Shinji and Hyun-ki slept until dinner and Kippei let them, figuring the more of Rien being gone that they could sleep through, the better. And besides, if he was going to be making dinner, he didn’t really need any witnesses. Usually he let Shinji do this kind of thing when Rien wasn’t home, but he [...]

Shinji didn’t sleep the night before Rien had to leave. He was stressed and grumpy when Rien and Kippei finally stirred in the morning, well before dawn and he slid out of bed and went to shower, needing to scrub at the sleepy feeling of his skin, rubbing it so hard he was red and [...]

Shinji fell asleep at some point in the little mermaid, cuddling Hyun-ki as if she were Kiri and getting the down time he so badly needed. He woke refreshed in the middle of the afternoon, feeling far more grounded and at peace with the world, though he rushed out of the now empty cubby house [...]

Coming on the back of a bad day, Rien’s phone call at a time Shinji knew was far too early in the morning was the last straw. He couldn’t go back to sleep and instead sat in the spa for two hours until it was late enough that he could call in sick, and then [...]

Shinji struggled to get up the next day, moaning and bitching his way out of bed to the shower and then arguing with himself whether it was a good idea to go to school, but he couldn’t back down from it. He had to go to work for several hours in the morning, which only [...]

Kippei had assumed that Shinji had been able to practice when he never came back to sit with him in class, but he still worried just a little bit for the rest of the day, until he could meet Shinji outside after school and see for himself that Shinji was really okay. He smiled in [...]

Rien was entirely grateful when he looked at the clock to see that finally, it was almost time for Kippei and Shinji to be home again. He loved having Yuni all to himself for awhile, but she missed Shinji pathetically, and it wasn’t as easy to keep her distracted without Kippei there to help. He’d [...]

Christmas passed in a blur of lunches, dinners, friends and family. Shinji felt caught up in a rollercoaster of eating and drinking, swimming and playing, until at last he lay out on the grass in the sun with his eyes closed, the last of his hangover finally abating, and he realised everything was quiet. No [...]

Shinji felt completely overwhelmed as they packed the last of it into the back of the car, moving immediately to Kippei’s side and pushing in against him, arms wrapping tight around his waist while he took a moment to just breathe. Paint, clothes, food, nappies, safety equipment, toys, furniture, linen, shoes, hair clips…the list was [...]