Takumi insisted unhappily, "It's really not your fault."

"Don't worry about it," Sora replied quickly.

"She doesn't want it," Takumi explained quietly. "She only agreed to have the baby when I told her that I want it, and I'm kind of worried because she seems to be doing her best to ignore the fact that she's pregnant. Except she can't entirely because she's having terrible morning sickness. I don't know what to do. I want her to marry me, but she won't until she's sure she's in love with me."

Sora looked at him, and after a long moment he drawled with a flicker of humor, "Okayyyyy, you don't have to make me dinner. Want me to order sushi?"

"Eri doesn't really like fish," Takumi told him helplessly, but he couldn't help smiling a little. "I'll just make dinner if you'll go buy ingredients while I go cuddle Eri for awhile?"

"Alright," Sora agreed, and handed over his duffel. "Hot pot?" he suggested.

Takumi nodded.

--

"I'm sorry," Eri said miserably without looking, when Takumi curled up behind her on the new bed.

"I love you Eri," he whispered. When she didn't respond he told her gently, "I don't want you to be sorry. Can't you blame me instead of yourself sometimes?"

She finally turned and gazed at him with startled eyes in a pale face. "Why?"

"I'm the one who's sorry. I'm making you miserable by greedily wanting everything." She looked doubtful so he kissed her.

"Your friend?" she asked as though changing the subject.

"Sora went grocery shopping for our dinner," Takumi informed her. She blinked at him, but her face was still inexpressive, so he offered to cheer her up with something more than words, "Do you want to do it before he comes back?"

Eri blushed in a slow ripple across her skin, but tilted her face for another kiss. After a bit she whispered, "The quick way? Just in case?"

--

Only a quarter of an hour had passed when Takumi checked the time after they finished.

It wasn't the quickest they'd done it, but Eri smiled at him affectionately and said, "I don't want to blame you Takumi. I think if I blame you now and then fall in love with you later, I will feel very bitter?"

Her face was more cheerful but her words made him despair a little. "Fall in love with me already," he demanded. "Even if it makes you feel bitter, I will still be happy about it. Ecstatic even. I'm sorry Eri, it sounds cruel, but I want you to fall in love with me even if it hurts."

"I want to. I'm sorry I'm so slow," she apologized again.

"It's okay," he replied more calmly, and then sighed. "I get to sleep with you every night while you think about it. I'm really pretty damn happy already," he pointed out. "I'm just being greedy."

She blushed and shook her head energetically enough to make her short curls bounce.

"You are so freaking adorable," he told her teasingly so that her blush spread across her again. He kissed her one last time and then helped her get dressed first, in case Sora arrived before they were ready.

--

"Sora-san, are you a half?" Eri asked all of a sudden while they were eating.

She was afraid he was going to be offended, but he just grinned at her and replied, "Sort of? A quarter German and a quarter Korean. I used to get in trouble in school for tinting my hair all the time."

Takumi snorted and added, "So of course he refused to ever dye it, even though it would have saved him several thousand laps."

Sora ran his hands through his hair that was copper streaked in the sunshine and asked loftily, "And deprive the world of this?"

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Eri giggled and he winked at her.

After they finished eating Sora asked, "Do you care if I take Takumi out drinking?" And then he corrected himself, "Out for a drink. I mean without you." He stopped and covered his face for a moment.

Takumi covered his smile as he met Eri's gaze.

"I just mean take him out for a guys only evening," Sora tried again. He looked at her unhappy face. "Argh, I'm just digging this hole deeper." He reached over and clung to Takumi's sleeve as he demanded, "Save me?!"

Takumi shook him off and replied seriously, despite his smile, "I'm not going unless Eri is really okay with it."

Sora stared at him with such a distressed expression that after a moment Eri giggled again. When he glanced at her hopefully she offered, "I still have homework to do, so you can go out for a while without me."

Sora examined her face and then asked uncomfortably, "Are you still in highschool?"

