deadly_elizabeth : I think it would be better if you do a chapter of Nene in 5th or 6th month and maybe a question about the pregnancy
Hm, let's hope this is to your expectations!
After finding out he was going to be an older brother, out of pure excitement, Kyurei went to school and the only thing that he could talk about were the games he would play with his siblings. During writing time he tried his best to write all about his parents preparing for his siblings. During math, he talked about how his family was not going to be three but five members soon. Reading time, he sat down to read Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business. By the end of the week, if you were a first grader and didn't know about Kyurei's unborn siblings you would the laughing stock of the class. His teacher, Mrs. Shijima, found it funny how thrilled the little boy was and frequently stopped to chat with the heavily pregnant Nene when she came to pick him up.
"Ah geez!" Nene felt embarrased. "I didn't realize he talked about it so much. I'm sorry if it's become a distraction."
Mrs. Shijima shook her head and chuckled out a "It's fine, he's just an excited kid." To save the blond any more embarrasment, she left out how the boy would frequently ask questions about babies such as how babies eat and if he could see them through his mother's belly button.
"Mommy, when are my siblings coming?" Kyu asked from his place in the backseat.
Nene thought for a bit, humming. "A few more months, my little wolf."
"How long is a few months?"
"Well, several weeks."
"How long is several weeks?'
"A lot of days."
"How long is a lot of days?"
The mother was slowly becoming irritated, a headache coming on. "Kyu, mommy is tired right now."
To make matters worse, the brunette haired child started to have a meltdown. "But I just wanna know!"
It took everything Nene had to not have her own melt down right then and there. I forgot how hard pregnancy was.
Once home, Kyu stomped into the house and startled his father who was about to open the door and greet them with cheer. "What's up with him?" Amane mumbled.
He turned to see his wife trudging her way up the driveway dizzily and went to assist her. Wrapping his arms around her and burrying his face in the crook of her neck, he smiled warmly and whispered a sweet, "welcome home." She looked up at him with teary eyes and he knew exactly what was happening.
Helping her up the steps to the front door, Amane led his love to the living room to sit on the couch. "I'll go make you some tea. Just relax and I'll cook dinner tonight."
Nene nodded, very grateful for having the best husband in the world. So thankful in fact, she started tearing up again. "Thank you."
During her pregnancy with Kyurei, the couple found out that she had a much lower self esteem because of the weight she would put on, causing long periods of depression. And Amane was very willing to help if it meant that even a bit of pressure was lifted off his most important person's shoulders. This often led to Nene feeling guilty, usually attempting to get her lover to open up his own Pandora's Box. Yet Amane was the same as he was as an adolescent; he's scared of showing vulnerability.
They had been talking over tea about how Nene was feeling and how she felt overwhelmed and wasn't feeling all too great about herself. Of course the amber eyed man listened closely and always kept physical contact as a way of reassuring her, creating a safe place to share. And that's when Nene ventured down that road again. "Since we are on the topic, is there anything you would like to talk about, Amane?"
"Not really," he had replied after a moment. "I should go check up on Kyu." In truth there was so much that he should've talked about.
Knocking on the door twice, the brunette listened for any sound. Upon entering the six-year-old's room he was met with a splash of water and a fit of giggles. Things are about to go down.
"Kyurei Yugi!" Amane boomed.
Slightly frightened, the child ran into his closet and barred it with his chair.
With a sigh, the man sat on the single bed they had recently bought because they needed to use the convertible crib that Kyu had been using before hand. Amane knew that yelling at his son would only make things worse so he attempted to calm down first. After taking a few breaths, he began talking again.
"Kyu, come talk to me please. I want you to tell me what's going on."
The tone his father took reassured Kyurei that he was safe. Coming out of the closet, he approached his father, looking down at his feet in guilt and the empty bucket of water in hand.
Taking a seat next to Amane, Kyu started to tear up. "I'm sorry."
"For?"
"For throwing water on you, daddy."
