You might want to listen to the music while you read it. It just enhances the cuteness of the chapter.
Kazuto's p.o.v.
I woke up the next morning to the feeling of Asuna's lips on my cheek. I sat up and looked around slowly. Asuna sat there on the bed smiling down at me. I smiled back at her, then sat up in bed.
"Good morning.", she said.
"Morning.", I replied, rubbing my eyes to wake myself up.
"We finally get to go put the nursery together today. I'm so excited!", she said, looking at the door.
"Yeah, but let's eat breakfast first. Last night was rough and I really want pancakes.", I said.
"OOh. That sounds good. I'll go make some.", she said.
Asuna got up and opened the door. She walked out and disappeared down the hallway. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and followed Asuna into the kitchen. She was already bustling around and getting out ingredients. I reached up into the top cabinet and got down a big red bowl for her to mix the batter in. I set it on the counter and she smiled at me again.
Asuna whipped up the pancake batter in no time and poured it into a ketchup bottle. She had already heated up the frying pan, so she squirted a generous amount into the pan and then let it cook. When it looked done on one side, I got out a spatula and flipped it. It was golden brown on the other side, almost the color of Asuna's hair.
When the pancakes were done, we set them on the table and then I got out the maple syrup and set it with them. Asuna got out a couple of plates and forks, then we sat down and ate the pancakes quickly. Once we were done, I took out plates and loaded them into the dishwasher, along with everything else. Asuna came to help me and we knocked out the dishes.
Right after we finished, Asuna turned and began to walk off. I grabbed her hand and pulled her into a position where I was hugging her from behind. She laughed and I kissed her forehead, then spun her outwards. We danced through the kitchen for no reason. Towards the end, we slowed to a waltz, then did that until Asuna started to get dizzy. I stopped and took her over to the table to sit down.I filled a glass with water, then handed it to her to cool her off.
"Well as fun as this has been, we should get to work on the nursery.", Asuna said.
I nodded and Asuna stood up. She took a couple gulps of the water, then she turned and I followed her down the hallway. We turned right into the guest bedroom and got to work. I unpacked the first crib and Asuna red the directions out to me as we went. More than once, I screwed something in the wrong way and I had to look back at the directions.
After an hour, we finally had the first crib built and set up in the corner of the room. I looked around. We'd have to get the bed out of here if we were going to fit two cribs in here. The dresser had to stay anyway, but the bed and the nightstand had to go so we could have room for everything.
"We'll have to move the bed and the nightstand. We won't have enough room, otherwise.", I said.
"Yeah, I just thought about that. The bed is a rollway fold up. It won't be hard to store, we just need to put it in my storage locker at some point.", Asuna said.
"You have a storage locker?", I asked.
"Yeah. I don't really have that much in there, just a desk and some of my old things. My mom wouldn't let me keep anything at the house in the garage, or in the attic, or in my old room, so I got a storage locker to keep it in.", she said.
"Ok, well if you'll go with me, I'll put it in there.", I said.
"Ok. We'll go when we get your bike.", she said.
"Great.", I agreed.
Asuna walked over to the bed and pulled a lever at the bottom, which promptly folded the bed into a more compact size. Asuna rolled it out into the hallway, then we continued with the other crib, which we put together much quicker this time. When we finished, I rolled the cribs up against a wall and Asuna helped me adjust them so that they were to her standards.
"I have some red drapes that would go really well, then we can put the strollers over there in the corner. That ought to match everything just fine. Then, we can give them red sheets, and we'll put some gray in here, too. I don't want any black, though. Black is not for babies. Oh, maybe instead of gray, we can put navy blue!", Asuna said.
"Like little sailors?", I asked.
"YES!", Asuna said, clapping her hands together.
I laughed and then sat down on the floor. Asuna seemed to have a sudden realization. She walked quickly out of the room and returned a couple minutes later with a plastic bag from a craft store.
"I got these for a project a few months ago, but I forgot to use them and they ended up in the hall closet. They would work perfectly with the theme for the room.", Asuna said, taking out a couple of little metal ornaments. One of them was a silver anchor, the other one was a red star. They hung on gold ribbons and were pretty small.