She shook her head and explained a little defensively, "Third year in college. I could go with you."

He glanced at Takumi, who shrugged, and then shifted his gaze to the ceiling for a long moment before asking hesitantly, "Would you rather go with us? I really wasn't trying to make you feel excluded."

Eri hesitated before replying, "But you do want to talk to him without me?"

Sora promptly nodded.

"Okay," she agreed.

--

Eri clung to Takumi when they were leaving, and he stopped and asked again, "Are you sure?"

"It's okay," she told him seriously as she released him.

He leaned in and kissed her slowly, before promising, "We'll be back in a couple of hours."

She nodded, and he followed Sora out.

"She's sweet," Sora said while they waited for the taxi.

"She's mine," Takumi declared firmly.

Sora looked at him in surprise. "When have I ever made a move on one of your girls?"

"I don't know, why did you suddenly decide to start something with Kasumi?" Takumi asked unhappily.

"She started it, and it's not… she just wanted me to prove something," Sora explained with embarrassment. After a moment he asked, "What on Earth happened to her Takumi?"

"I don't have any idea," Takumi replied uncomfortably.

"It makes me feel like I did something awful to her, even though it was all her idea," Sora complained.

"After the way she left, I don't even really care if you did something awful to her on purpose."

A small silence preceded the simple comment, "Harsh."

Takumi replied uncomfortably, "I'm sorry, but I really don't."

"It's fine," Sora said comfortingly.

--

After the taxi dropped them off at the bar, Sora announced uncomfortably, "Just one drink tonight."

Takumi looked at him curiously and asked, "Why?"

Sora winced. "I got fired because I went in to work still drunk from the night before, so I decided I should cut back."

"Just because you overdid it once doesn't mean you've developed a drinking problem?" Takumi protested with surprise.

Sora grimaced and then told him firmly, "Don't make excuses for me Takumi. If you do, I'll believe you, even though I won't believe myself." He looked at Takumi's dubious expression, and said more gently, "You know I've always loved drinking?"

Takumi nodded.

"Without you always being there to say something when I'm drinking a little too much, I really think I've been letting it become a habit. And it's not good for me, I don't want that kind of habit."

"Okay," Takumi agreed after a moment. The old routine as they ordered their favorites and found their seats was like a comfortable ritual, and he didn't ask anything until they were both settled.

Over their drink, Sora explained how he'd broken up with the woman he'd been living with, gotten drunk, and gone to her wedding. "I looked around and realized I haven't even taken a vacation in two years and figured what the hell, and came to find you," he explained.

Takumi grimaced. "Sorry. I really can't go with you right now."

"You could bring her with us?" Sora suggested.

Takumi shook his head and replied seriously, "Not yet, she's not ready."

After he swallowed the last drop Sora asked, "So how did you meet Eri-chan?"

Takumi grinned suddenly and said, "My father would tell you it was fate."

Sora raised his eyebrows. "So you bumped into her on the street one day?"

Takumi laughed and replied, "Just about. I ran into her while exiting the restaurant I'd just had dinner in. Her eyes darkened and her lips reddened, just from looking at me, so I kissed her."

Sora gave him a sardonic look and then informed his best friend, "You're seriously the only guy I know who would notice that kind of reaction in a girl you'd just met."

Takumi shook his head and insisted, "No, she's different. Everything shows on her face, literally everything. She even blushes in waves that travel across her skin. She's so freaking adorable."

After a moment Sora asked uncomfortably, "Should I get a hotel tonight?"

Takumi hesitated for a long moment, before replying firmly, "No, stay with us."

Sora glanced at him and then looked away. "We're all grown up now. You don't have to keep insisting that your home is my home forever."

Takumi grinned and replied, "But it is. It's only Eri that I'll never share with you."

Sora laughed. "Okay then, I hope she doesn't mind."

"I'll explain," Takumi said confidently.