Seven years after Seiji is born, you constantly find yourself thinking about destiny and your first discussion with Satoru about it. Neither of you are sure, but you're happy that this is how your life turned out. You love waking up next to him as his wife and proceeding to start off your day with him and your kids. With your seven-year-old Seiji and your five-year-old Saori.
You both have teaching jobs– Of course, they're very different. Satoru teaches three teenagers, one of them being Megumi, while you teach a classroom full of at least twenty second graders. Satoru always tells you that you're one of the reasons he decided he wanted to become a teacher, apart from the part that he's the strongest (you still have no idea what he means) and that's his duty. You have a much bigger home than before; yet neither Megumi nor Tsumiki live with you anymore so many rooms are empty, however, considering the fact that you have two young children, the house is still very lively.
Satoru still had a great idea to fill up the empty rooms, and that's how you find yourself expecting your third child with him. You swear to Satoru this is the last baby you'll have, but that's what you said when you gave birth to Saori. It's easy to forget how bad pregnancy and childbirth are when you watch Satoru being the best possible father to your kids.
"Daddy, can you help with my homework?" Seiji asks, even though you're the one that teaches his grade level and knows what his teacher is teaching. Apparently you're great at explaining things but daddy just does it better, and you feel your eyes roll to the back of your head as you watch Seiji approach his father with the notebook.
"Sure thing, buddy. Wait till Saori finishes with my nails." Satoru answers, watching as his daughter paints his pinky nail a blue color. She was going for pink since it's her favorite color but then she decided that blue would match his eyes (in reality she couldn't find the pink nail polish and didn't want to admit that she lost it). It's fine though, her father will just buy her another one. "Wow, look at you. You're doing such a great job."
"I know." Saori answers, so focused on not making a mess and painting her father's whole finger. Satoru manipulates his infinity every time that she's clearly about to paint his whole finger.
"Saori, will you hurry up?" Seiji asks, clearly annoyed. He wants to get finished with his homework so he can watch TV, since you told him he could watch his show after he was finished with homework. You offered to help, but he turned you down.
"Don't rush your sister, Seiji." Satoru says, and he watches how Saori sticks her tongue out at her brother, causing Satoru to sigh. "Don't stick your tongue out at your brother, Saori."
"I can help you, Seiji." You pop into the living room, where your husband and kids are. You find yourself bored for once in your life because Satoru took care of everything.
"It's okay." Seiji responds, making you pout. He does usually accept your help, but during your third pregnancy you've been a victim of pregnancy brain. You don't think you've ever felt dumber, so stupid that even your seven-year-old notices.
"Saori, honey, will you paint my nails next." You say and she perks up. For the first time Satoru fails, not turning his infinity on and getting nail polish all over his finger. She smiles brightly and nods her head.
"I'm done with you, daddy." Saori tells her father, and he laughs as he looks at the unfinished hand. He stands up and walks over to Seiji to help him with his homework. You take Satoru's seat and extend your hand to your daughter. "Do you want blue as well, mommy?"
"What other colors do you have?" You ask.
"I used to have pink." She replies, which makes you laugh. She doesn't have it anymore so you don't see the point in bringing it up. She begins to paint your nails, and she's awfully concentrated until she finally speaks up, "When's my baby brother or sister getting here?"
"Around two more months." You answer. You're due in December, a little while after Satoru's birthday. A month after her birthday. "Are you excited to be a big sister, honey?"
"Yeah." She answers. She's focused, therefore, she can't talk. You stare at her, watch how concentrated she is. She has to push her white hair out of her face since it covers her vision. The more you stare at her, the more you realize how neither of your kids look like you and you hope that the third time around you give birth to your twin. "When's my birthday?"
"In a month." You respond since you won't count down the weeks until her sixth birthday. You can't believe just how fast she's growing up, it feels just like yesterday when you found out that you were pregnant with your baby girl. You smile, watching as she paints your whole finger. Satoru has shown you his infinity, yet you still find yourself surprised how she never messes up Satoru's nails. "Woah, you completely missed the nail there."
"Sorry." She apologizes yet she continues to make the same mistake. You aren't paying too much attention to it, you just listen to Satoru explain to your son how to do his homework. You're sure that you could explain it better, but you still smile. You never really thought you'd be here seven years later, but here you are.
You wouldn't have it any other way.
-
Satoru isn't the type of man that goes to bed early– Well, he wasn't. Up until he had two babies under two and ever since he had to handle a very energetic Seiji and a crybaby Saori, he's been going to bed since eight at night. When you put both of your kids to bed, you both go to bed as well. His head barely touches the pillow and he's passed out.
This specific night though, when his head touches the pillow, a scream comes from his daughter's room and he sprints out of bed and to her room. He literally just put her to bed, there's no way that she already had a nightmare. Seiji isn't much of a prankster either so he's ready to kill just about anyone.
Satoru finds his little girl with her knees to her chest. She buries her head in her knees, and she covers her ears. Satoru looks around, turning on the light. He's about to ask what's wrong since his eyes don't see anything, but he feels the energy. His eyes land on the half open closet and he begins to walk towards it.
