we tell them?"

"Simple. You're engaged, it's new, you don't know details about the wedding as of yet, and no, she wishes to remain private, thank-you-very-much."

Yashiro heard Lory's response and almost started to sob. "What about the fangirls!?"

Lory smirked, his cigar clenched between his teeth. Kuon and Kyoko were his masterpiece, his proof that true love did exist in the world, and that it was worth fighting for. He wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of that. "Fuck 'em." He hung up and went back to his game.

Kuon handed the phone back to Yashiro, who was three shades paler than he had started that morning. He knew that announcing an engagement was going to one, throw the Renion into a frenzy, and two make the tabloids and paparazzi more ravenous for details about the identity of Ren's secret baby momma. He wasn't sure how much longer they were going to be able to keep Kyoko's identity a secret, especially given that they were living together.

"Cut! Good job everybody, let's break for lunch!"

Kyoko collapsed into a chair off set. She wore a wig with a pink pony tail down to her mid back, and a black faux leather catsuit.

"Kyoko-chan, I got you lunch."

She accepted the bento from her new manager, Ayame Hinamori, with a smile. They had only been working together for the last two weeks, but so far, Ayame had proven herself to be competent and professional. "Thank you, Ayame-san." She pulled the plastic lid off to find a spicy tuna roll, rice, and tempura chicken. "This looks great!"

Ayame sat down in the chair beside her with a smile. "I hope it tastes as good as it looks."

Kyoko was ravenous. After filming for the last four hours and having to do some stunt work, her stomach was screaming at her. Ayame pulled her phone out to scroll through social media while Kyoko took her break. What she saw stopped her dead. She eyed her charge over her glasses. "Is there something you might want to share with me, Kyoko-chan?"

Kyoko blinked at her as she swallowed a mouthful of chicken. "No? Why? Is something wrong?"

Ayame held out her phone so Kyoko could see it. "They're saying that Ren is engaged," she whispered.

Kyoko sputtered and almost choked on her lunch as she took in the picture of Kuon. He had been photographed outside the photography studio, and the picture had been magnified to show the ring on his hand. It hadn't even occurred to her that he would be so obvious about it when she had asked him to marry her. She had been discreet about her ring; she had switched it over to her right hand to disguise its meaning. She had received several compliments on it that morning before her costume change, but had kept the fact that it was an engagement ring to herself.

When Ayame had been hired by Lory, she had been made privy to the goings-on between Kuon and Kyoko, so she knew they were an item, and knew that Kyoko was Kuon's secret baby momma, but the news of this engagement had shocked her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kyoko cleared her throat and set her bento box aside. She bowed. "I am deeply sorry, Ayame-san. I didn't realize that he was going to be so public about it. Did he… name me?"

Ayame shook her head. "It doesn't seem that way. Next time something like this happens, please tell me so there are no surprises."

Kyoko nodded. "I will make sure to let you know next time."

The rest of Kyoko's day was spent internally panicking, and doing her best to keep it from affecting her performance as Harumi. After using every ounce of her willpower to keep her focus and deliver amazing scenes, she arrived at home that night an exhausted husk.

She shut the door behind her and kicked her shoes off. Kuon was in the kitchen when she came in. He set his bowl of ice cream with hot sauce down on the counter, excited to see her. "Kyoko-chan!"

She put her hands on her hips. "We need to talk."

He blushed and looked at his feet. "It's about the ring, isn't it?"

"I thought we weren't going to be so obvious about it…," she said, disappointed.

Kuon frowned. "I'm really sorry, Kyoko-chan. I… I couldn't get it off."

"You couldn't get it off? Is it stuck!?," she came around the kitchen island to look at this hand. She took his hand in hers and noted that his finger was red and swollen. "Does it hurt!?"

He shook his head. "I'm sure when I'm not so swollen anymore, it'll come off. Until then…"

Kyoko sighed. "Not 'until then', Kuon." She went to the cupboard and got a bowl and then took it over to the refrigerator where she filled it with ice water. She set the bowl on the counter. "Put your finger in there."

