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 and sprinted into the kitchen, ignoring Rien and Hyun-ki at the table while he looked at the clock on the oven and excitedly hopped from one foot to the other. Kippei should be finished with class by now and on his way home. Shinji grabbed a glass of juice from the fridge and happily went to stare at the puzzle Rien and Hyun-ki were doing on the table.

Hyun-ki lit up and beamed at him as he came over to join them, stretching out a hand to greet him and chattering excitedly at him.

“Pretty, Shinji!” she told him, gesturing at the pretty picture they were slowly piecing together and explaining it to him in her fractured mix of languages, as usual not requiring a response.

Rien grinned at them both, putting a hand on Shinji’s back and rubbing it affectionately. “How’d you sleep, princess?” he asked.

“Like the dead,” Shinji snorted softly. “I needed it. I feel better now,” he reassurred Rien, knowing Rien had let him sleep because he was worried and had sat through enough of Shinji’s tantrums to know sleep was the best medicine. Delighted by Hyun-ki’s chattering, Shinji picked her up and sat in her chair, putting her in his lap and studying their puzzle with a thoughtful hum before snatching up a few pieces and putting them in.

“Pretty puzzle, Yuni. Did Rien get it for you?” He smirked, knowing full well Rien had probably bought her all sorts of things while they weren’t around to see.

“Puddle!” she agreed, turning her bright grin on Rien and nodding in agreement. Rien had brought home quite a number of puzzles one day, in various sizes and difficulties, some with larger pieces and simple patterns in bright, bold colors that were easy for a child to figure out, some a little more complicated and ‘adult’ sized that she could pretend to help with while he did most of the work on them.

Rien chuckled softly, reaching over to smooth her glossy black hair down and touch her cheek in a brief caress.

“Yeah, baby, lots of pretty puddles,” he agreed, eyes dancing with amusement at her mispronunciation.

Shinji had to bite his tongue, hard. Her mispronunciations were hilarious to him, and he hid his wide grin against her hair, letting his eyes laugh at Rien when he spotted the box and saw they were making a giant fantasy scene of fairies and unicorns. Rien would enjoy that just as much as Hyun-ki, Shinji was sure.

But he was distracted when he heard the car pull up and he hurriedly got up, putting Hyun-ki in Rien’s lap and rushing down the hallway to the front door, grinning as Kippei got out of the car and waiting impatiently for him to come up the steps to the door so he could give him a welcome home kiss.

“Welcome home, baby!”

Kippei sighed with relief when he was able to drop his bag and wrap both arms around Shinji, folding him in a giant bear hug and squeezing him tight, burying his face in his hair and inhaling a deep, comforting breath of his scent. Now he was home again, now everything was right in the world again.

“Missed you today,” he murmured, kissing his temple and rocking him back and forth a little, still holding him wrapped tightly in a big warm hug. “Love you so much, beautiful.”

“Love you too, missed you too, I’m so glad you’re home,” Shinji mumbled, hugging back as tight as he could and then reaching up to kiss Kippei warmly. “Home safe and sound,” he reminded himself, feeling the relief settle deep inside, sighing in pleasure at the feeling.

“Come on, you need to see what Rien’s been spoiling the Yuni with.”

Kippei chuckled, not at all surprised to hear that Rien had been spoiling people again, knowing that it was one of the ways he showed his love, his generous heart overflowing with the need to shower attention and affection on the ones that he cared about.

He slung his arm around Shinji’s shoulders as they turned to go into the kitchen, feeling warm and relieved to have him there, tucked safely under his arm again.

“Hey, cuteness,” he greeted Rien and Yuni both, winking at the little girl as he reached up to ruffle Rien’s mop of curly hair and drop a kiss on his temple. “How’s it going?”

Rien looked up at him and just beamed, feeling warm clear through and lit with a brilliant joy to have him back again, all the pieces of his world settling neatly into place with Kippei and Shinji standing next to him arm in arm, and Hyun-ki jabbering cheerfully from beside him.

“Told you it was cute. Puzzles…it’s so cute!” Shinji reached out and put another piece into place, shaking his head at the shiney pinkness of the image coming into being. “So much pink,” he laughed, tugging on one of Rien’s curls. He dragged Kippei into the lounge room and pointed proudly at their cubby-palace, knowing he didn’t need to say anything, that Kippei would know it had been his idea and be amused.

“Can we have dinner on the floor tonight?”

Kippei laughed softly, finding the blanket fort every bit as cute as Rien’s puzzlemaking, tugging Shinji closer to kiss the top of his head.

“I’m sure that can be arranged,” he agreed comfortably, stroking Shinji’s hair where it tumbled down his back in a loose braid, loving as always the feel of it’s silken, sexy and gorgeous length playing through his fingers. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured half to himself, a faint smile hovering at the corners of his mouth as he watched Shinji with entranced, delighted eyes.