"Is everything okay, Saori–" Seiji comes running into the room after hearing his sister scream. He's much slower than his father, but regardless he's here.
"Go to your room, Seiji. Take your sister." Satoru orders and Seiji does as instructed, even though it takes some effort to get Saori out of the room but he succeeds. Satoru fully opens the closet and a sigh leaves his body seeing the small curse. Nothing scary to him, but surely scary for his baby girl.
He exorcizes the curse with no issue before walking out of the room and going to Seiji's room. Seiji comforts his little sister, who's trying to hide under the blue blanket that Seiji let her borrow. There's a frown on Satoru's face as he walks over to his babies and sits on the edge of the twin bed. He engulfs his kids in a hug.
"I'm sorry you saw that, Saori." Satoru mutters. He feels guilty that the curse that he holds is passed down to his children. He's known they can see them, but he tries to protect them as much as he can. Sometimes he can't though. Satoru's parents want him to start training his son as well, after all, Seiji is a descendent of the Gojo clan but Satoru doesn't want to do that. He wants his kids to be free of this all.
That's not his decision to make though.
"Everything's gonna be okay while daddy is here." Satoru reassures them. He kisses the top of their heads, and just holds them while he can.
"What happened?" You show up a little too late. Getting up from your bed is the hardest exercise that you face lately. Satoru chuckles, it's not like you're really going to understand anyway. He doesn't want you to.
"The kids are sleeping with us tonight, honey." Satoru says, picking both Seiji and Saori from the bed and carrying them to your bedroom. You slowly follow behind, already out of breath by simply getting up from bed and going to Seiji's bedroom.
When you stand in the doorway, you watch how Satoru tucks them in the middle of the bed, filling their faces up with kisses. Maybe it wasn't exactly planned, but you're glad you're with him and the fact that he's the father of your kids. Now, as his wife, you can't imagine spending the rest of your days with someone else and you can't imagine a father more perfect than him– Of course he has his flaws but they hardly poke through.
He often asks if you think he's doing well as a parent, worried that he's messing everything up. You can't even begin to say how proud you are of him, and how you think he's a far better parent than you are. He loves to remind them that their father is always there to help them, protect them, and love them. Maybe that's why you agreed to have a third child with him, plus the process is always fun.
"I love you two so much." Satoru says, and while he should lay down with them, he's no longer tired, and when he looks back at you it seems like you aren't tired anymore either. "We'll be right back, do you want to watch some TV for a bit?"
They nod their heads and Satoru turns the television on. They're too agitated to go to sleep as well. Letting them stay up for half an hour isn't the end of the world. He then walks over to you, and throws his arm over your shoulder. You walk out of the room and go downstairs to the living to sit down for a moment and talk. It's rare that you find yourself alone to just talk.
When you take a seat, a moan leaves your lips, and he furrows his brow. You grab his hand and put it over your belly, and your baby doesn't waste time kicking. No matter how many times he's felt it, it always amazes him. He always looks so in awe, and he doesn't remove his hand until his baby kicks a couple more times. He then pecks your lips, muttering, "Thank you so much for this."
"Enjoy it while it lasts because this is the last time we'll have a kid." You tell him, and he sweetly smiles at you, pecking your lips again. You rest your head on his shoulder for a minute, and he enjoys the moment. You appreciate the unusual silence. You've gotten used to so much noise, and you'll grow to miss it if you sit in silence for too long. You still appreciate it.
"How's Kaya?" He asks, interrupting the silence.
"She's planning the baby shower. She's going crazy." You respond, and you hear him chuckle.
"Isn't she due soon? She shouldn't be stressing over a baby shower." He says and you hum in response. You wouldn't know either way, you opted out for a baby shower the second time around since you were already stressed enough planning a wedding and handling Seiji. Every time you're reminded, you laugh due to the fact that your father was right about the fact that Satoru would knock you up months after Seiji's birth.
"She's due around Halloween– Maybe two weeks before Saori's birthday." You answer. That's so soon, Satoru only prays that her water doesn't break during the baby shower and that he has to handle all the chaos. Satoru knows Daisuke is absolutely freaking out about it all; Satoru knows that feeling all too well, he's still freaking out even though this is his third baby.
"Our baby will finally have a little cousin this time around." Satoru comments and you chuckle. Seiji didn't need a cousin, he had his younger sister. This new baby doesn't though, and you're adamant on not having more kids which he understands since he's not the one that carries them for nine months.
"What ended up happening in the kid's room?" You ask, and Satoru takes a long minute to answer. There's no point in lying. He lied so much to you when you first met, he can't do that anymore while you're his wife. You swore you'd leave him if you ever caught him in a lie again, and now he tells you the truth even when you can't see it. He doesn't see the point in telling you a problem that you can't solve.
