On the Street of Dreams

vChapter summary: “Just wait, Shu. In three months, you’ll understand. You think you’re exhausted now? Just wait. You won’t get any sleep for the next five years.”
Sources: parenting.ivilliage.com/pregnancy

***

Shopping with Ryuichi

(4 Months Later)

With a hand pressed to his aching lower back, Shuichi gripped the back of the bench with his free hand and grunted as he eased himself down onto the bench. He sighed gratefully. Closing his eyes, he slouched down and flung his head back.

“Mmm,” he sighed in relief.

It was official. Being pregnant sucked.

Eiri gazed down at his fiancé in sympathy as he walked towards the bench. Shuichi was now 6 months pregnant and his belly was expanding like a balloon.

Now that they were hitting the last trimester, Shuichi seemed to be getting more tired. The kid’s doctor said the fatigue was due to the growth of the baby and the changes his body was going through because of the pregnancy. Shuichi also seemed to have trouble falling asleep at night and when he did manage to fall asleep, it was not very restful. Naps in the middle of the day seemed to make up for the lack of sleep at night. Noriko told him to try sleeping on his side with a pillow either between his knees or under his belly. Surprisingly enough, it helped. Another problem Shuichi had was a feeling of discomfort. Eiri had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but the doctor said it was normal. Apparently, this discomfort was due to the fetus stretching and bumping into Shuichi’s muscles and organs. His young fiancée also whines a lot about his swollen ankles, headaches (which apparently can be caused by just about anything) and backaches (which Eiri could understand, what with that gigantic weight he was carrying). Normal activities like bending over to tie his shoe or pick up something off the floor and rolling over in bed quickly, just to name a few, have become difficult or impossible for him. Then of course, there was his need to constantly go to the bathroom. Truthfully, Eiri found the whole thing very amusing…when he was not being ordered around by the kid’s constant, often bizarre cravings at all hours of the day and night and his roller coaster emotions that was.

But it was not all that bad. His son has begun to show signs of life. Sometimes his movements could be seen even through Shuichi’s clothing. It was truly amazing, though Shuichi, at times, wished the kid would just give it a rest. Apparently, his son was a bit lively. At the same time, though, Eiri could not help but compare the baby’s movements within Shuichi’s belly to a sci-fi flick where there was an alien crawling around inside of some unsuspecting person. He once made the mistake of telling this to Shuichi and ended up sending him into hysterics. To say the least, that was the last time that subject ever came up.

Eiri slid next to his young fiancé and draped an arm around his narrow shoulders. Shuichi scooted his pregnant self closer towards him and rested his head against Eiri’s shoulder. He sighed happily, a smile on his face. Eiri hugged Shuichi to his side and planted a kiss on the young singer’s head.

Shuichi was not the only one with the roller coaster ride of emotions. Eiri himself was experiencing those same haywire feelings and about a great many things; about being a father in another three months and getting married. Despite being deeply in love with Shuichi, the thought of commitment had always terrified him. Part of him still was. He knew it goes back to when his mother abandoned him and his brother and sister. Shuichi being a neutral did not help either. He had not lied when he said things would not change over night, but things were getting better. But that did not stop him from waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night or second guessing himself and his decisions.

Eiri slid his hand from his lover’s shoulders and rubbed slow, lazy circles on his back. Shuichi leaned into his touch, moaning long and deep. The blond haired writer looked up and searched for Shuichi’s older half-brother. He found him speaking with several employees near the checkout lines.

Ryuichi Sakuma appeared on their doorstep bright and early this morning announcing that he was going to take his “baby Shu-shu” shopping. Not just any ordinary shopping, but baby shopping. Despite the fact that the singer had woken them at the crack of dawn, Eiri and Shuichi gladly took him up on his offer. Having a baby was very expensive and if they could divvy up the expenses, who were they to say no? As much as they appreciate what Ryuichi was doing for them, though, both Eiri and Shuichi thought the singer was doing too much. Ryuichi already furnished the entire nursery. They purchased the crib, rocking chair, changing table, dresser and various other miscellaneous items like diapers, extra sheets and blankets. And now here he was buying more for them. In the half hour they had been here, Ryuichi already bought a car seat, more diapers, toys, bottles, binki’s, a bouncer, outlet covers and several baby gates. And he was far from done.

“Ryu,” he heard Shuichi whine from besides him.

Eiri looked down at him.

“I wish he wouldn’t.”

“Why? Less we have to buy. Saves us money.”

Shuichi looked up at him. “I know that, but still…It, it feels like…I don’t know. It feels like we’re relying on him too much, or something, ya know? I mean…” He sighed heavily.

