"Daddy, can we call Miyawk?" Pearl asked softly, climbing into Krieg's bed.

After a full night of cleaning, medicine-giving, and cooking, Krieg was genuinely surprised that Pearl wanted to speak to Mihawk. He thought he'd want to be with Gin while the little one recovered from flu. His fever wasn't going down by much, but it was down by one to two degrees. Pearl refused to stay away from him and helped in any way he could. He washed the toys, brought things that made Gin happy, checked the humidifier to keep mist running, grabbed the new blankets and/or slippers for him. Short of giving their baby brother medicine, Pearl was a second Krieg. That's what Pearl wanted, so Krieg took a step back and let him do that. With Gin being responsive for a little while, he moved about to sort of look at Krieg. The eldest brother assumed the boys wanted to speak to Mihawk since the... "bubble guts" incident. They've been worried about him. Retrieving his cell phone and turning on the camera, Krieg laid in between his boys, cuddled up with them, and recorded a message.

"Hi, Mihawk. It's me and the babys. It's a little late, so you might not see this until tomorrow morning or after the parentals release you from your humble timeout corner, but my kids wanted to talk to you," Krieg introduced, internally cooing at how cute his brothers were on camera. He looked terrible...

"Hi, Miyawk," the boys said in unison.

"Gin-Gin's feeling sick, too. Make sure you take your medicines for your tummy," Pearl lectured, waving at the camera.

"We'll get better together," Gin said softly, clinging to his stuffed animal.

"When you're all better, can you ride bikes with us? Daddy's really good at it. He does tricks!" Pearl cheered, throwing up one of his hands to show excitement.

"You can meet Herde and Jagd. They're puppies!" Gin said with a small smile. He wasn't his usual cheerful self, but he was slowly coming back. "They like to walk with us."

"Tell Mihawk how old they are," Krieg nudged.

"They're eight months old," Pearl informed. "Herde is very quiet and just barks once or two times."

"Jagd talks," Gin said, making Krieg chuckle.

"That's it? He just talks?" Krieg asked, looking down at Gin as he cuddled into Krieg's stomach. Warm. Gin nodded and yawned. "I think it's bedtime for Gin-Gin. We have to take our baths in the morning to keep the germs away. Do you want to talk to Mihawk again tomorrow?"

"Unh-huh," Pearl answered, cuddling into Krieg and yawning.

"Mm-hm. Well, I think that means we're ready for bed. Thank you for everything you've done for us, Mr. Mihawk. You take care of yourself while we get Gin-Gin back to his playful self. Bye, supermodel," Krieg said, winking at the camera and stopping the video.

"... ... ... HAWK!" Shakky called.

She was in the kitchen, calculating her business sales for the night. She ignored Mihawk's phone ringing for a majority of the night... until Krieg sent something. She watched the video for herself to make sure it wasn't anything bad and just about melted at the visual of Krieg and the boys. Poor baby Gin. His eyes were cloudy, and he wouldn't move from his spot next to Krieg. You could tell he was sick. She didn't have to see Mihawk to know he was standing next to her in silence. He had just finished brushing his hair from the looks of it. His regular pajama set of a white linen shirt and black linen pants was on his person.

She turned to him, however, and said, "Does that boy, Krieg, know that you're grounded?"

"Yes."

"Ah, well, he sent you a message. I'm only letting you see it because you offended him with your actions," Shakky said, smirking at Mihawk's surprised expression. "Do not bother him anymore after this. You are on thin ice as it is."

Mihawk let out that classic teenager deep sigh before being handed his phone. When Shakky took the phone back in response, he cleared his throat and straightened up to wait politely. No attitudes in Aunt Shakky's house, else he'd have to deal with her and Uncle Rayleigh. Ew. When Shakky was satisfied, she handed him the phone again with a nod of approval and let him look at Krieg's message. Shakky had already seen it, so she returned to her business unmoved. She only peeked at Mihawk every now and then to see his facial expressions. His eyes held all of the emotions. He was very flattered, judging by the softness of his eyes... with exception to his eyebrow raising and/or twitching in between certain moments. She saw Krieg's nightwear. He was wearing an athleisure shirt and khaki leisure pants. His hair wasn't in the messy bun like usual. It was down to its natural state. So..., either Mihawk liked that look and the eyebrow was a demonstration of physical attraction OR he was annoyed by the kids calling him Miyawk instead of Mihawk. Could go either way.

