Kuon sighed and shifted uncomfortably as he waited on a hard wooden bench in the lobby of the courthouse. He had been asked to testify in court as to the events of the mpreg commercial. He tapped his foot as he waited for the proceedings to begin. He could see the idiot director that had contributed to his pregnancy across the hallway, speaking to a dark-haired woman in a black suit jacket with matching pencil skirt. His jaw clenched uncomfortably as he thought about how much he'd like to smack him around a little bit, when the woman turned to face him.

His stomach felt like it dropped out of his ass. He had only ever seen her on television, but he could not mistake the look of cool detachment on her face when he had seen it on the face of her daughter's Mio Hongo half a million times.

"Ren, are you okay?"

Kuon snapped out of it and looked up at Yashiro, who had just come back from the bathroom. He nodded his head in Saena's direction. "Don't look, but I'm pretty sure the opposing counsel is Kyoko's mother."

Yashiro gloved up, pulled his phone out, and put his camera in reverse to look over his shoulder at the woman. Oh, fuck a duck, he thought. He swallowed and pocketed his phone. "How do you want to handle this?"

Kuon sighed and shook his head. "We do what we came here to do. They need to pay for what they did." Kuon loved his babies already, and was grateful that his relationship with Kyoko had developed further after the events of the last few months, but the pregnancy had torpedoed several projects that he was going to be a part of, had changed the trajectory of his entire career, and to add insult to injury, had given him hemorrhoids.

The doors of the courtroom opened and they were let inside. Yashiro took his seat behind the plaintiff's table, just behind Kuon. Everyone was made to rise a few minutes later when the judge entered the room. She was a skinny, older woman, with a severe-looking face and a take-no-shit attitude. Kuon was reminded distinctly of a TV show that he would watch when he was home sick from school as a kid, Judge Juvy.

Saena wasted no time. "The defense calls Ren Tsuruga to the stand."

Kuon got to his feet and went to sit next to the judge in the front of the room. Saena straightened her skirt before approaching him. "Are you aware of how this product works, Tsuruga-san?"

He sat up a little straighter. "It works through the swapping of DNA."

"And are you aware of how DNA is swapped, Tsuruga-san?"

He turned a bit pink. "I was led to believe that it required sexual intercourse–"

Ren's lawyer stood up. "Objection! My client is not an expert on DNA swapping." This hurt Kuon's pride just a bit; he could 'swap DNA' with the best of them…

Judge Juvy nodded. "Sustained. Please continue, Mogami-san."

Saena nodded and picked back up where she left off. "But you are aware that DNA can be swapped through means other than sexual intercourse, are you not?"

Kuon felt his jaw clench. "Yes," he muttered, grudgingly.

"So, you put the product on your skin, fully aware of the effects and possible consequences of doing so?"

Kuon narrowed his eyes on her. "No. I put the product on myself thinking that it wasn't the actual product, and that there would be no consequences from the application of the product. Usually in my line of work, there is a fake used in place of the real deal for a commercial."

Saena slid a piece of paper over the desk to him. "If you would look here at Exhibit D. Is that your signature, Tsuruga-san?"

He looked down at it. "Yes. It is."

"Would you mind telling me what that piece of paper is, Tsuruga-san?"

He read over it, a vein throbbing in his forehead as he did so.. "It's an outline of the script that was approved by the pharmaceutical company."

"And where in the script does it say for you to apply the drug to your skin?"

If he hadn't hated her before for how she had behaved toward her own daughter, he absolutely hated her now. "Nowhere."

She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. "Hm. So you took it upon yourself to put the drug on your skin, after the script gave no indication to do so, and after you were informed of the workings of said drug and the side effects thereafter?"

Kuon's blood turned to ice in his veins. He felt a tingling in his fingertips; he had never slapped a woman, but she was testing the limits of his patience. "I was not informed that the actual drug would be in play."

"Well, you know what they say about assuming, Tsuruga-san." Her dark red lips curled into a smirk. "The presence of the real drug is immaterial. You were not specifically told, at any point, to apply the product to your skin. Thank you for your statement, Tsuruga-san. You may go back to your seat."

Kuon spent the next hour seething. How could she twist everything that had happened to make him look so incompetent!? To make him look like he was the one in the wrong!? Finally, mercifully, the Judge released them all until the next court date. He got up from his chair, making sure to follow Saena Mogami out to the lobby.

