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Rui wandered the aisles of the store idly, barely looking at any of the products anymore. He knew what he was there for - Emu’s favorite brand of taiyaki. He couldn’t seem to find those stupid packages anywhere, even though they were so brightly colored.
Had they run out? He was already at the far away store, the closer one didn’t have any, either. At this point, he would have gone home if he wasn’t so sure Emu would chew through the walls at the pace she was eating those things.
Even despite this, his mind wandered. Wouldn’t it be fun if he were to fly a drone around in here…?
He sighed. He was bored out of his mind now. He said a silent prayer to the universe that something interesting would happen.
And oh, how he would regret that wish.
His phone buzzed.
Emu.
> 🩷 emu - if you come home early, you can put the taiyaki on the counter!!!
> i went to the hospital. stomach pain
Rui nearly dropped his phone
> 💜 rui - Emu? Are you alright?
> Emu?
No response.
He opened the group chat to ask someone else, but saw Nene typing first.
> 💚 nene - did emu tell the rest of you
> 💜 rui - About the hospital thing?
> 💚 nene - oh so she did
> 🧡 tsukasa - I WAS ABOUT TO ASK
> 💚 nene - yeah i was asking you guys
> 💜 rui - She didn’t give you any other information? How interesting…
> All she told me was that she had stomach pain and she went to the hospital.
> 💚 nene - okok im on my way but im like 2 hours out from the hospital are either of you closer?
> 💜 rui - No. I went out to the further grocery store to get her taiyaki.
> 2 hours minimum travel time.
> 🧡 tsukasa - IM CLOSER BUT THERE’S TRAFFIC
> IM COMING EMU
> 💚 nene - god damnit why are we so far
> i hope she’s okay
> please be okay emu
He didn’t even know whether Emu was okay.
Rui hadn’t been a particularly athletic runner since the days of evading security at Phoenix Wonderland.
But, at that moment, he ran faster than he ever had before.
“...Emu?”
Rui held Nene and Tsukasa’s hands as they all turned the corner into the hospital room.
He looked away just for a moment to pull back the curtain, and then-
He heard a quiet yet sharp gasp from Nene. He didn’t even get a chance to look directly at Emu before he saw Tsukasa wobble in that way that told him he was going to hit the floor in two seconds, maybe less.
He caught Tsukasa in his arms and held him up, his focus redirected before he felt Nene’s hand on his shoulder.
“Holy shit…” he heard her whisper. Her voice half shock, and half… awe? That’s what it sounded like. Though what could she…
Rui finally had a moment to look at Emu. She looked the same as ever. Short, pink hair, pink eyes, perhaps a little more disheveled and ragged, but she had admitted herself to the hospital for stomach pain, so it seemed to check out.
She seemed half asleep. Nearly limp under the hospital bedsheets. Out of character for her, but once again, understandable for the circumstances.
That’s when he saw what she was holding.
Or rather, who.
It didn’t seem apparent at first. She held something gingerly tucked into the collar of her hospital gown, under a little blanket no bigger than a hand towel.
Only upon closer inspection did he notice it had a head. And it moved.
Rui held Tsukasa a little tighter. His voice was careful, maybe even uncharacteristically quiet.
“Emu… whose baby is that?”
Emu looked up and giggled. “Well, I had really bad stomach pain and felt nauseous yesterday, so I thought I had food poisoning! Then, it hurt worse today, so I went to the hospital.”
Rui nearly choked.
“Are you perhaps implying…”
Nene swiped at the air next to his head, though she looked just as nervous.
“Rui, that… baby barely has any hair, and I can already see pink. Who else?”
He only became aware that Tsukasa had woken up when he heard a sudden scream come out of the man in his arms.
Tsukasa stumbled back. “What- Where- Emu?!?!”
Emu just giggled.
“Do you want to see him?”
Rui approached slowly and crouched down next to the bed. His hand wrapped around the back of the baby’s head.
He chuckled. “Hello there.”
Nene shook her head, but was clearly smiling.
“What… what are we supposed to do? I mean, a total of three hours ago we didn’t even know…”
“We can figure it out.” The words were oddly serene out of Rui’s mouth, even he wasn’t sure how he said that so easily.
But he kept looking at this baby. His baby. His son, even.
He watched Tsukasa crouch on the other side of the bed, also reaching over to put his hand over the baby’s body.
“Tsukasa, are you… crying?”
“Hah, no…”
He smiled, watching Tsukasa very obviously wipe the tears from his face with his sleeve.
Emu looked up at them all, eyes gleaming with renewed energy.
“What are we gonna name him?”
Nene was still pacing at the foot of the bed, hands on her head.
“Better question. Where are we going to put him? We don’t have clothes, or toys, or a crib…”
“We’ll figure it out, Nene.”
Rui still had no idea where those words were coming from. Mostly because he also had no idea where their baby supplies were going to come from. Reasonably, he should be right behind Nene, pacing like he intended to wear a hole in the floor.
He stopped as Tsukasa broke into quiet sobs against Emu’s chest.
Nene reached her arm out to him, but he started speaking anyway.
“I…I’m a dad now… I…”
That almost made Rui tear up too.
Despite his hand on the back of the baby’s head, it still didn’t feel real. He entirely expected the sight of his son to fade into darkness, and he’d wake up in bed. The sun would just be rising, and he would shake off the odd dream he just had and go about his day.
He asked the universe in his head: Am I dreaming?
And the answer was no.
And the little baby under his hand squirmed around. Not a doll. Not a robot.
Skin warm to the touch. Eyes wide.
Focusing in on him.
He smiled.
Rui leaned up against the wall, holding the baby in his arms and against his chest.
He heard Nene call out.
“The crib is almost done! He’s not being fussy again, is he Rui?”
Rui shook his head, even though he knew Nene wasn’t looking.
“No, no… he’s asleep. He’s quiet.”
He looked down and saw tiny eyes blink open, then meet his.
“Good morning, Riku.”
Riku. His name was Riku now.
He had no idea how they came to that decision in the matter of the two days before they were released from the hospital, especially considering they seemed to have no general consensus on even the type of name they wanted at first. (Nene had to tell Tsukasa at least five separate times that no, Pegasasu was not an appropriate name to give a child.)
But that was Riku. They had all the papers signed and everything.
Rui had a real son now.
If you had asked what he was going to be doing today just two days ago, he probably wouldn’t have answered anything close to “holding my son in my arms while two of my partners assemble a crib”.
Rui smiled. The best things were always surprises, no?
Riku reached an arm out toward Rui’s face.
Rui put a finger over Riku’s hand and chuckled to hold back the tears as he felt tiny fingers wrap around.
He didn’t look up as he heard Nene’s footsteps approach.
“The crib is done. You can put him down there now.”
Rui shook his head.
“I think I’ll hold him for a little longer.”
He looked up just in time to see the knowing smile on Nene’s face.
The smile that said oh, you fell in love with him too, didn’t you?
All four of them had over those last two days.
“Alright. I’m going to ask Emu if she needs anything, I’ll be in the living room.”
Rui nodded and diverted his attention back to the baby.
He sat there for a long time, silent, staring between the wall and Riku. Closing his eyes for a few seconds just to admire the gentle weight in his arms, or the feeling of a tiny hand holding his finger.
“Ah, Riku. I have so many things to show you about the world.”
Rui looked into Riku’s eyes, those familiar pink eyes he’d recognize from anywhere.
And he stared up at a framed picture on the wall, him and his partners all grinning and giggling.
And it felt like falling in love with all of them, all over again.