Chapter Text
As Kanade lay in bed, the curtains beside her snuck in sunbeams that engulfed her in the dancing light of morning. She blinked a few times, trying to get herself up. She couldn’t. Mafuyu had her arms draped over her, a loving squeeze that Kanade thought was impossible to escape from. Both from the force and from her inability to wake her sleeping lover. She laid back down from as much as she was sitting up, staring into the world outside. What an unusually busy morning, she thought to herself.
While Kanade was consumed by her own mind and her wife’s hugs, a small pitter-patter could be heard outside of their door. It grew in volume and when it drew closest it came to a halt. The doorknob rattled, and then opened. A waddling girl with big blue eyes and lavender hair ran in. She held a special blanket that Mafuyu had owned when she was the toddler’s age, and a poorly sewn cat doll Kanade had tried to make.
The smaller girl quite climbed her way up onto the bed, sitting on top of the sleeping Mafuyu. She bunched the blankets in her hands and attempted to pull the it away from her sleeping mother. Mafuyu groaned, loosening her grip on Kanade enough for her to turn around to look at her family. She faced Mafuyu, looking intently at her pretty face. Her peaceful face. Mafuyu’s eyes fluttered open, attempting to process the scene in front of her. When she saw Kanade studying her, she felt herself jump a little and turn a lighter shade of red.
The two sat up, turning to their daughter. She was playing with her cat, throwing it in the air and catching it. She giggled and fell over onto Kanade’s lap. Kanade stroked her head, wrapping her other arm about Mafuyu’s waist and pulling her close in. They looked ahead to the little girl in her green dress, her hair messily tied into two pigtails and a sunhat now on floor. Mafuyu giggled.
“Amia, did you do all of that by yourself?”
“Yeah-huh! I’m ready to go to the aquarium with Mommy and Momma!” She giggled, kicking her feet in the air. Kanade picked her up and pulled her in for a hug.
“Sweetpea, the show doesn’t start until 1. We’ve got a long time to go before then. It’s only…” Kanade looked at her clock and gasped. “12:15?!”
Mafuyu’s eyes widened as she momentarily panicked before she leapt out of bed and picked up Amia. She rushed away to go fix the little one’s hair as Amia squealed, riding on her mother’s shoulders. Kanade followed shortly, running to the restroom to comb through her hair. It had recently been trimmed and she wanted it to look nice since her wife (who was in fact a hairdresser) had done it. She pulled two strands to the back, pinning them down. She braided a side piece to leave dangling. Once she did it she realized it reminded her of Ena, as she wore her hair like that when they were young. It was simple yet fancy. Mafuyu would approve.
When she came back to the bedroom, she put on her favorite sundress. It had originally belonged to Mafuyu but ended up being too short for her. That made it all the bigger on Kanade, given their height difference. She loved that in a dress. She picked up Amia’s sunhat off the floor and grabbed the two adult-sized matching ones, then ran out her bedroom to meet with the other two in the kitchen.
The house was mostly clean, besides Kanade’s sheet music she had done for the next song on Nightcord at 25:00’s upcoming album. There were also a few kiddie toys lying around, all packed in a fairly larger sized cat tent that Amia just adored. Kanade reminisced over all the times she and Mafuyu had played princess or chef with their baby in just the past three years. Actually, almost four now. Amia’s birthday was in two months.
Speaking of whom, Amia was munching on some crackers in her highchair (which she was about to be too old for). Mafuyu was making sandwiches hastily, trying to differentiate between the preferred type of each individual in the household. Kanade swooped in to help, cutting the sandwiches diagonally before putting them in their respective bags. She also snuck a strawberry cake slice in Mafuyu’s lunch bag, knowing it would be a nice little surprise during the dolphin show.
She wasn’t particularly interest in dolphins, but Mafuyu loved aquariums and Amia loved all things animals. The three had been looking forward to the outing for quite some time now.
When done, Kanade scooped up her daughter and wiped the cracker crumbs off of her face. She plopped the small sunhat onto the toddler, and then did the same for Mafuyu. That resulted with a giggle from her lover and a small kiss on the cheek. Kanade’s cheeks hinted pink as she raced outside.
She opened one of the car doors at the back and sat Amia down into her carseat, fastening the seatbelt buckle and placing the three lunchboxes beside the carseat. She kissed Amia on the forehead before closing the door, placing her own sunhat on top of her head. She got into the passenger’s seat, as she never drove nearly as much as Mafuyu did and to be frank, she was scared she’d get distracted and wreck the car. Mafuyu placed herself at the wheel and gave a cheerful quip before they were off.