Saena entered the bathroom to freshen up a bit before heading back to the office. She checked her lipstick in the mirror and smoothed down a couple of flyaways. The door opened, and a much larger figure entered the room. When she looked over and saw Kuon, she arched a perfectly-manicured eyebrow at him.

"Tsuruga-san, this is the women's restroom."

He turned and locked the bathroom door. "I know that, Mogami-san. I need to speak with you privately." It felt weird calling someone else 'Mogami-san'.

Normally, this would have frightened her, as unflappable as she pretended to be. However, at almost 30 weeks pregnant, Kuon was a lot less of a threat. She turned to face him. "And why would that necessitate you cornering me in a women's bathroom? Could you not have called my office and arranged for a formal meeting?"

Kuon was almost shaking with anger. "It's amazing to me how you two can look so similar and yet be so different."

She crossed her arms. "To whom are you referring?"

"Your daughter, Kyoko."

Saena straightened up. "I have no idea what you are talking abo–"

"No, you do." he cut her off. "You should know that when you were on television and told the whole world that you didn't have a child, she was a wreck. You broke her heart."

"And why exactly would you care about that?" she sneered at him.

"Because she's the mother of my children.," he spat.

Saena froze. "She… what?" she asked in disbelief.

Kuon drew himself up to his full height, which was getting to be much more difficult these days. "It was an accident, as we stated. We intend to marry as soon as possible, though we may have to wait two more years. I'm well aware that marrying before she is 20 would necessitate your consent." He clenched his jaw. "I'm not even sure why I'm telling you this. You've never given much of a shit about her anyway." The truth was that, he hoped that somewhere inside of her cold, dead heart, she could find it in herself to love her daughter. He also, maybe a little selfishly, hoped that this revelation might help him win his court case.

Saena took a step back from him, her arms wrapping protectively around her. "I think you should leave."

He glared at her. "Yeah, I probably should." He turned, unlocked the door, and left.

Saena fell to her knees in front of the sink. The last time that she and Kyoko had met, Kyoko had hoped that Saena could be proud of her one day. After the impossible standards that Saena had set, and the withholding of her love, and even leaving her to live with another family instead of looking after Kyoko herself, Kyoko still only wanted her mother's approval.

Kuon had given Saena a lot to think about.

Kyoko stepped out of a taxi after doing an interview for Silver Flash that afternoon. She was excited to be home so early that day; her schedule had been even crazier since filming had wrapped. She had done several more auditions, two of which she had callbacks on, and had been inundated with interviews, comic convention appearances, and other promotional events. Finding time to be home alone with Kuon had become a lot more challenging lately, and she was looking forward to having a dinner with him that she had cooked herself that night.

"Kyoko-chan!"

She looked over to see who was calling for her and took an aggressive camera flash to the face.

"Do you live here!? What are you working on!? Are you single!?" The man was in his mid-forties, wearing a turned back baseball cap, a t-shirt, and a large camera strapped around his neck. Kyoko froze, not knowing what to do. The camera went off several more times, blinding her and disorienting her.

"I– what–!?"

There was the sound of squealing tires behind her. "Kyoko-chan, get in!"

She turned around to find Kuon yelling to her out the window of Yashiro's car. The paparazzo was confused at first, and then amazed that he had struck gold.

"Tsuruga-san! How is your pregnancy going!? Do you have names picked out yet!?"

Kyoko practically threw herself into the back seat and slammed the door shut. Yashiro sped away, leaving the paparazzo yelling after them and snapping more pictures in the street.

Kuon turned around in his seat to look at her. "Are you okay!?"

Kyoko tried to take deep breaths to calm down. "I… yes? I don't know! What was that!?"

He gave her a sad smile. "That was the double-edged sword of fame."

Yashiro sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "And now they have pictures of the two of you together, outside of where you both live. I was hoping that the picture of you and I together would last longer in the rumor mill…"

Kyoko's hands flew to her cheeks. "I didn't even think about that! Oh no! Yashiro-san, I'm so sorry!"

He shook his head. "It was bound to happen anyway. I'll circle the block, make sure he clears off, and then drop you guys off in the garage."