Eiri smiled softly and nodded. He understood what his young lover was trying to get at, but decided to tease him. “Is it the money? Or is it because you’re so pregnant, you can’t do much of anything without needing to take a break?”

Shuichi opened his mouth, but closed it without saying anything, thinking. But then he blinked, snapping out of his thoughts as what Eiri said hit him. “Hey!” he cried, insulted. He elbowed Eiri hard, pouting angrily. “Jerk,” he said with a light giggle as Eiri chuckled besides him.

A sudden gust of wind and a blur of color flew by them. Eiri and Shuichi blinked, their hair and clothing rustling.

“Come on, Shuichi!” shouted Ryuichi as he blew past them. “Wee!”

“Ryu. Is. An. Idiot,” Shuichi said as he watched him vanish around a corner.

Eiri snorted. “He’s your brother, Shuichi.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Eiri said, shrugging. “Just saying.” Standing up, he held out a hand towards the young singer. “Come on.”

Groaning, Shuichi slumped down on the bench. “This sucks,” he moaned.

Eiri chuckled.

Shuichi lifted his head and stared at his lover.

Eiri sighed. He hated that look; those large puppy dog eyes and full pouty lips. “Shuichi,” he scolded.

Growling, Shuichi slid his hand within Eiri’s and allowed him to pull him to his feet. If it were not for the watermelon under his shirt, he would have stood up by himself. He was not sure what was worse, being pregnant or his brother dragging his six month pregnant ass around town. “Definitely being pregnant,” he grumbled.

“What’re you complaining about?”

Shuichi blinked up at Eiri. He had not realized he said that out loud. “Nothing,” he barked, crossing his arms over his chest and turning his back on his partner with a “humph” and started after his brother.

With a raised eyebrow, Eiri watched his fiancé walk, or rather, waddle away. He sighed heavily. “Woo boy,” he sighed. He would be glad when this was all over.

As he started after him, Eiri suddenly got the distinct impression that someone was watching him. Stopping, he glanced around, but did not see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. Nobody seemed to paying them any particular attention. Shaking it off, Eiri jogged after his angry, pregnant fiancé and his insane brother.

*

Eiri found his betrothed with his brother in the infant department. “Jeez,” he exclaimed as he walked over to them. “Leave some for the other customers!” The shopping cart was already half full. He spotted several different types of hats, booties and socks, pants and shirts, footies and other one-piece outfits. With a sigh, he rolled his eyes. He loses sight of them for a second and look what happens. Despite what he said to Shuichi earlier, he was beginning to believe that the kid was right. He leaned over the cart and picked up one of the outfits. It consisted of a pair of jeans with an elastic waist and a multicolored striped sweater over a white button down shirt. “This stuff looks like doll clothes.” He looked up at Ryuichi who was looking at short sleeve shirts with stick figure people stitched on the front. “Sakuma,” he began, “don’t you think this is more than enough?” he asked, indicating the cart.

Ryuichi paused and turned to look at him, a look of bewilderment on his face. “Why? Is it too much?”

Shuichi, who was looking through a sales rack, turned to watch his brother and fiancé curiously.

“The kid already has a closet full of clothes and it’s still another three months until he’s born. We’ve gotten outfits from Seguchi, Mizuki-” Eiri’s editor, “Tatsuha-”

“You can never have enough clothes,” the older singer said happily turning back around to search the racks. “They spit up and drool and who knows what all the time.”

Eiri sighed. Both he and Shuichi have a lot of clothes, but even combined, this kid already had three times as many. He could wear a new outfit every day for a year and still would not have made a dent in his closet.

“Awe! Look, Eiri! Isn’t it cute?” cooed Shuichi, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Turning around, Eiri saw Shuichi holding out a pink and white lace dress with puffy sleeves and a billowing skirt. It was so tiny; it looked like the only body that could fit into it was a Barbie doll’s. Shuichi laid the dress against his swollen stomach and glanced up at him with wide wonder filled eyes, glistening with unshed tears. A bright smile lit his face.

Eiri glanced from the dress to Shuichi. “It’s very cute, Shuichi.”

Shuichi held the dress back out, still smiling, studying it.

“But you do realize that it’s a dress.”

Rolling his eyes, Shuichi threw his fiancé a look and made a disgusted sound. “I know that.”

“Good. Then you can put it right back.”

“Aw!” Shuichi spun around, pouting. “But it’s so cute! And it’s 75 percent off! Why can’t I get it?” he whined.

“Shuichi,” Eiri sighed. “It’s a dress and in case you forgot, your son is not a girl,” he explained carefully.

“Yeah, but-!”

“But what?”