Kanade turned on the radio, flipping through stations. Marionette was playing one one of them. It was an old song they wrote long, long, ago and she preferred not to mention it in fear that it would make Mafuyu uncomfortable. She song was about her traumas, after all. Despite this, she heard a little voice yell from the back at the brief clip played.
“Momma’s song! Momma’s song!” Amia yelled, recognizing Mafuyu’s voice. Kanade froze, unsure what to do from here on out. She didn’t dare look at Mafuyu because she knew she had gone even paler, somehow. But even so, all she could hear was a small chuckle.
“You’re such a sweetheart, Kana. Thinking of me like that. You can turn it on for her, I don’t mind. I like that song.”
With the approval of her wife, Kanade flipped back to Marionette and looked back to Amia. As the chorus began, Amia sang the lyrics loudly and out of tune. Not that it matterd to her mothers, who thought it was absolutely precious. Even though Amia didn’t know the meaning of the lyrics, it was still sweet to hear her sing such an important song to them. Mafuyu joined in, revisiting the old lyrics that once represented so much pain she felt.
Unbeknownst to Kanade, that song now represented all of the progress Mafuyu had made and all of the things she could now feel that her 17 year old self couldn’t. Mafuyu and Kanade were only 27, and sometimes Mafuyu still felt like she was behind on emotions, but they had come such a long way. They had built a life off of their relationship and even brought another life into this world to share with them. A preciously tiny life. One with pastel purple hair and Kanade’s blue doe eyes that Mafuyu so adored.
The song came to a close, Kanade now being hearable through her soft humming to the melody that was of her own design.
———
At the aquarium
Kanade jumped out of the car the second Mafuyu put it in to park, dashing forward like she never had before in her life other than a few select times. Most involved running after Mafuyu or Mafuyu running after her.
She lunged forwards to meet the ticket taker in time, huffing and breathing heavy as she leaned over to catch her breath. She extended the tickets out.
“Two adults, one child under five.” She panted, even though the distance she ran was only maybe 6 yards. Mafuyu had only now taken Amia out of her carseat, lifting the little one into her arms and shutting the car door. She sighed and smiled to Kanade. Amia had two lunchboxes in either hand, Mafuyu having the other in her purse.
The tickets were taken, and she was given three wristbands. She triumphantly walked back to meet with her family and placed Mafuyu’s wristband on her wrist but struggling with Amia.
“It’s awfully big for 5 and under.” Mafuyu commented, trying to find a way to make it work. Kanade nodded.
“I think they only have one side, though.”
“That’s crappy.” Mafuyu stated while rocking Amia up and down in her arms. Kanade tilted her head in agreement as she walked onto the aquarium’s main pathway. Tons of carts were lined up and serving food, stickers, and even stuffed animals. Amia looked to a dolphin plushie.
“Mommy, look! It’s a dolphin!”
Kanade laughed. “Yep, we’ll be seeing plenty of those today,” she turned to her wife, “you go on ahead without me. I’ll catch up.” She said while attempting to discreetly pull out her wallet.
Mafuyu gazed at her with a look of knowing, shaking her head while grinning.
“You’re a sucker for anything Amia.”
“Yes, I am.” Kanade said, turning away to go check out the plushie stand as Mafuyu walked forward with the tot in her arms. Mafuyu leaned into Amia’s ear to whisper.
“How about you make mommy something dolphin related as a surprise when we get home?” She asked as Amia nodded excitedly.
——
Kanade was a little late to the starting act of the show, but it was worth it when she saw Amia’s gleaming face of pure childish happiness when she saw the plushie. She took it from Kanade and squeezed it, expressing her many thank yous before settling down again.
Just as Kanade had settled down and opened her lunchbox, she heard a familiar voice.
“Kanade? Mafuyu?” They paused, looking to Amia. “Cute-patootie?”
Amia squeaked as she reached out for Mizuki, who picked her up and spun her around. They were definitely the fun parent type, and Kanade felt as though she looked up to Mizuki in that sense. Kanade really wanted to be fun too. Behind Mizuki was Ena, who wasn’t so much as focused on little Amia as she was saying hello to Mafuyu. The two got a long a lot now, having settled their differences from the past.
“Ena, Mizuki, we didn’t know you’d be here!” Kanade exclaimed, hugging each of her friends.