"Ok, so where do you want to put them?", I asked.
"Well, I was thinking we could put them on the dresser. They can just hang on the little knobs. Like this.", Asuna said, putting each one on the drawer handles for the dresser. The dresser was pretty small, but nobody stayed there long enough to need more space, anyway.
"I like it. We can go shopping next month and get some finishing touches for the cribs and stuff.", I said.
"Whoohoo! I'm so excited!", Asuna said
I laughed. She was so cute when she was this excited and happy. Her smile was a million miles wide and her eyes were sparkling. After the horrifying events of last night, you would think she'd be more freaked out.
The doorbell rang and Asuna's head turned to look at the door. I walked out of the nursery and down the hall to the entryway. I peered through the peephole to see Josh and Kim standing there nervously. I'll give you one guess as to what this was about. They heard my gun last night. They rang the doorbell again and I opened the door.
"Hey, we just wanted to come see if you two were alright. We heard gunfire last night and it sounded like it was coming from over here.", Josh said.
"Yeah, there were some intruders. I fired my gun twice out the balcony doors to scare them off.", I explained.
"Did they hurt you?", Kim asked.
"No. We're fine. Asuna hid in the bathroom while I went and found my gun. They were just a couple kids. They didn't look older than 15.", I said.
"Did one of them have spiky black hair that was dyed green at the tips?", Josh asked.
"No. I don't think so.", I said.
I felt Asuna walk up behind me. She put a hand on my back between my shoulder blades and smiled at Josh and Kim over my shoulder.
"Ok, I was just asking because I counsel a kid that looks like that. I can't really tell you anything else, though.", Josh said.
"Yeah, I got it. They both had hoods and ski masks, so I have no idea what they looked like.", I said.
"Ok. Well, we were just gonna check up on you and make sure that nobody got hurt.", Kim said.
"Thanks. That's really sweet. Nobody else even said anything or called. I'm sure that there'll be something in the news about it later, though.", Asuna said.
"No problem. Ok, well we left the kids inside, and we gotta go. We should get together again soon. We haven't really done anything all together lately.", Kim said.
"Yeah. That'll be cool. How about next week on Thursday? I get that day off as a holiday.", I suggested.
"Ok, that sounds good. I'll reserve the date. Do you just wanna do dinner, or do you wanna go do something?", Kim said.
"Let's go see that new movie. The Pixar one.... Oh, Zootopia! That's the one.", Asuna said.
"Oh, yes! We've been wanting to take the kids to see that.", Josh said.
"Ok, well can we get back to you on that? We really do need to go check on the kids and make sure they're not getting into any trouble.", Kim said.
"Sure, just text or call me.", Asuna said.
"Ok, thanks. We will.", Josh said. They started walking towards their apartment and I shut the door.
"It's good to know we have nice neighbors.", I said.
"Yeah. I like them. They're really cool.", Asuna said.
"Ok, so you wanna take that bed to the storage locker and go get my bike, now?", I asked.
"Yeah, let me go get dressed.", Asuna said.
I nodded and followed her down the hallway. I needed to change, too. I couldn't exactly ride my motorcycle in shorts and a t shirt. I mean, I could, but it wasn't very safe. Once we'd changed, we packed the bed in the car and we drove over to my aunt's house. I knew that Aunt Midori wouldn't be home, and if Sugu was, she probably would come out and say hi, but wouldn't linger.
It took us all of ten minutes to get the bed in the storage locker, then we were on our way to my aunt's house. It turned out that neither Sugu or Aunt Midori was home. They were both out. I unlocked the garage with the same pin number that it had always had. There, under a black tarp, covered in dust, was my motorcycle.
I grabbed the tarp and threw it aside, letting it land on the ground where Sugu usually parked. My bike was still shiny and new. I'd gotten the bike as a 17 birthday present from my uncle. My aunt nearly flipped, but she still allowed it. As long as I wore a helmet, she didn't mind it that much. My black helmet and Asuna's white helmet were sitting there on the seat. I took Asuna's and put it in the compartment on the back of the bike.