When they finally made it upstairs to their apartment, Kyoko was almost in tears when they got in the door. "Kuon, I'm so sorry. I didn't think anyone would want pictures of me or anything–"

He pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was so scared when I saw that guy snapping pictures and you, frozen there like a deer in headlights."

She hugged him back. "I'm okay. I just didn't even know how to react. He asked if I lived here, and I just panicked!"

He kissed the top of her head and went to the kitchen. He got a bottle of water from the refrigerator and passed it to her. "It'll be easier once we're public. Then we won't have to lie." He pointed at the couch. "Do you mind if we sit? I need to talk to you about something."

Kyoko went to the couch and took a seat. Kuon sat down next to her and faced her. "Your mother is working for MPREG as their lawyer."

She seemed to turn just a shade more pale. "Oh."

He put his head in his hands. "And… I may have told her about us."

"You WHAT?" Kyoko was staring at him, open-mouthed.

He gave her the Cain Heel puppy eyes. "I just wanted her to know how much she hurt you, and I was angry that she questioned me and made me seem like the bad guy, and I kinda lost my cool. I'm really sorry, Kyoko-chan."

Kyoko swallowed hard and set her water bottle down on the coffee table. "What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything. She just told me to leave."

She considered that for a moment and then picked up her bottle of water to take another sip. "Well… I was going to have to face her soon anyway. We need her consent to marry."

Kuon blinked. "You want to get married now?" He didn't think she'd want to actually marry for a while.

"We have three babies coming. I want to have the same last name as they have. I want it known that I'm their mother, and I want our family to be whole," she said simply. "If at all possible, I want to be married before they get here."

Kuon stared at her. "Kyoko-chan, they'll be here in like three weeks." He had accomplished a lot of things in his life, but he was not confident that they could pull off a whole wedding with all the trappings in less than three weeks.

Kyoko nodded. "I know. We can have a bigger wedding later. I just want it to be offi–Kuon!"

He hugged her, hard, unable to contain his excitement. "I'll get Lory to contact her for the consent paperwork!"

She giggled against his chest. "You don't have to do that. I'll just go see her."

He released her halfway and looked down at her. "Are you sure? You don't have to. Lory can just contact her behind the scenes…"

Kyoko shook her head. "I should at least see her and let her tell me off for being an irresponsible little flirt."

Kuon's mouth hardened into a thin line. "Why should she get to do that? You did nothing wrong."

"We kissed in your bed, Kuon. If I hadn't put myself in that position–"

The NG sigh was as loud as it had ever been. "Kyoko, we are in love. We kissed. We did not have unprotected premarital sex in my bed. We did absolutely nothing shameful, or even illegal, for that matter."

Kyoko turned bright red at the mention of premarital sex. He continued.

"No one should be making you feel badly about what happened. No one. Least of all someone who abandoned you and didn't even bother to raise you."

Kyoko looked down at her lap so he couldn't see her eyes. He knew that he had messed up immediately.

"Kyoko-chan–"

"No. You're right. She didn't raise me. She abandoned me. She didn't want me. Doesn't want me."

He took her hands. "But I want you. Kuzen, Jiro, and C, they want you, too."

"I just wanted her to be proud of me," she whispered. "Now it'll never happen." She cleared her throat and got up from the couch. "I'm going to make dinner."

He watched her walk over to the kitchen and start fussing with ingredients in the fridge. He had no idea what to say to her to make this better.

The following day, Kyoko slipped into the passenger seat of her manager's car, looking a little worse-for-wear. Ayame passed her a coffee and looked over her face. "Are you okay, Kyoko-chan?"

Kyoko plastered her fake ryokan smile on her face. "I'm fine, Ayame-san. I just didn't sleep very well. What's on the schedule for today?"

Ayame pulled out of the spot in the garage apprehensively. "I'm dropping you off at the spa."

Kyoko blinked. "S-spa? I–why?"

"You're on the fast track to becoming one of LME's brightest stars. You need to look your best. I've booked you a wax, a massage, a facial, and a mani/pedi."

Kyoko's mouth fell open. "Don't I have an interview, or a shoot, or-or something!?"

Ayame chuckled. "No. I wanted to surprise you with this since you've been so busy."

"C-can I skip the wax?," Kyoko asked, hoping that the answer would be 'yes'.