Amane cracked a tiny smile. "Well, I'm not gonna say that it's okay but I do forgive you."
There was a moment of silence as the little boy fiddled with his fingers as if they were the most interesting thing.
"Kyu, I need you to understand that right now your mommy is very stressed. She's trying her best to nurture your growing siblings and take care of you at the same time and that's a hard task. Do you understand?" Amane ran his fingers through his son's unruly brown and teal locks.
Kyu nodded silently, mumbling, "I just wanted to know when my siblings were gonna come."
"I know you do but it's going to be a while. Maybe time will pass faster the more you act like a good boy." The man slyly said, hoping it would get Kyu to behave.
Kyu thought a moment as he contemplated what he was told. If he behaved he would be able to have playmates sooner. Another thought came to mind. "Is mommy okay? She started crying when I was crying."
"How about we go down and ask her."
Heading downstairs, Kyu hopped onto the couch next to his mother. "I'm sorry for making you cry mommy."
Nene looked up from her book. "Did you make him say this?" She turned to her husband in question.
"No." He shrugged.
A sense of warmth flooded through her and, maybe because of the hormones, she felt like crying again. "Aw, sweetie!"
Kyu carefully hugged Nene, not daring to touch the growing tummy. "You didn't make me cry. I'm just very tired and I should've controlled myself. I know you only meant well," Nene reassured, grabbing his little hands and moving them onto her stomach.
There was a sudden movement and both mother and son looked up surprised. "Did you feel that?" A nod. "That was your siblings! They're kicking!"
"That means they'll be good at soccer!" He jumped up and down in exhilaration at the thought.
Amane cracked up, but not wanting to crush his dreams, agreed, "yes, they'll be good at soccer."
"By the way, why are you drenched?" Nene observed.
"Funny story actually."
She gave her son a look and he only smiled smugly before he got his cheek pinched.
Later they had a dinner of stir fry and Amane was rather proud as the little brat said that it was "a bajillion times better than mommy's."
When bed time rolled around, Kyu completely forgot his vow to behave from earlier and had a screaming fit. To say that it took a lot to get him to stay in bed was an understatement and the parents had never been so frustrated.
Compared to other parents who sat in front of the TV after a long day of work, they preferred to unwind while looking up at the stars with a glass of wine. That was the perfect time for Nene get her husband to open up.
"So, wanna talk now?"
Amane wore a fabricated expression of oblivion. "Aren't we already?"
Tugging on his sleeve childishly in irritation, she frowned. "Come on! Talk to me!"
With a deep breath, he started unfolding what he had been keeping. He told her about his fear that the twins would be like him and Tsukasa; they would be in a constant cold war with one being submissive and the other being controlling and abusive.
She assured him that wouldn't happen because they have amazing parents who care. "They won't end up like that."
He could only nod.
"And you and Tsukasa made up. I mean, yeah, after years, but still." She cupped his face and kissed his nose affectionately.
"I can only hope that they are as kind as you," Amane grinned softly and Nene nearly melted. "I wonder if they'll have your ankles too."
Though the ruby eyed woman didn't appreciate that part she still kissed him wholeheartedly.
Now Kyu wanted to be patient for the sake of his mom but he just couldn't help himself; he needed to know!
Everyday when he rolled out of bed for breakfast, he zoomed down the stairs to ask the same question. "Are my siblings here yet?"
And every single time the answer was no. This left him very disappointed as he would mumble a dejected, "okay."
'Does he think childbirth is like a toaster? Instant?' Nene thought to herself, shaking her head.
Despite getting increasingly irritated by her son's antics she still proposed that he could tag along to her check up.
Of course he accepted.
The doctor was more than happy to answer the many curiosities that the small Yugi had. Including the date of expected birth. Giving Kyu one of those tiny calendar business cards and a pen, Nene and the doctor watched the brunette circle the day of birth and misspell a cute note on the bottom.