Asuna was still in the car, waiting for me to get my bike out, then ride off. She planned on following me home. I picked up the tarp and put it on a table, then got on the bike and turned it on. The loud sound of its motor was like music to my ears. I backed it out and then parked it for a moment while I shut the garage. After I did that, I put on my helmet and rode out into the street. Asuna started the car and drove behind me until we got to the house, where I promptly parked my bike and turned it off.
I decided to take the helmets into the apartment with me, since they would just be sitting out here, otherwise. Asuna pulled in beside me and got out. She shut the door, then went to walk away, but paused. She was looking down at the door of her car and doing something. I walked around the car to see that her skirt was stuck in the door. I couldn't help laughing a little.
Asuna laughed with me for a minute, then seriously started trying to get her skirt out. I took the keys from her hands and unlocked the car, then opened it. The skirt fell loose and she was free. She straightened up and looked at the spot on her skirt where it had been caught on the door. There was a small hole in the fabric, but it wasn't dirty.
"Man! I really liked this skirt.", Asuna said.
I noticed that her eyes were starting to tear up a little. Crap! I forgot she was all emotional. I walked over and hugged her. She hugged me back and buried her face in my shoulder.
"If you want, we can get it fixed. My aunt sews pretty well. She's fixed countless shirts and pants of mine.", I suggested.
"Ok.", she whimpered.
"It's ok. Now let's go inside and relax.", I said.
"Ok.", Asuna said.
We walked up the stairs, both helmets in my hand, hanging from the straps. Asuna opened the door and we walked in. Luckily, everything was just as we left it. I saw the bag of things that the intruders had tried to steal last night. Asuna sat down on the couch and I went to pick it up. It was super heavy. There was a camera, three laptops, seven smartphones, a few Amuspheres, and an old copy of SAO. Out of the things that were ours, there was Asuna's phone and laptop, and my webcam, which I normally left on the bookshelf, since I didn't use it that often.
"What's in that?", Asuna asked.
"A bunch of stuff. Laptops, one of them's yours, my webcam, phones, your phone, Amuspheres, even a copy of Sword Art.", I said.
"We should take it to the police station and tell them what happened. Maybe they can return the things to their owners, and there could be prints on that bag.", Asuna said.
"Maybe. I'll take it tomorrow. Right now, I'm starving. We haven't had lunch yet. I'll go cook up some food.", I said.
Asuna nodded and I walked into the kitchen. What to make, what to make? I opened the fridge and looked around. We still had some rice balls from the other day. I knew that Asuna could eat those, plus they were probably about to go bad. They'd been in here for a week. I pulled them out and popped four of them into the microwave. While they cooked, I got out a couple plates and set it next to the microwave, then I got out a couple of bottles of water and set them next to the plates.
The microwave stopped and the timer beeped. I took the food out and put two on each plate, then I took it out to the living room where Asuna sat on the couch, scrolling through Netflix for something to watch. She was looking at an old American cartoon called 'Animaniacs'. I sat down next to her and handed her a plate. She took it and began watching the cartoon.
As we watched the silly cartoon, we ate our food and I unwinded a little. Asuna fell asleep on the couch beside me after she finished eating. She seemed to do that more and more lately. Then again, I guess that made sense.
I stayed there, with Asuna leaning on my shoulder fast asleep. I didn't care what happened, I was not waking her up. She needed her rest and I knew for sure that I didn't want to make her upset. I'd only seen Asuna when she was angry a few times, and only once was she really filled with rage. I never wanted to be on the receiving end of that. I knew that for a fact. The last guy that made her that angry was sent to the hospital. She hadn't really done anything to him, he was just so scared that he fell backwards off a balcony on the second story.
As far as I knew, he was ok, but he was in a wheelchair for the first few weeks after that. I think he broke his collarbone and his left knee. That was something I never wanted to experience, especially if it was because I was scared of my wife. Well, not scared, really. I just... well... ok, maybe I was a little scared of her...
I looked down at my watch and was shocked that it was almost 3:00. How long had we been sitting here? I'd fixed lunch at around 1:00, Asuna and I watched one episode of this cartoon before she fell asleep, and they were only about 20 minutes long. Almost an hour and a half.
