blademaster.

ibuki had decided to stay the night at mamoru's house. he acted nonchalant when mamoru had offered for him to. he was careful to not let him know he did this on purpose. he wanted to celebrate mamoru's birthday with him. after putting ryuzu to bed, the two of them ended up doing fiva work. though the whole time, ibuki was thinking of mamoru. when midnight hit, he put down his work and leaned over to kiss mamoru. "happy birthday, anjou. i love you." ibuki held out a box with with a ring inside. it was a simple sterling silver ring with the infinity symbol on it and the words "i will always love you" engraved on the inside. "i hope we can keep spending birthdays like this, together." 

                                   mamoru invited ibuki to stay at his place, as he had been doing more and more lately. he loved spending time with his boyfriend and made as many excuses as he could. ryuzu liked spending time with ibuki, too. it was such a relief. after mamoru read to ryuzu and tucked him in, he and ibuki finally got to getting some work done. mamoru had to force himself to not get distracted with his thoughts about kissing ibuki. when he was finally making some progress, ibuki suddenly kissed him instead.

                                     mamoru went to get the door immediately, still being up with work. the sun had set a long time ago. he knew it must have been late because of how tired he felt as soon as he got up. he hoped nothing was wrong, but what other reason would someone have to come to his house so late?

                                             oh, of course it was his boyfriend. only ren would do something like that just because he felt like it. he immediately relaxed. at least nothing was wrong. he was surprised to see ren with a cake in one of his hands. “ oh ...! ” it was his birthday already. time passed so quickly with how busy he was, he forgot the days. he took the gift from ren’s other hand so ren wouldn’t have to juggle both of the gifts. he felt his face flush when he saw what it was. a pendant bordered with little diamonds and a heart-shaped ruby centerpiece. the shape of the border was unique -- two silver loops with the bottom surrounding the heart. it was beautiful. ren always had such good taste ... but such expensive taste, too.

                                   mamoru continued ignoring ren as he spoke. making breakfast came first, and ren wasn’t in the way, so mamoru could cook as if he wasn’t there. that wasn’t to say mamoru didn’t want to kiss ren -- he always did, even when ren whined like that -- it was just easier to finish breakfast if he pretended ren wasn’t there. his boyfriend was too dangerous, so he had to be ignored. 

"... is this alright?" ibuki stiffly holds ryuzu in his arms, fearing that if he moved, he would drop him. he didn't know the first thing about taking care of kids. if he had ever been around them, he didn't remember. ryuzu seemed to be doing alright, he was even smiling. he seemed to like to tug at ibuki's hair, something he was still getting used to. "i'm nowhere near as good at this as you are, anjou." he felt nervous, like ryuzu might start crying at any second. "i don't know how you do it."

                                   “ it’s perfect. just relax, ibuki-kun. ” mamoru can’t help laughing a bit watching the two before him. ibuki holds ryuzu fine, but he’s as still as a statue. meanwhile, ryuzu is relaxed in his arms, even pulling at his hair. ibuki has resigned himself to his fate, discomfort only expressed by his facial expression.

                                                   mamoru reaches out, gently prying ryuzu’s hands open and replacing ibuki’s hair with a toy. compared to how tokoha was, ryuzu is a well mannered baby. “ you’re flattering me. i have a lot of help, you included. ” mamoru smiles, moving his hand up to push ibuki’s hair off his shoulders. “ i’m trying my best and hoping it’s enough. i’ve had experience taking care of tokoha, but being a big brother is different ... ”

                                                   he can’t bring himself to say he’s ryuzu’s dad. in every sense of the word, he is. he takes care of him, he nurtures him, he’s devoted all of his heart to this child from the moment he held him in his arms. he considers ryuzu his son, but is he worthy of being called ryuzu’s father?