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“And then,” Kazuki raised his arms in anticipation. Miri leaned in, excitement crossing her face. “Mister Rabbit took his legendary sword, and slashed the Evil Crow’s pants in half!” Kazuki swished his hands downward, as if making a clean strike with a knife. Miri’s eyes lit up as she bounced on her bed.
“I wanna do the next part, Kazuki Papa! I remember!” Miri shouted.
“Alright then, Miri! Tell me what happened next!”
“Okay.” Miri cleared her throat. She fell backwards on her bed, a landing with a pomf against fabric. “Evil Crow fell back like this! And he drops Mister Alpaca! Then he says ‘No! It can’t be!’ and runs away because he has heart undies on!”
Kazuki chuckled to himself.
“BOOM!” Miri shouted while flailing her arms around, running in circles. “Then the Evil Crow Castle blew up with fire and Mister Rabbit and Alpaca got in their car! And then… um…” Miri placed a finger on her lip.
Kazuki feigned a sigh of disappointment. “Oh well, guess you don’t remember it, Miri!” He hid a sly smile. “Well, after they got in their car, they reached in their bag and… um…” Kazuki smirked while glancing to Miri. Her face was beaming with revelation.
“I remember, Kazuki Papa! I do! I do!” Kazuki crossed his legs and gestured for her to go on. “And then Mister Rabbit and Alpaca put on their Santa outfits and saved Christmas!”
“That’s right Miri! Then they saved Christmas!” Kazuki picked her up and tossed her up into the air, and Miri giggled profusely as she flew back down. Kazuki quickly laid her down and placed her blanket over her kicking feet. “Goodnight, Miri.”
“Goodnight, Kazuki Papa!”
Kazuki planted one last kiss onto his daughter's forehead as she settled into bed. He looked back when the lights shut off, watching her bury herself in the covers. He could almost see a dream taking form in her little head. He caught one last glimpse of Miri’s smile before softly closing the door.
Kazuki stretched back. He was more than ready to hit the hay. After all, things were going to be much different now. The apartment might not be where we wanna stay, he thought to himself. He knew Kyuu, and there was no way in hell that he didn’t at least tell someone where the esteemed Rei Suwa lived; much more concerning now that they had betrayed the organization. But then again, he wondered. The only witnesses to that who aren't in a wood chipper right now are Rei and his dad. He said he ‘settled’ it, didn’t he…? Kazuki found himself pacing. Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re one-hundred-percent, guaranteed off the hook here. That Daddy Suwa’s a sleazy man, no doubt about it. There’s no guarantee he wouldn’t—
“My father isn’t gonna do jack shit.”
Kazuki jumped.
“Oh. Hey Rei,” Kazuki mumbled, trying his best to play it off.
“I know what you’re worried about. He’s not gonna do anything, Kazuki – I made sure of it,” Rei nonchalantly replied. Kazuki’s eye twitched.
“Do you have any idea what I’m going through? I STILL DON’T KNOW IF THIS DAMN APARTMENT IS SAFE! For us! For her!” Kazuki boomed, as he often did while overthinking.
“Huh,” Rei mumbled, looking around the apartment. “Guess so. We should probably move.” Kazuki rolled his eyes, trying to contain himself.
“Well, either way, I’m not even sure. How can you even tell-”
“I just can, Kazuki. Can you trust me on this?”
Kazuki stared off at Rei. He didn’t realize this earlier, but Rei’s look was… softer, somehow. Like something had changed. Kazuki sighed.
“You’re right. I’m… yeah. I’ll trust you on this.”
“Alright. I’m going to ‘bed,’” Rei said, rubbing his eyes.
Kazuki had been wondering, even before now. Things had changed, hadn’t they? They’d have to work a different living. The threat of imminent death wasn’t creeping on their backs every day. Living – and money – would be different now.
…They had something worth protecting. Something worth loving. And it was each other.
“Hey, Rei!” Kazuki shouted before Rei headed to the bathtub. Rei cocked his head over his shoulder. “Since things are gonna be a little different now, with us quitting being hitmen…”
Rei raised an eyebrow.
“...Wanna try sleeping in a real bed for once?”
“I haven’t used my room in forever. Also it smells like ass. Also I think I left a sandwich in there once and I never really found—”
“I wasn’t talking about your bed, Rei.” Kazuki gave a bashful sort of look. A rare sighting. Rei stared blankly at him.
Rei started: “We’re keeping this relationship strictly professional. I know we’ve done this stuff for missions before, but you’re not–”
Kazuki nuzzled up against Rei’s shoulder, holding back a little giggle from himself. He pulled the blanket closer over the both of them. Rei rolled his eyes at him. He’s like some kind of dog, Rei thought to himself. Kazuki placed a gentle hand on his cheek.
“Goodnight, Rei.” Kazuki yawned, mumbling under his breath: “Love you.”
For the first time in his life, Rei Suwa did not fall asleep immediately after putting his head on a pillow. He stared at his husband. At his new bed. At his new life. Surrounded by love.
“Fine.” Rei suddenly got up, kicking the sheet away. Kazuki stirred back awake. He grabbed a familiar looking bottle from Kazuki’s closet and tossed it on the nightstand. Kazuki glanced at the bottle.
“Uhm. I used that for. Missions. Yeah, missions. Where I had to sleep with this rich dude and–”
Rei got on top of him, placing a kiss on Kazuki’s lips as he held his face up. Kazuki’sface reddened. Rei held him, placing his face against his as he closed his eyes. He wanted this to last forever.
Rei broke away from the kiss, heart pounding and preparing as he pinned Kazuki under his legs.
Kazuki’s mind was a fluttering mess. Two thoughts poked through: ‘Oh my god it’s fucking happening let’s go. Let’s fucking go.’ and, ‘I’m so hard I think I might die.’ Rei had almost finished undoing both of their shirts. He suddenly paused. Rei leaned in close to him, breathing hard.
“God, I hope I don’t regret doing this.”
“Hey, what is there to worry about?” Kazuki threw his signature smirk at Rei, completely ignoring the blood rushing away from his head. “I’m your husband, aren’t I?” Rei impulsively untied his pants.
Rei leaned into him, mouth reaching Kazuki’s neck.
“So that was my project at Daycare today, Papas!”
Rei held his hand up to his face. A rush of cold went up his spine. Kazuki nervously laughed as he often did, burying his face into his recently debuted turtleneck.
“See?” Miri shouted as she pointed. “A new thing I learned about my family is that my Papas know how to wrestle! Really loud!” Miri drew her finger across the crayon markings, which depicted her Papas smiling and fighting in luchador masks.
Rei was still as a statue. Kazuki babbled, fumbling about how to explain anything of what she presented to Miss Anna today. Suddenly, Rei spoke up.
“I think that’s very nice, Miri,” Rei looked up from his hands.
“O-Of course, Kazuki Papa needs to explain to you later why that’s a type of secret wrestling match a-and–” Kazuki babbled, still fidgeting with his turtleneck.
“Don’t worry, Miri. You go ahead and play now.”
Rei leaned into Kazuki’s ear.
“We need to insulate those goddamn walls.”