'The day my brothers will be born!' it read.
The doctor spoke up. "How do you know that they will be brothers?"
"I want them to be brothers, so that's why they will be!"
The woman turned to the mother. "Are you sure you want the genders to be secret until the birth?"
She nodded and that was that. Nene didn't want to deal with the whines that would ensue if the babies were not boys. He would probably say something ridiculous like "send them back!"
The appointment came to an end and while at the front desk scheduling her next one, Kyu begged for a lollipop that he would always get whenever he went to the doctor. And of course it had to be butterscotch flavored.
"See you next time!" The little boy cheered as he waved goodbye. The staff sure found him to be adorable.
That became the first of many visits that the little troublemaker would attend.
Until that one fateful day when he slid down the stair railing with the usual question because despite knowing the date of birth, the annoying rascal liked to keep asking just in case. By now he had gotten quite the growth spurt and started on the kiddie kickers soccer team. That still wasn't enough to distract him from the babies growing inside his mom. Not to mention his pranks only got more drastic and daring. He was quite the misbehaved child and it did nothing but cause problems even for Amane though uncle Tsukasa found it absolutely hilarious.
Nene and Amane were about to reply with the same answer as everyday before when suddenly she gasped. "They will be soon!"
Amane got flashbacks to last time and shuddered as he remembered how she hit him repeatedly as the car wouldn't start.
"It's go time!" Keys already in hand, he led his wife to the car, calling Kou and Mitsuba to come over and watch the troublemaker as he knew that Tsukasa had finally landed a date with Sakura (much to Natsuhiko's dismay) and was busy.
The golden eyed man hurriedly explained the situation to Kyu before skidding down the driveway and out of sight from the living room window that the child was looking from. He sighed. He had hoped that he could go, wanting to meet his brothers right away.
Not even five minutes after his parents had left, a red Honda CR-V pulled up and revealed a pink haired man and his blond roommate. Kyu opened the door at the sight of them and hugged Kou's leg. "Uncles!"
Mitsuba was about to sit down on the couch when the kid screeched. "No! There's a prank planted there! It's for my brothers!"
The pink haired man grumbled. "Kyurei they're babies, you can't prank them."
Kou nodded in agreement. "He's right, you're supposed to take care of them. Right, Mitsuba?"
"No, I just thought that it was stupid and lame."
Despite Amane telling them that Kyu had been a handful lately, Kou insisted that it would be a piece of cake. Oh how wrong he was.
To say that Kyu kicked their butts at soccer would be a lie. He totally wiped the floor with them. And it was mostly because Mitsuba refused to let his cute face get gauged by a ball, as he put it. So instead of trying to actually play he just ran away and this was fine with Kyurei because it was just as fun to chase him around while kicking the ball. Kou was just left to stand there bored.
Trying to feed a kid was no easy task either. He refused to eat dino nuggets and didn't want fish sticks.
"What do you want then?!" Mitsuba was at his wit's end and practically pulling his hair out.
Kou on the other hand knew just what to do, after all, he had experience from his younger sister, Tiara. "Uncle Kou will cook you something delicious, just you wait."
In record speed, there were three bowls of expertly made fried rice with the perfect egg garnish. And boy did they eat. But the shenanigans didn't stop over a good bowl of rice. Nope. Kyu was determined to get news from his parents now.
"I keep telling you they'll call if they have any updates," both adults insisted.
Things had settled down for a bit once he was in front of the TV up until he asked "can I invite a friend over?"
Just as the pinkette said a sour no the blond had said a sure.
"What are you saying, Lame Traffic Earring! We can't even take care of one kid, I sure as hell am not watching two!" Mitsuba retorted with his arms crossed, before adding a "we better be getting paid for this."
Kou would've tried to defy his roommate but he knew if he did that his mattress would be chucked out the window once back at the apartment.
At the hospital things weren't going any better. Nene was in immense pain and it felt like it would never end. She spewed curses and insults and nothing was sugarcoated. Amane was of so much no help that he was sent to just wait outside the room to worry.