Eiri strode forward and yanked the dress out of Shuichi’s hands. As predicted, Shuichi whined in protest. Eiri shoved the clothes on the sales rack over and placed the dress back on it. Turning around, he sighed heavily when he saw Shuichi pouting angrily, his arms crossing over his chest. This must be the longest nine months of his entire life. Was it April yet?

“I don’t wanna boy,” he heard Shuichi mumble. “I wanna girl.”

Eiri rolled his eyes. Not this again. “Maybe next time,” he sighed.

Instantly Shuichi’s face lit up. He spun back around and clasped his hands together. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” He wrapped his arms around his fiancé and hugged him to him. He kissed the top of his head. “But for now, let’s concentrate on this one and getting married before deciding on a second one, okay?”

“Okay!” Shuichi said happily. He sighed happily and laid his head against Eiri’s chest, wrapping his arms around Eiri’s waist. “I love you, Eiri.”

A soft smile lit the writer’s face. “I know,” he whispered back, tightening his hold.

Once again, Eiri felt eyes on the back of his head. Only this time, a series of muffled click-whirl’s accompanied them. He loosened his hold on his fiancé and glanced around, frowning. There were several other shoppers nearby, but none of them seemed to be paying them any particular attention.

“Eiri? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Eiri said, distracted, taking a final glance around. He felt very uneasy.

“Alright!” exclaimed Ryuichi.

Shuichi and Eiri turned around and watched as the lead singer of Nittle Grasper dumped an arm load of clothes into the shopping cart. Shuichi gaped. “Ryu!”

Ryuichi blinked innocently at his younger brother. “What?” He glanced down at the cart then back up at Shuichi.

“I think you’ve done more than enough. This is too much!”

A broad grin split Ryuichi’s face. “It’s never too much!” He grabbed the full cart and took off.

“Ryu!” Shuichi sighed as he watched his big brother vanished around the corner.

“You know, at this rate, we’ll have to tell Seguchi to find us a bigger apartment in Tokyo just so we can have room for all the baby stuff,” Eiri said.

Shuichi giggled.

“Speaking of which, have you heard anything about the move?”

“From what Tohma’s told us, I guess the remodeling in going faster than expected. Everything should be set for the relocation this fall.”

Suddenly Ryuichi reappeared with a new cart. “Let’s go, guys,” he called. “We need to get bottles, formula, more diapers…” His voice trailed off as he disappeared down one of the aisles, still checking off items that his “baby Shu-shu needed”.

Shuichi’s sigh turned into a groan.

“Come on,” Eiri chuckled. He draped an arm around Shuichi’s shoulder and steered his exhausted fiancé after his brother.

“Oh,” Shuichi exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around Eiri’s waist. “Noriko came by the studio yesterday with her daughter.”

“Really.”

“Oh! Eiri! She’s the cutest thing!”

“I bet.”

“She has the cutest laugh! And when she smiles, her whole face lights up!”

“Hm.”

“It’s hard to believe that she’s 16 weeks already.”

“That’s because she’s not your kid. It’s probably been the longest four months of her entire life.”

“Eiri!” Shuichi scolded. “That’s not nice.”

“Just wait, Shu. In three months, you’ll understand. You think you’re exhausted now? Just wait. You won’t get any sleep for the next five years.”

Shuichi pouted. “It won’t be that bad… Will it?”

Instead of answering, Eiri asked if Shuichi knew anything about Tohma getting Noriko’s husband a job in Tokyo. It was one of the stipulations Noriko and her husband made in exchange for them being forced into relocating.

“I think Tohma got him a teaching job at Tokyo University.”

Eiri shook his head. His brother-in-law was something else. There was a saying, “Ask and you shall receive.” That saying definitely applied to Tohma.

They found Ryuichi down one of the aisles loading the cart with wash clothes, more pacifiers, and chewies.

“For when he starts teething,” Ryuichi explained.

God forbid, Eiri thought. That was something he did not want to have to think about yet.

Ryuichi straightened and stared at the cart. “I know there was something…,” he mumbled. Suddenly his eyes lit up. “Oh! Strollers!” He grabbed the cart and raced down the aisle.

Shuichi looked up. “Where’re you going?”

“We need to get a stroller and a bassinette!” He stopped at the end of the aisle and glanced first one way and then the other, a confused, thoughtful expression on his face. “That way,” he exclaimed, turning the cart to the right. He vanished from view.

Seconds later, they watched as Ryuichi zipped past them, going in the opposite direction.

“Ryu?” Shuichi questioned, watching him.

“Wrong way,” his brother said.

Shuichi giggled, shaking his head.

“Your brother is something else,” Eiri snorted.

“Yeah. A moron.”