I sighed and looked back down at Asuna, who was still asleep on my shoulder. I grabbed the remote, which was sitting on the couch on the other side of Asuna. I couldn't watch brain numbing cartoons anymore. I switched the show to Top Gear UK. I loved this show. I had to read the subtitles to understand a lot of it, but it was ok. I just liked the cars. It helped that they were really funny and did insane things, like crossing the desert in pontiacs.
These episodes were 45 minutes long and I had watched two of them by the time Asuna woke up. She sat up and looked around the way she always did when she woke up. Her eyes focused on something across the room and I followed her gaze to the mirror hanging in the hall. She rubbed her eyes and then looked at the tv.
"Hey.", I said.
"Hmm?", Asuna said.
"Nothing, just hi.", I said.
"Oh. Hi.", she said sleepily.
"You ok?", I asked.
"Yeah, just still waking up. I'm not used to taking naps, yet. Although I can't make it through the day without one.",she said, sitting back against the couch again.
I nodded in understanding. Asuna grabbed my hand and entwined her fingers with mine. She laid her head on my shoulder again and started watching Top Gear with me.
"Hey, do you wanna go do something? I mean, other than yesterday, we've been at home most of the time. I feel lazy.", Asuna said.
"Ok. What do you wanna do?", I asked.
"Let's go to the cafe and see Agil and Cathy. Or we can go visit Sugu and your aunt.", Asuna said.
"Well I haven't seen my aunt in a while. Let's go do that.", I said.
"Ok. I'll go change my clothes.", Asuna said.
She got up and walked down the hall, disappearing into the bedroom. I ran a hand through my hair, ruffling it a little. I got up and picked up the two plates from lunch, then took them to the kitchen and put them in the sink. While I was waiting, I unloaded the dishwasher, then started loading it again. There was only the plates from lunch to put in it, so it took me all of five seconds.
I had just closed the dishwasher when Asuna walked into the kitchen, wearing an outfit that I recognized from when we were dating. It was a short red skirt with a black long sleeved shirt. She was wearing tights under her skirt and she had on black flats. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
She picked up her purse off the dining room table and put it over her shoulder. I walked away from the dishwasher and towards her. I put my arm around her and we walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind us. We got in the car, then drove over to my aunt's house. They were usually home around this time and Asuna had texted them saying we were coming. They seemed happy to hear it.
When we got there, I parked on the curb and turned off the car. sugu ran out to greet us. She ran over to Asuna and hugged her first, then hugged me. For a brief moment during the hug, I could feel my blood circulation cut off and I couldn't breath.
"I haven't seen you guys in forever!", Sugu said.
"You saw Asuna on Monday.", I pointed out.
"Yeah, and it's Friday.", Sugu said.
"So, not forever. Just three days.", I said.
"It feels like forever.", Sugu challenged.
"Ok, whatever. You win.", I said, putting my hands up in surrender.
"I always do.", she said.
"What are you doing standing outside? Come in.", Aunt Midori shouted from the door.
"Coming.", I called back.
The three of us walked up the driveway to the door and went inside. Aunt Midori was in the kitchen making something in a pan. I sat down on the couch in the living room. It felt so strangely foreign, yet familiar. Asuna sat down next to me and Sugu on the couch.
"So how have you been?", Sugu asked.
"Great. We found out on Tuesday that we're expecting twins, so we're super excited. This morning, we set up the nursery. We're gonna get some of the finishing touches next week.", Asuna said.
"Really!? That's awesome! Oh, I can't wait to meet your kids.", Sugu said.
"Congratulations!", Aunt Midori said from the kitchen.
"Thanks.", Asuna said.
" I actually have something for you. They're a bunch of Kazuto's baby things. They're ok for a boy or a girl, so you shouldn't encounter any problems with that.", she said.
"Cool. I can't wait to see them. He was so cute as a baby.", Asuna giggled.
I was getting real tired of hearing about my baby pictures. They knew I was right here, right? I just sighed looked around.
"Hey, isn't Dad supposed to be home soon?", Sugu asked.
"Yes. He said he'll be here in ten minutes. I don't think that he's heard the good news, but I'll let you tell him.", my aunt said.