Ena yawned. “Yeah, too bad we’ve got assigned seats for this show. We’re a few rows down from you guys. I’d love to play with Amia some.” Ena acknowledged before snapping a selfie of she and the toddler. The child put her hands up for a wave, something her auntie Ena had taught her to do. Mafuyu looked at Ena with her scary eyes, shaking her head in disapproval. Ena huffed.
“Mafu, I wasn’t gonna post it. This one’s just for me.” She explained, leaving the worried mother’s expression to soften as she nodded in understanding.
Kanade and Mafuyu had both decided to leave Nightcord anonymous when they were 19 in case they ever wanted children. It turned out to be a very important choice, because they didn’t want Amia’s face all over the internet before she could consent to that sort of thing. Even if sometimes Kanade envied music artists that could vlog their life experiences for the later memories, she also didn’t really think a camera in her daughter’s face would be a good idea at all. Kanade just recoded what was important for her and her wife to use as a keepsake, like Amia’s first step.
“Oh yeah, aren’t you guys naming your next baby after me?” Ena smugly chirped, just trying to kid around. Kanade grinned.
“I’m leaving that one up to Mafuyu. I’m pretty content with one kid but I wouldn’t mind more.”
“Oh, well if we did have another they definitely wouldn’t be named Enanan or Ena. We feel like that’d be too close. We were thinking of Shino or Shiina. Something similar to your last name. But still, we don’t know about more kids.” Mafuyu said as she fell onto Kanade’s shoulder to rest her head under her wife’s. Ena gave a wide smile.
“That’s…precious. I didn’t expect you guys to seriously have something like that planned. I was just joking.” Ena stuttered out, looking a little dumbfounded.
“It’s nothing!” Mafuyu insisted, and as they exchanged name ideas Mizuki became a bit bored. With some comments about the show starting soon, they managed to pry Ena away from the Yoisaki family and dragged her to their assigned spots.
When her aunties left Amia sat back down in her seat, holding her dolphin in her lap and tugging at Mafuyu’s sleeve.
“Momma, I’m hungry.”
Mafuyu motioned to the lunchboxes. “That’s what we have those for, dear. Yours is the green one. Can you hand momma the blue one please?”
Amia hastily grabbed her own and handed Mafuyu the one she had requested. When they both opened up the boxes, Mafuyu looked to Kanade.
“Oh, you…” she said as she grabbed a fork and took a bit of the cake onto it. She lifted it up to Kanade, who on que went “aaa” and took the bite. Mafuyu giggled as she wiped the crumbs off of Kanade’s mouth, reminiscent of the days when they were younger and on first dates. They would frequent picnics and bring all sorts of new foods for Mafuyu to try, but strawberry cake ended up being her favorite.
Kanade leaned onto Mafuyu and sat back, excited for the show to start. Amia was too, as she was bouncing up and down in her seat as the colorful lights began to shine at the tank. Everyone went silent, watching four oddly dressed individuals walk onto the stage.
“Hello everyone! We’re the carnival themed band, Wonderland x Showtime!” A pink haired girl cheered. Her three bandmates clapped as a blonde boy with red tipped hair walked up front and center.
“I hope you all enjoy our brief performance! We were honored to be asked to play here! It’ssss…”
All of the bandmates pitched in with their next line, even the reluctant girl with grayish green hair.
“SHOWTIME!! ★”
—
I don’t really want to write a whole dolphin show sorry
—
As the show ended, Amia held her dolphin up in the air and pretended it was jumping up and down. She sang along to the song the band that played at the beginning had sung.
“Miracle painting..hm hmm hmmmm hm…” she sung, trying to pretend like she knew the lyrics. Kanade lifted her out of the seat.
“Did the little lady enjoy the show?”
“Yes!! Let’s come back tomorrow!” Amia squealed, wrapping her arms around Kanade’s head excitedly.
“We’ll be sure to come back, but I’m not sure they’ll have another show for a while.” Mafuyu chuckled as she chose to give into her daughter’s enthusiasm.
Kanade dragged along behind Mafuyu, not used to all the social energy. She never was too good with people. Maybe she wasn’t a total recluse like she was at 17, but she certainly was still a hermit of sorts. She made all her money through Nightcord, so she didn’t feel a need to really go out. The internet was so handy for buying this. Mafuyu turned to her as Amia scrambled to the ground.
“Is something wrong, dear?”
Kanade shook her head. “I’m just beat. So much crowd and yelling…my ears hurt.” She said as she covered one ear. Mafuyu grinned.
“That’s such a you statement, Kanade.”
“Gee thanks, Mafu. But I did have fun! I love spending time with you and Amia.”
“And we enjoy spending time with you too.”