"Well... Uhm... A curse." He answers, and you remove your head from his shoulder. You slowly nod your head in response, and you aren't really sure how to answer that other than,
"Oh yeah..." There's some things that you'll never understand about them nor about your husband. You don't like to think about the fact that there are some issues that you'll never be able to help them out with, only Satoru can help them.
You sit in absolute silence for a minute as you get lost in your thoughts. Satoru watches you, wondering what goes on in your mind.
"Are you okay?" He asks, and you sigh. You can't try to play it off as if you're okay because you expect him to remain honest with you, it's hypocritical to lie to him.
"Yeah, it's just... What if you aren't around and a similar issue comes up. How would I handle that?" You ask, and he wraps his arm around you, bringing you in for a hug. He kisses the top of your head, his hand going down to rest on your belly. "I just feel useless for some stuff, Satoru."
"You aren't useless, baby." He responds. He doesn't want for you to think about this– He doesn't want to think that you're useless in any way. It makes him recall an incident from five years ago, and he hid the truth to not worry you. "Can I confess a lie I told you?"
"Better be from before we got married." There's a frown on your face, and Satoru chuckles.
"You remember when Seiji was three and Saori two, how they went running to you crying about a bug that you could not find?" Satoru asks, and you remember the incident clear as day. You were scared shitless but you still went after the bug to kill it; when you couldn't find it and they kept crying about it, you just comforted them while Satoru dealt with the problem. "There wasn't a bug, it was a curse. But you still managed to deal with the problem, even when you didn't know what it was."
"That does make me feel better." You smile at him before kissing his lips. "I love you. You always know the right thing to say."
"I love you too, baby."
-
"Seiji, stop!" Saori yells at her brother who keeps messing around with her tiara. You've already struggled getting into a kangaroo onesie to go out with them, you're already far too tired to stop their bickering. You have no idea why you agreed to go trick-or-treating with them, you doubt you can walk too much. In your defense, you promised you'd do it two months ago, and your circumstances now are much different than before. You should've known that by Halloween you'd be in a much different mood. You only glance at Satoru, who lays down on the bed and stares at the phone, and he stands up to deal with it. "Seiji!"
"Seiji, what are you doing?" Satoru yells, walking out of the bedroom to go to where his kids are at. Satoru crosses his arm as he looks down at the seven-year-old who wears a superhero costume, ready to go trick-or-treating. Seiji tries to play it off as if he's doing nothing, but he's holding his sister's tiara in his hands. Satoru sternly says, "Give it back and apologize."
Seiji drags his feet, walking over to his sister to give her back her tiara. When Saori gets her tiara back, she runs to her father's side and hugs him. He picks his little princess up from the floor and kisses her forehead. She sticks her tongue out at Seiji, making Satoru sigh and say, "Don't do that."
"Mommy! Saori is being mean to me!" He yells, hoping to have a parent by his side. You're forced to leave your room to deal with it, even after your efforts of not dealing with it.
"What's happening?" You ask. You look at Satoru and Saori before looking down at Seiji. Before Seiji responds, Satoru says,
"I got it handled, honey." He puts Saori down on the floor again, "Apologize to your brother, Saori."
"What for?" She responds, giving her father doe-eyes, which always work. He looks away, at his son.
"Apologize to Seiji for sticking your tongue out at him." Saori crosses her arms before dramatically turning to her brother. She mutters an apology which is good enough for the minor offense. When you're no longer needed, you begin to walk away, but you don't get too far before your name is called again.
"Is Megumi still going with us?" Seiji asks, and you nod your head in response. You then look at your husband.
"Change. We have to get going soon so we get home early." You order, and Satoru has no option but to do as you say. That's what he signed up for when he chose to marry you.
When you're back in your room, you lay down on your bed, grabbing a picture frame that's beside your bed and looking over it because every time Megumi is brought up you're reminded of the little family you had six years ago. It's an old photo of baby Seiji, Megumi, and Tsumiki. Looking at Tsumiki's precious smile almost always makes you cry, and when the tears well up, they spill as you laugh at Megumi's awful smile.
Maybe you should've appreciated those times more, but you had a lot on your plate. It's not like you can stop time or stop awful things from happening. You're still happy with your life right now.
The picture frame is snatched from your hands, and you glare at your husband. He looks at the picture before he puts it down on the nightstand. He leans down, and kisses you, "Don't start getting sentimental now, it'll ruin your night."
"I'll try not to." You respond. He takes a seat on your side of the bed, his hands resting on your belly.
"I got a call." He announces, and it makes your brows raise. He clears his throat, "We'll have to go trick or treating without me. It's an emergency."
"Oh?" You reply. You want to be upset about it, but you know he doesn't do it on purpose. Satoru is the first one to be bummed out about missing time with his kids. "I can take the kids out."
"No! I want you to stay here till I get home." He sounds defensive, and you know better. It's rare when Satoru says no, so you'll listen. He pecks your lips, telling you, "I love you."
"I love you too." His head goes down and he presses a couple of kisses on your belly before he promises,
"I promise, I'll be back as soon as possible. We gotta take these kids trick-or-treating together."