Ayame shrugged. "I suppose you can, but I'd advise against it. If you wax, it'll take a few weeks for the hair to grow back and save you tons of time."

Kyoko thought it over for a moment, and then resigned herself to getting the wax.

They parked in a garage down the street and walked over. The spa was a small place with a lotus stenciled in pink on the front window. The front door opened, and Kanae Kotonami stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"Mo! I've been waiting for forever!"

Kyoko gaped at her. "Moko-san!? What are you doing here?"

Ayame chuckled. "Just one more surprise." She bowed to Kyoko. "I'll pick you up later, Kyoko-chan. Enjoy your day!"

Kanae grabbed her friend and practically dragged her into the spa while Ayame made a beeline back to her car before Kyoko could protest. She drove a few blocks over, parked in another garage, and walked down the street to a cake shop. The front window had the french blinds drawn, and the closed sign was up on the door. She rapped on the door in a sort of code. The door opened.

"Password?" the tiny old woman asked.

"Operation Pixie Dust."

The woman ushered her inside and shut the door quickly behind her.

"Hinamori-san. Thank you for coming."

She made her way toward a table near the front counter where Kuon sat with Yashiro. Kuon had been the one to offer a greeting; Yashiro was tongue-tied. He had thought she sounded hot on the phone; having it confirmed in person was almost too much for him.

She bowed and then removed her coat and sat down at the table. "Not a problem at all, Tsuruga-san. What is it that you wanted to discuss?"

"Kyoko-chan's birthday is in two weeks, and I want to throw her a birthday party. I want to invite anyone who means anything to her, and I want it to be a surprise." He gave her a sad little smile. "Since we don't have the same manager anymore, it's made planning things a little more difficult. Especially now since her schedule is even more packed than mine."

Ayame pulled her phone out and opened her calendar app. "She has an interview on the 25th, but nothing else is booked yet. Does that day work for you?"

They waited in silence for a moment and then Kuon turned to look at Yashiro, who was staring at Ayame's face, admiring the shape and color of her eyes, and how her glasses complemented them. "Yashiro-san? Can you check the calendar for me?"

Yashiro, realizing that he had been staring, awestricken, at this beautiful woman, immediately fumbled in his pocket for his phone. "Ah! Y-yes! Sorry!" He began to tap the passcode on the screen, and then the screen blipped into darkness. Yashiro blinked and pushed the power button on the phone. Then pushed it and held it. When it didn't boot up, he tilted his head… and then he set the phone down on the tabletop, removed his glasses, and covered his eyes in embarrassment. "I touched it without gloves."

Kuon, who had noticed his friend's demeanor change when Ayame entered the shop, didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He settled for patting him on the back. "It's okay, Yashiro-san. Glove up, we'll use my phone."

Ayame didn't know what to make of the bespectacled man seated across from her. She had heard that he was one of the best managers in the business, so why was he fumbling this meeting so hard? He bowed to her as he pulled his gloves on.

"I'm terribly sorry about this, Hinamori-san." He felt like a complete and total idiot.

Ayame gave him a kind smile. "We all have off days, Yashiro-san. Don't worry about it."

Kuon handed his phone to him, and Yashiro entered his username and password into the calendar app to access it. "After last year's Happy Grateful Party, I tried to keep your schedule light for the 25th, in case Kyoko wanted to plan something else. You've got your appointment with Jelly that morning, but nothing else for the rest of the day. So it should be a go."

Ayame smiled. "Wonderful. Now we just need a venue, a cake, entertainment, food, and drinks."

Kuon was immediately stricken with inspiration. "Excuse me," he called to the little old lady at the counter. "Could you show me where the bathroom is?"

She bowed to him with a smile. "Of course, Tsuruga-san, right this way!"

When they were out of earshot of the two managers, Kuon whispered to her. "Would it be possible for you and I to disappear for a little bit and I'll try some cake? My friend over there–"

"Needs a moment alone with that pretty lady?," she finished, with a quiet giggle. She had noticed Yashiro's not-so-subtle behavior. "Of course. The kitchen's over here."

A VERY special thank you to Parkerbear, for lending her legal expertise to this chapter, and for beta reading all of my shit, and just generally being the best waifu. My courtroom scene would have been *shit* without her. Many thanks.