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The house was dark when the cab pulled up to the curb, somehow foreboding even though the street was just as quiet and idyllic as always.
His connecting flight had been delayed, his cell phone charger was probably lying in a hotel room in Naha, and he knew Kazuya was going to lay into him in the morning, but relief still swelled inside him at the sight of home. This had been the longest of long weeks, and he was so glad it was almost over.
Eijun paid the driver, grabbed his bags from the trunk and made the short treck up the sidewalk. As quietly as he could, he opened the door and disarmed the alarm, leaving his luggage in the genkan for the moment.
He flipped on the light and jumped, eyes wide as he took in the living area. A"Welcome Home!" banner adorned the far wall and the remains of a party still littered the usually neat space.
Shit, Eijun thought, tears springing to his eyes. He threw a party for me?
There was no way he could face Kazuya now. He'd sleep in the guest room, give him some space for the night. He wasn't sure he'd be welcome anyway. In the morning he'd grovel and take his licks like a good boy.
But, because he couldn't help himself as he tiptoed down the corridor, he did open the door to Miyu's room, just to check, just to catch a glimpse. It felt like he hadn't seen her in so long.
She wasn't there.
Eijun's heart leapt into his throat. Had Kazuya taken their daughter and left him? He stumbled to the next room, throwing the door open and sagging when he saw the lump in under the covers. The distinctly human lump.
He crept over to the bed, telling himself he was just making sure, but he got caught immediately by the sight. Kazuya was on his side, arm flung over Miyu. She was facing him, head pillowed on his other arm tiny fists snagged in Kazuya's pajama top.
Eijun swallowed. He wanted to be a part of that. He needed it.
As slowly and carefully as he could, he crawled in on the far side, scooting so could curl up against Kazuya's back, head resting between his shoulder blades and just breathing in the scent of his family.
Kazuya stirred and Eijun stiffened. "Eijun?" came the sleepy mumble.
"Sorry for coming in so late," he said, not daring to look.
Kazuya didn't say anything for so long Eijun thought he'd drifted back to sleep. "We were worried when you didn't come home."
"Flight delay."
"You didn't call."
"Left my charger at the hotel."
"And the airport doesn't have pay phones anymore?" Kazuya didn't sound angry exactly, but there was a note in his voice that said he could, easily, become so.
"I just wanted to come home," Eijun whispered. "I didn't think I could talk to you and not lose it in the middle of the concourse."
Kazuya sighed quietly. "You're hopeless."
"Yeah." Eijun couldn't really disagree. He didn't know how to close the distance that had been growing between them lately. More and more often he resented the sport that took him away from his family for weeks at a time. It was a feeling he'd never thought to experience. Between press tours, away games, season and off-season training, he'd probably spent as much time on the road as at home in the last year.
Eijun took a deep breath. "So I've been thinking..."
"Uh-oh."
"Shut up. I've been thinking...you know how my contract's up next year?"
"Sure. So?"
"So, I'm thinking about taking the Marines'(*) offer. I've been talking with--"
Eijun snapped his mouth shut when Kazuya tensed. Slowly, he disengaged from Miyu so he could turn over and face Eijun, searching his eyes in the dim moonlight. Eijun smiled. He'd fallen asleep with this glasses on again. "Why?"
Eijun shrugged, not meeting his suddenly sharp gaze.
"You're going to throw away your career for--"
"For you? For Miyu? I'd throw away a lot more than that. But that's not it. If I stay where I am I can't be happy, and if baseball doesn't make me happy there's no point in playing. I'm saving my career. I've been performing pretty badly--"
"I know," Kazuya said. "If I was your catcher I'd have slit your throat by now."
"And I just haven't been able to concentrate. I want to be home. If I take the offer I could commute from home, except for away games. I just think it would take a lot of pressure off of us."
Kazuya took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Jeez. You've got some nerve ambushing me like this when I'm still half-asleep."
"Sorry. We can talk tomorrow."
"Oh you bet we will. We're going to have a nice, long talk about a lot of things tomorrow."
Eijun whined.
"Is this really what you want?" Kazuya asked seriously.
Eijun raised his hand to that beloved face, traced his lips, the curve of his cheek, until finally curling around his jaw and resting there. "Yes," he said simply.
"Okay," Kazuya breathed, and they kissed, soft and slow. It deepened, almost without them noticing, and Kazuya's hand appeared suddenly to pull Eijun's thigh up and over his hip bringing them even closer.
"Papa?"
They froze. Shit, Miyu!
Her tiny body rose behind Kazuya and tumbled over him so she fell between them. She snuggled against Eijun's chest and said sleepily, "Missed you, Papa."
Eijun stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head."I missed you, too."
Between one breath and the next, she was asleep again, breaths puffing damply against Eijun's collarbone.
Kazuya, smiling wryly, pulled the blankets up to cover them all and pressed in close to Miyu's back. He rested his hand on Eijun's bicep, and squeezed. "Welcome home."
Feeling a little choked up, Eijun responded just as quietly, "I'm home."