"Which news? That we're having kids, or that we're having twins?", I asked.
"Both.", she replied.
I guess I forgot to call him. I hadn't really thought about him much. It was kind of an out of sight, out of mind kind of thing. I doubt he'd thought about me much, either. I looked over at the coffee table where our family photos were. There were some from before I knew that I wasn't really part of the family. My uncle wasn't in many of them. When you have an uncle/dad that travels for a living, you kind of tend to have to do family photos without him.
I looked at the photos until I found the one that was from last year, when Aunt Midori insisted that Asuna be in the photo as well. She got to stand next to me. You couldn't have known from the photo, but behind the edge of her skirt, her pinky finger was curled around mine. That day had been hard for her because her mom had yelled at her for two and a half hours over whether Asuna was ever going to 'get a real job and make something out of herself'.
I'd spent half the day trying to get into her room to see her and the other half trying to cheer her up. She'd cried for three hours straight. I remember feeling horrible for her. I'd never have to know what she went through on a daily basis, but I knew that I didn't want to.
"Kazuto. Earth to Kazuto.", I heard.
I looked around to see that Asuna was looking at me like she was expecting me to do something.
"What?", I asked.
"I asked if you wanted tea or water to drink.", Asuna restated.
"Oh. Um, tea.", I said.
Asuna got up and went into the kitchen to help my aunt. I turned back to Sugu, who was on her phone, texting.
"Who are you talking to?", I asked.
"Shinichi.", she replied.
"Oh? Whatcha talkin 'bout?", I asked, leaning in close to her to look at her phone screen.
Sugu's face turned bright red.
"Nothing! Nothing at all! Just stuff that... we needed to talk about... and stuff.", she said, holding her phone to her chest and looking away from me. I laughed and then sat back down where I had been. Sugu's face was still beet red, which only made me laugh harder.
I finally stopped laughing when I heard the door open. I turned around to see my uncle walking in the door and taking off his shoes. I got up from the couch to greet him. He looked tired, like he'd been driving all day. I was used to seeing him like that. It was rare that I ever saw him without that look. I mean, it was rare that I saw him, in general, but seeing him fully awake was almost unheard of.
"Kazuto. I didn't know you were here. How've you been?", he asked.
"Great. You?", I asked.
"Eh. So-so, I guess. I'm just happy to be home at this point.", he said.
I smiled at him and he patted me on the shoulder and walked past me to see Aunt Midori and Sugu. Sugu ran over and hugged him as soon as she saw him. Aunt Midori didn't run, but there was a skip in her step.
"Daddy! You're home!", Sugu squealed with delight.
"Welcome back, dear.", Aunt Midori said, leaning up and kissing my uncle.
"Hello, Mr. Kirigaya.", Asuna said, waving from the kitchen.
"Hi, Asuna.", he said.
"Dinner is ready, so let's eat.", Aunt Midori said.
We all walked into the dining room where a pot of wonton soup was sitting on a hot pad. I took my seat, which was where I'd always sat when I lived here. Asuna sat on my right and Sugu and my aunt sat across from us with my uncle at the head of the table.
Aunt Midori took all the bowls from around the table and filled them with soup. Once the bowls had all been filled, we began eating. I hadn't eaten my aunt's cooking in a while, so it all tasted different. Not bad, just different. I couldn't say it was better, it was just kind of new.
"So Kazuto. Your aunt tells me that you have some news that I haven't heard. I'd love to hear it.", my uncle said.
"Well now that you've put me on the spot...", I said.
"Oh, come on. We all know what it is, it's just Dad. Either you tell him, or I will.", Sugu said.
I gulped. If Sugu told him, she would probably exaggerate everything. I cleared my throat and looked at my uncle.
"Umm, Asuna's pregnant. With twins. I would have called, but I kind of forgot.", I said.
Subconsciously, my arm went up and I rubbed the back of my neck with my right hand.
"That's great. Congratulations to both of you.", My uncle said.
I smiled and nodded my gratitude. Why was it so awkward telling people that? I mean, it wasn't like it was bad news or anything. We were married, so it was totally fine for something like this to happen.