“Come on,” Eiri chuckled. He grabbed Shuichi’s hand, laced their fingers together and led him out of the shadow strewn aisle.

Shuichi took no more than half a dozen steps when he stopped suddenly, his hands fluttering to his belly. “Oh!” he exclaimed.

Eiri turned sharply. “What’s wrong?”

Stunned, Shuichi looked at Eiri. “He moved.” A smile graced his face. Giggling, Shuichi grabbed his fiancé's hand and placed it on his belly. He studied Eiri’s face closely and when the writer’s eyes widened momentarily, Shuichi giggled, knowing that he had felt him move as well. “You feel him? You feel him?”

Smirking, Eiri nodded. “Yes.” His breathe hitched as he felt his son kick him. “He’s definitely your son, Shuichi.”

Shuichi beamed.

Eiri stared at his hand as he rubbed small circles over Shuichi’s belly, smiling softly. He lifted his head and studied the singer tenderly. He reached out with his free hand and cupped the side of Shuichi’s face. “I love you, Shu.”

Shuichi’s face softened. “I love you, too, Eiri,” he whispered back.

They leaned towards each other at the same time and kissed. It was just a light, gentle brush of lips, but it was more than enough. Pulling back, they stared dreamily into each other’s eyes.

From somewhere in the store came a sudden loud crash.

Shuichi and Eiri jumped apart, like guilty lovers. They glanced at one another.

“What the hell was that?” Shuichi asked.

“I’m okay!” came the familiar shout seconds later.

Eiri could not help himself. He burst out laughing.

Shuichi sweat-dropped, his face flushing in embarrassment. “Oh, God,” he moaned.

“Let’s go before your brother does anymore damage.”

They walked out of the aisle and towards Shuichi’s brother who was trapped in the middle of a sea of boxes. Shuichi sighed, shaking his head. And people said he was an idiot.

*

Several very long hours later, Shuichi was in the kitchen sorting through the mail his brother brought over this morning when a light blue envelope caught his attention. Curious, he set aside the rest of the mail and studied the envelope. His name and Ryuichi’s address was written in large, blocky script, but there was no return address. He noticed it was postmarked from Tokyo, though. Frowning, he slid his finger under the corner of the flap and ripped it open.

“What’s that?”

“Huh?” Shuichi turned and saw Eiri step barefoot into the kitchen, a mug in his hand and his glasses on his face. “I don’t know.” He reached inside the blue envelope. “It’s a card,” he said, pulling out the blue rectangle.

“Hm. Who’s it from?” Eiri walked towards the table and set down his cup and picked up the envelope, turning it over.

“No idea.” Shuichi read the front of the card out loud. “’To the new mommy-to-be…’ Awe! That’s so sweet,” he cooed, tears blurring his vision.

Eiri set down the envelope and glanced at his fiancé. Sighing, he rolled his eyes.

Sniffing, Shuichi swiped the back of his hands over his eyes. “Look, Eiri, isn’t that cute?” He held up the card and pointed to the white short sleeved shirt and blue striped overall shorts cut out from velvet-like paper stuck to the middle of the cover. “It looks like one of the outfits Ryu bought.”

“I hope not,” Eiri mumbled.

Ignoring his fiancé, Shuichi opened the card, still grinning. “’…and your bundle of boy. Congratulations’.” He glanced up at Eiri, a renewal of tears in his eyes. “Eiri!”

“Hm.” The writer took the card from him and read it himself. Like the envelope, there was no signature and no indication of who may have sent it. “I wonder who it’s from?” he wondered out loud.

Shuichi picked up the envelope and looked it over. Peeking inside, he said, “There’s something in here.”

Eiri looked up. “What?”

Reaching inside the envelope, he pulled out a check. “Oh, my God,” Shuichi whispered in shock. “Eiri…!” He looked up at his partner. “It’s…it’s from…Dad.”

“What? Your father?”

Shuichi nodded.

Eiri took the check out of Shuichi’s shaking hands. His eyes widened when he read how much the check was for. “Holy…!” He exchanged a shocked glance with the singer. He opened his mouth, and then closed it, unable to form any words.

With a sob, Shuichi covered his mouth as tears flowed freely down his face. He could not believe it. He just could not believe it. Crying harder, the pink haired singer, stood up and walked into Eiri’s waiting arms. Wrapping his arms around his waist, he buried his face in his crisp white shirt and cried. Maybe his father did not hate him after all.

***

A/N: People thought the last chapter was the end. Nope! Actually, when I originally wrote this, there was only the epilogue left after the last chapter, but I wanted to add a little more to the ending before the baby was born. So, they’ll be at least one more chapter before the grand finale. Then I might have a sequel. We’ll see. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it.