"Good news. He's not pressing charges against you," Shakky said once the video concluded, jotting down some numbers again. "How'd he know you were a model?"

"One of the students just blurted out you were one when you came to the library to shoo me away," Mihawk replied. "He assumed you were responsible for my fashion tastes."

"I am indeed partially responsible," Shakky said proudly, looking at the teen. "He has potential to be one himself in the lifestyle and men's health category like Ray, but I doubt he'd want to do that if he's responsible for the little ones. Does he know about your acting gigs?"

"No, we hardly talk to each other," Mihawk replied, replaying the video again. "Why did Uncle Roger accept you...?"

"Why does it matter, my little black bean?" Shakky asked sweetly.

In truth, she was happy to see Mihawk so interested in another person. She didn't particularly care for his other relationships. Vista was mostly looking for another rival in skill before they became a couple, and he wasn't exactly the greatest choice for a boyfriend if the fiasco with Newgate wasn't a clue. Rayleigh tried talking to Eddy about the situation, but everything just flopped. That left Mihawk with both a broken and a cold heart. The girl was a little nicer to him, and they were cute together, but she wound up being the textbook prissy girl who only dated Mihawk because he made her look good. Krieg was the complete opposite of both of them. His compassion for his brothers were his driving force in life, and his probation kept his head straight. Shakky learned a bit more about Krieg's situation. It truly was an unfortunate case of abuse, and she hoped the system would work in the kid's favor. He was doing so much to improve his life despite the odds. Maybe that's what it ultimately was. This crush of Mihawk's was probably a result of Krieg's politeness and natural charm. Apparently, his "fans" had been bringing things to his library carrel to the boys. Roger said he caught a few kids trying to get into Krieg's designated study spots to bring him soup or toys, but it looks like her little black bean was the only one successful enough to get into Krieg's private life. Mihawk wasn't the judgy kind of person, so that probably helped.

"It doesn't, but..." Mihawk started, rubbing his phone's side.

"... Feels funny, doesn't it?" Shakky asked, putting her chin on folded hands. When Mihawk just looked at her quietly, she continued, "Falling in love for real this time? It's a little fast and still doesn't make sense, but this person interests you for one reason or another. Enough to try to push through to him and try to get him to live a normal life like you do."

"But I don't - !" Mihawk tried, shaking his head. Once he felt his heart pacing and his face heat up..., there was nothing he could do to fight his aunt's words. However, he wouldn't be a stubborn teen if he didn't try. "It's not love."

"Just a romantic interest then?" Shakky asked, smirking.

"He's just a nice person," Mihawk replied, handing back his phone hesitantly.

While the pouty look used to work when he was little, Shakky had to be stern. Stalking was wrong, but she took the phone from him and said calmly, "I'll let you respond to their message if they call tomorrow. You have some blushing to calm down."

"Yes, Aunt Shakky," Mihawk replied sadly.

Her poor black bean. He wants so badly to respond. Well, technically, she is just his aunt and not his mother. And, technically, Krieg's little brothers weren't being stalked or put into any danger. So, technically, she could embarrass him just a hair.

|| ... ... ... ||

Because this wouldn't be another day in Dracule Mihawk's life if his "parents" didn't embarrass him...

"Remember, my little black bean, I'm only allowing this because those kids are cute."

"I'd rather be put in my coffin NOW," Mihawk growled, eyes wide and staring at his phone like it grew a set of shark teeth.

"Dark Wing Duck looks so constipated right now," Hancock said with a snicker.

"I hate my life," Mihawk said curtly.

"Make it quick, nephew. You're still grounded from phones until the holidays, and we have to pick up Shanks and Buggy for the festival opening. Hurry it along," Shakky ordered, narrowing her eyes but keeping a smirk on her lips.

Mihawk slowly opened his video app and recorded a very strained, very perturbed message in the style of a MushiGram short. He then said, "Hi, boys. My parentals secretly plot my demise at every turn, so I'll make this quick. Thank you for calling me. You're very sweet. If you're good and you take your medicine like your big brother says, I'll get you some candy and popcorn from the fair and save it for you when we meet again. I'd love to go on the nature trail to ride bikes with you. That's a favorite thing of mine. I'd like to see these tricks your daddy can do someday. And the cute, little puppies. Talk to you soon."

Video end.