He did as he was told. Kyoko held his free hand. "I'm just glad you didn't do this on purpose. Ayame-san wasn't very happy with me today."

He frowned. "I'm really sorry, Kyoko-chan."

She gave him a small smile. "It's okay, Corn. How was your shoot? Do you have pictures?"

He lit up and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "It was actually really fun! I didn't think I would have fun with it, and I thought it would even be kinda weird, but…" he opened his photos folder and handed it to Kyoko.

The first picture was of him in his underwear, holding his belly with a gentle smile on his face. The next was of him holding a flower crown in his hands with a look of befuddlement. Then he was wearing the flower crown, looking a bit unsure.

"The photographer wanted to make it a kind of parody of a maternity shoot."

Kyoko giggled. "I think he succeeded. These are great. Oh!" There was a picture of Yashiro behind Kuon, holding his belly as though he might be the proud papa. Kyoko dissolved into laughter at the looks on their faces. Then she frowned a little.

Kuon saw the look and knew something was wrong. "Are you okay?"

She gave him a sad smile. "I'm just… sad that I couldn't be there with you." She swiped to the next picture and swallowed hard. It was of Kuon in an open suit jacket with slacks, holding his bare belly, giving his best sexy, sultry look to the camera.

Kuon saw the color rising in her cheeks and peeked down at the picture she was viewing. When he saw it, he smirked. "You like that one, huh?"

Kyoko hit the 'off' button on the side of the phone and handed his phone back to him quickly, embarrassed to have been caught. She had always thought he was particularly handsome in a suit. "They were all very nice!"

His laugh was a low rumble in his throat as he pocketed the phone. He was quite pleased with himself.

"How did the interview go? What did you tell them about the ring?"

He shrugged. "It was a normal interview. They asked about the ring, and I told them that I was engaged, it had only just happened, we don't know any details about the wedding yet, and we're still keeping your identity private to protect you."

Kyoko breathed a small sigh of relief. Though she wanted to be with him publicly, they just weren't ready yet. She took his hand out of the ice water and examined his finger. It looked less swollen. She tugged on the ring a bit, and it came off with a little gentle twisting. Kuon's mouth popped open in surprise. "You're a genius!"

She giggled at him as he stared at his bare finger in wonderment. "It's not that impressive." She peered into his forgotten bowl on the counter. "Is that… hot sauce?"

He picked his bowl of ice cream back up and took a bite. His eyes rolled back in ecstasy. "It's delicious! You should try some!"

She shook her head. "I'll take your word for it."

The following day, Kyoko had the day off. She woke up and rolled out of bed to go start breakfast. When she entered the living room, however, she was met with several lights, a backdrop, and a camera on a tripod. She rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was still dreaming. "Uh…Kuon? What is all of this?"

He was sitting on the couch, which had been moved away from the center of the room to make room for the makeshift photo set. When he saw her, he got to his feet and waddled over to her. He took her hands. "You said last night that you wanted to be there for the pictures… so I thought we could take some pictures just for us since you're off today."

Tears welled in her eyes and she hugged him. "That is so thoughtful. Thank you."

The front door of the apartment opened and Ruto entered, dragging a large black case behind him. Kuon blinked. "I thought you brought all of the equipment up already, Ruto-san?"

Ruto set the case down near the tripod and popped the latches open. "The President wanted me to bring plenty of props." There were masks, flowers, fake mustaches… Kuon pulled a face. "I'm not sure that's the vibe we're going for…"

Kyoko laughed as she began to fuss around the kitchen. "Let's eat, and then we'll decide what 'vibe' we're going for."

She poured them twin bowls of breakfast cereal, vowing that she would do something much more nutritious and complicated for lunch. They ate quickly, and then went to the prop box. Kyoko dug around inside of it. There were feather boas, body paint, a tutu, and other miscellaneous odds and ends. She shook her head. "I don't think we really need any of this…"

Kuon nodded. "I say we go put on nice outfits and just take some normal pictures."