Throughout dinner, we all talked and laughed. I think Asuna got the most enjoyment out of all of us. She looked like she couldn't be happier. Now that I thought about it, she was glowing. She was almost always happy as could be lately and positivity just seemed to radiate off of her.
"What?", Asuna asked.
I suddenly realized that I'd been staring at her for the past five minutes. I snapped out of my daze and looked around the table to see if anybody had noticed.
"Nothing.", I said quickly, turning back to my food.
I could feel my face turning red a little bit. I tried to hide it by taking a sip of my water. Asuna just shrugged and continued listening to the conversation that was going on at the table. Most of it was between Sugu and my uncle.
When the meal was finished, we all got up to go into the living room. Asuna was in front and Aunt Midori and Sugu were behind her. I was behind Sugu and in front of my uncle. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned around to see my uncle. He had a happy, yet serious look on his face. I felt like I was in trouble for something.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?", he asked.
I nodded. He pulled me aside into the hallway, then led me into his bedroom and shut the door. Now I really felt like I was in trouble. This was like when I was little and I would get spanked for misbehaving. Uncle Minetaka sat down on the bed and looked at me sternly.
"I don't know exactly when you began calling your mother and I by 'aunt' and 'uncle', but let me tell you something. I may not be your birth father, but I'm not about to let you think for a second that I'm any less your father.", he said.
I felt a sharp pang of guilt as I thought about the day I called my mom 'Aunt Midori', rather than mom. I had just gotten up and decided that since they weren't my birth parents, I shouldn't address them like they were. I don't know what had triggered it, but after that, it was always 'Aunt Midori' and 'Uncle Minetaka'. Never Mom and Dad.
I looked down at the floor and hung my hand on the back of my neck in guilt. My uncle, no my dad, was looking at me with a look of grief on his face. I sighed.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why I started doing that. I just kind of did. When I did, Mom seemed a little hurt. I don't know why I didn't stop it when I realized it hurt her, but I should have.", I said.
"Well I'm glad to hear it. Now, let's go back out to our wives and your sister. I'm sure they're missing us.", Dad said.
"Ok, Dad.", I said.
Saying it out loud was strange. It was like getting a new bike, but then going back to the old one to ride it again. It just took some getting used to. Dad got up and patted me on the back, then hugged me. The hug was kind of awkward, but I didn't protest.
We walked back out into the living room and sat down. Asuna gave me a questioning look, but didn't press the matter. I looked at the clock. It was almost 8:00. This wasn't that surprising. I leaned back on the couch and put my arm around Asuna. She leaned into me and laid her head on my shoulder.
We were all talking about different things, some to do with what we were going to name our kids when they got here. Asuna informed them of the names we were considering, which were: Finley, Ayane, Rosalia (which I wasn't crazy about), Anika, Amelia, and Chizu for the girls and for the boys there was: Dakota, Ethan, Flynn, Miles, Adam, Landry, and Parker.
Mom really liked Amelia and Finley, and Flynn and Landry. My dad didn't seem to have a preference. Sugu liked them all and refused to give us an opinion. I didn't care that much, but I knew it mattered to Asuna. I guess if I thought about it, I did have a preference, but I would go with whatever made her happy. By the time we left, it was well past 9:00 and Sugu had already gone to bed. Asuna was starting to nod off in the car on the way home.
We walked into the apartment and went straight for the bedroom. Asuna changed into her pajamas and I changed into a pair of shorts. It was kind of warm in here, so I decided to leave my shirt off tonight. I crawled into bed next to Asuna and we went to sleep after a long and busy day. I finally nodded off and let sleep take me.
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Whoo! That was a long chapter. Do you see why it is kind of rare for me to write from Kazuto's point of view? I'm a woman and I don't know how guys think, so it is hard for me to actually come up with ideas and how to describe everything. Anyway, I'm sorry that took so long. I mean, it was only the other day that I updated, but it still felt like a really long time. I've been experiencing writer's block, and have been super busy with school. The spring semester is always the busiest here.
I'll talk to you guys in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this super long chapter, and don't forget to vote and comment on your favorite baby name and the genders. I still haven't decided, but the list is in the chapter, so please vote on one from the list. See ya.
-Scarlet