He was stressed beyond belief. Anything could go wrong and his thoughts were screaming at him. Then he realized how much worse his amazingly strong wife had it at the moment and calmed down. Surely things would be okay if he prayed enough.
It wasn't until around one in the morning that the Yugi house had received any news. Detangling himself from Kou's arms, Mitsuba answered the other's phone because he was out cold on the couch (yes, he did fall victim to the forgotten prank).
Though he was grouchy and exhausted, the man congratulated the couple. When asked how the handful of a kid was, he didn't feel like ranting and instead just told them to come home soon. "I expect adequate compensation for this though" was his only direct remark.
Several hours later, the now-older-brother woke up and took no time to put his slippers on as he bolted down the stairs and jumped on the duo still sleeping on the couch. "Wake up sleepyheads!"
They groaned and complained that it was too early and Kou let out a quiet "five more minutes Teru-nii" that Mitsuba could only roll his eyes at as he stretched and tripped over the blond's legs when trying to get up.
Jumping around with his hands in the air, Kyu asked for the umpteenth time about his twin brothers. And Mitsuba reluctantly told him that they would be coming home tomorrow. The brunette's excitement was through the roof yet a bit disappointed that they weren't there now.
"Agh, why can't they come home today?"
Fixing his pink hair, Sousuke agreed. "Trust me kid, I want them to come home just as much as you do."
Finally up after cracking and popping almost every joint in his body, Kou sprung up and squeezed the life out the child.
"Listen here mister, you better turn that frown upside down!" The blond turned to his friend. "You too Sousuke!" That resulted in a shoe being thrown at his face.
"That's Mitsuba to you, peasant!"
The energy surrounding the two felt familiar to Kyu somehow. He couldn't quite put his finger on it and it frustrated him because he knew exactly what it was but didn't have the words.
"Well, Mitsuba, what if I wanted to call you by your first name?"
"Pervert!"
Kou spluttered. "How-"
"Because I said so!"
That's when Kyurei understood. "You guys are married!"
Mitsuba was in mid throw with his other shoe in hand and Kou was bracing himself for impact when they paused and there was a moment of very awkward silence. The quiet was broken by hysterical laughter as they both fell on there knees and pointed at each other as if to say "marry you? Pffft no way!"
"Nice joke kid!"
Kou wiped a tear. "Yeah, good one!"
"But you are! You argue like my parents," Kyu stated, very sure of himself. "And they love each other a lot! So much they had me and now my brothers!"
That comment did render both men very flustered but that didn't stop the sassy retorts from Sousuke.
"Yeah, right!" Mitsuba cackled, "dontcha think I could do better than that lame Minamoto?"
The child frowned and put a finger to his lips in dubiety. "What's wrong with uncle Kou?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with me?" Kou huffed. It was hard to tell if he was joking or if he was actually hurt.
"You know what, I don't feel like answering that. Let's go make breakfast. That's your specialty, right?" And he dragged his friend away to the kitchen.
The pinkette decided on having pancakes as he had spotted some mix in the pantry yesterday when grabbing the microwave popcorn. As he turned on the stove, Kou mixed together the batter. There was a long lasting silence with the only sounds heard being the lapping noises of the pancake mix being stirred. The silence wasn't all that bad, it was rather comfortable albeit it was obvious that the two had things that they'd left unsaid.
"Do you really think I'm that bad?" Kou mumbled as he poured the first pancake.
The question took the other by surprise. Did he? "You know what a joke is right, stupid?"
He played with his sweater paws and looked out the window as if he found the outside more entertaining than watching his roommate flip pancakes like he expertly did back at home. Even if he had seen him do it many times it still surprised him.
His response didn't mean anything to Kou. He was going to speak up again, but Mitsuba beat him to it.
"You're pretty cool at times." It was a quiet mumble but he had still said it. That was enough for the other.