Kyoko dressed in jeans and a white button-down with rolled up sleeves, and Kuon wore jeans and went shirtless. Ruto had them sit on the floor in front of the backdrop. Kyoko looked up at him in surprise as he adjusted the camera. "I didn't know you took pictures, Ruto-san. Is there anything you can't do?"

He gave her a mischievous smile. "No." He finished adjusting and then pointed at them. "If you two are ready, we should do some cute cuddle pics first. So… cuddle."

Kyoko blushed. They had never cuddled in front of anyone before. The closest they had gotten to that was their public hug as the Heels. Kuon put an arm around her and pulled her against his side. "Just relax, Kyoko-chan," he said. And she did. He kissed the top of her head, and a flash went off.

"Yes! Perfect! The President is going to love these!"

Kuon sighed and covered his face with his hand. "And why does he need to see them?" he asked, exasperated.

Ruto blinked. "You didn't really think he would send me and set this up for free without any kind of repayment?"

Kuon rolled his eyes. "You're right. How silly of me for thinking we could have a moment to ourselves."

Kyoko giggled nervously. "Let's just do the pictures so we can enjoy them. Your parents will probably want to see them, too."

"You're right," said Kuon, resigned to their fate.

They refocused on posing for the camera. There were pictures of Kyoko kissing Kuon's belly, and pictures of her looking lovingly into his eyes while holding his belly. They made their hands into a heart over his belly, and even shared a kiss for the camera even though they both felt a bit shy doing so in front of Ruto. Though the photo session started off on a weird foot, by the end of it, they were happy with the results.

It took a couple of weeks for the pictures to be edited and touched up. Lory scrolled through them on his laptop, giddy. He couldn't have asked for better, more romantic pictures. He ordered a photobook for himself before sending them on to Kuon. Though they had enough bedrooms for each individual baby to have their own nursery, they had decided that it would be easier at the start to have all three in the same room, and had begun furnishing the room. They had a large print made of the heart hands picture to put on the far wall of the room, over all three of the cribs.

They still had no idea of the sex of the third baby, as it had continued to be elusive during ultrasounds, so they had decided on a neutral gray scheme for the room. Two of the white cribs had been outfitted with distinct colored sheets. The first was robin's egg blue, and the second was lime green. They knew that one day in the future, their children could change what gender they identified with, but for now, they chose to simply go by their sex just to simplify things.

As for names, they were still stuck.

"Do you like Tadao?," asked Kuon, as they sat watching tv after dinner.

Kyoko shook her head. "Maybe we should go with K names?"

Kuon screwed up his face. "Like the Kartrashians?"

She laughed. "No! Your dad is Kuu, you're Kuon, I'm Kyoko… I just thought it might be cute." And if baby C is a girl, I can name her Kanae… she thought neatly.

"And leave mom out?," he asked, his eyebrow raised. He knew that Julie would never take that lying down.

Kyoko giggled. "You're right, she'd throw a fit. I still feel like one of the boys should have a name like you and Father. What about Kuzen?"

He blinked in surprise. "I… I actually like it!"

She smiled widely. "Did we just just name Baby A!?"

His eyes widened. "Holy shit, I think we did! We got one of three!"

Kyoko got up from the couch and hopped up and down excitedly. "Just two more!"

Kuon sank against the couch cushions. "Six weeks. Two more names. You think we can do it?"

She collapsed next to him on the couch. "As long as Baby C doesn't keep ducking Doctor Kojima." It was hard enough coming up with good names that didn't sound ridiculous that they liked, let alone coming up with names when they didn't know the sex of the third baby.

Though Kyoko was still nervous about potentially having a daughter, she had slowly begun to get used to the idea. She imagined all of the things that she hadn't gotten to do with her mother. All of the shopping trips that they could have had, and activities they could have done together. All of the love that Saena never gave her, that should have simply been her birthright; the hugs, and kisses, and support that Saena should have given freely, instead of the anger, resentment, and hurt.

She vowed that if Baby C was, in fact, a girl, that she would have all of the things that Kyoko never had and more.