"You're pretty cool too, Sousuke." This time, he didn't get scolded for using his first name.
The day went rather okay with Kyurei only acting up a few times but otherwise being behaved (that might've had something to do with the warning that his pink haired uncle gave him).
The hospital room was flabbergastingly quiet as two baby boys slept in the arms of their tired parents.
"Nene?"
"Yeah?"
"You're the strongest person I know." Amane whispered tenderly, gazing into Nene's eyes.
"You're pretty strong yourself."
Amane shook his head. "Not like you, though."
She could only chuckle tiredly.
Come the next day, Kyurei was still so sleepy when he woke up that he didn't even hear the front door open. He couldn't remember what he was so eager for until he heard unfamiliar and not to mention annoying cries. That's when his eye popped out of their sockets and he nearly tripped getting down the stairs at the sight of his parents. His ruby orbs fell to the two babies, one of which was crying and the other just napping.
One was in his mother's arms and the other was being held by an exhilarated Kou who just had to see 'em (he promptly returned him because his cries only got worse). Amane, upon spotting his oldest, got down on a knee and opened his arms wide to greet him with a hug.
"How were these last two days?"
"Fun! Uncles were very nice. Especially uncle Mitsuba." The rascal said ironically.
Nene glanced at Mitsuba who stuck his tongue out in retaliation. "I'm glad to hear that."
"So how much you cashing out?" He growled out.
Nene gave her best grin. "How about three hundred to split between you two?"
"Sounds good," Kou accepted and gave a toothy thumbs up. "Let's get you to bed for some good hard earned rest, Senpai."
Nene obliged, grateful for her friends.
They got the babies into their crib, Kyurei following close behind. He observed the rise and fall of their breathing as they laid in slumber. As if he felt his older brother's eyes on him, one of them opened their eyes to reveal beautiful gold orbs. The two had a small staring contest, Kyu in awe.
"Are they boys?" The curious child asked, not looking away from both newborns.
"Mhm. That one is Tsukiya and that one is Hoshi." The proud father explained.
Reaching a hand out to Tsukiya, Kyurei smiled warmly. "Hello Tsuki."
The fussing with one brother led the other to wake up, revealing ruby eyes. "Hey Hoshi." Kyu whispered sweetly.
Looking closely you could see ashen blond tufts growing atop Hoshi's head and brown curls swept messily on Tsuki's head.
"Why do they look so different?" Kyu wondered out loud. It was true; despite being twins their eye and hair color were very different.
Amane let out a throaty laugh. "I was wondering the same thing. I asked the nurse and she said it's because they're fraternal twins, not identical."
There was a knock at the front door and everyone, except Nene, went to see who it was.
Opening the door, Amane was met with a tight embrace followed by a screech.
"Amane!" Tsukasa hummed out affectionately. Behind him was Sakura who looked to be smiling, a rare occurrence for the green haired maiden.
"I assume that your date went well." Amane mouthed to her.
Nanamine shrugged though her eye smile contradicted the uninterested motion.
"Where are my newest neph—" he was muted by a hand over his mouth.
"Nene is resting, you feral cat." Sakura scolded.
"Sorry, my wonderful assistant." He wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled his face in her neck.
Mitsuba greeted Sakura, complementing her hair and outfit. He always looked up to her for her good looks.
The group tread as quietly as they could back up the stairs. Tsukasa gingerly picked up Tsuki, and the newborn opened his eyes and showed off his pretty golden orange orbs.
"Amane! He has your eyes!" Tsukasa whisper cheered.
Pulling on his uncle's sleeve, Kyu begged to hold one of his brother's. Tsukasa looked to his older brother who nodded.
Kyurei was directed to the arm chair next to the crib and then the newborn was softly lowered into his arms. Caught by surprise by the weight of his baby brother, that didn't stop him from cradling him. "We're gonna have so much fun."
And the two fell asleep that way, peacefully and without any outbursts.