“Mmm you really did miss me,” Shinji laughed softly, but he was a little disappointed he had missed getting to sit with Kippei in class between his own lectures. It was a good feeling though, proof that he was enjoying school and wanted to be there. “I missed you too. I had a long nap, it was really good. Only woke up just a bit ago to find them doing puzzles. So how was school? Do you have much homework or can we just do silly stuff tonight?” Silly stuff meaning putting the baby to bed early so they could play in the bedroom.

Kippei raised an eyebrow at him, mildly surprised at the implication but glad to hear it too, relieved that Shinji was still feeling more and more like he wanted and was willing to give and touch and take in the deepest, most intimate of ways.

“Not too much,” he answered, though he would have said the same even if he did have a lot – sex beat homework hands down, any day of the week.

Shinji just grinned because that was even better. He loved sprawling in Kippei’s lap and dozing while Kippei did his readings and made his cute little notes, almost as much as he enjoyed just mucking around with the three of them in bed. It wasn’t so much sex that Shinji craved, but the close intimacy of having the two people he loved the most in bed where he could touch them however he wanted.

“You can take your time. It’s sexy, watching you do homework.” And maybe Shinji was still harbouring a few fantasies about a future professor Kippei.

Shaking his head, Kippei snorted softly, amused by the ridiculous idea that there was anything sexy about homework. Still, it made it easier to work on somehow, his head felt clearer when Shinji was snuggled up against him, watching him work.

“I don’t know about that,” he noted dryly, reaching up to tweak Shinji’s nose and then kissing the tip of it in wry affection. “But I’m sure it’ll go faster if you help.” And by help he meant cuddling close and watching, of course.

“Oh, I can definitely help,” Shinji grinned, thinking of all the ways he could ‘help’, pretty sure Kippei wouldn’t find them quite as helpful, but he would definitely enjoy them. Not to mention he was sure Rien would be happy to help too. Absorbed in his little fantasy, it took him a minute to remember he was standing there with a goofy look on his face, at which point he went back out to see the puzzle maniacs.

“So what’s for dinner, cute stuff? Can we order take out? We haven’t had take out in forever!”

“Mmm, takeout sounds good,” Rien agreed. “Indian?” he asked hopefully.

“Chinese,” Kippei voted, and looked questioningly at Shinji. “Shin? What d’you want?”

“Yuni votes pizza,” Rien observed wryly, glancing over at her with a rueful smile and quickly translating the discussion for her, upon which she nodded enthusiastically, her eyes bright with hope.

“Pisa!” she agreed earnestly. Kippei laughed; the cuteness was damn hard to resist.

“Well, if we get pizza we can get some pasta too, and please everyone? I just want garlic bread. Indian sounds good though…maybe we can order a bit from everywhere, and everyone can get what they want? We could just order a baby pizza for Yuni, or even make her a homemade one and we can order some chinese and indian and share?” Shinji just really wanted everyone to have what they wanted, and the more he thought about it the more he wanted a bit of everyone’s suggestions.

“We oughta get plenty from each one an’ then we’ll have tons of leftovers!” Rien suggested with a grin, liking the idea of having enough takeout to last a few days, not to mention delicious things to snack on whenever they got the munchies.

Kippei shook his head, amused at them all, and went to look up the numbers, handing them out so they could each call a place and get them all done at the same time.

“You get pizza and garlic bread,” he told Shinji, “I’ll get the Chinese and Ri, you do the Indian place you like.”

Shinji fished his phone out of his pocket and programmed in the number for the pizza place so he would have it for next time, then he looked thoughtfully at Hyun-ki.

“Hmm ham and pineapple, Yuni? I think you’ll like that one the best, you don’t like half the stuff on supreme and you don’t like salami…definitely ham and pineapple.” He quickly called and ordered the pizza and some garlic bread, to be delivered because no way was he letting anyone go out again to fetch it. He kissed Hyun-ki’s cheek and blew a raspberry, loving the way she squealed and squirmed in his arms.

“Pizza, Yuni! Yummy pizza for Yuni!”

She giggled madly as she struggled to get free, protesting the raspberry with childish indignation. “Shinji! Stop, Shinji, icky wet no likey!” She wrinkled up her pert little nose and reached up to bop him with a rather exasperated air. “Shinji silly,” she asserted, rather sternly for such a tiny girl.

Rien had trouble holding in his laughter until he finished his own order to the Indian place, arranging for delivery as well, and then dissolved into vastly entertained peals of laughter, finding them adorable and hilarious and cute as all hell.

Shinji mock gasped and looked appropriately hurt, covering his heart as if she had shot it.

“Yuni doesn’t like Shinji kisses? Shinji kisses are icky wet no likey?” He turned to Rien in mock horror. “You still like my kisses, don’t you Ri? You still want Shinji kisses?”

Startled and dismayed, Yuni quickly shook her head, her small face falling into an anxious frown. “No no, Shinji, like kisses, Yuni want kisses too! Like Shinji kisses, please Shinji, Yuni want kisses from Shinji,” she pleaded, not at all understanding how Shinji had come to the conclusion that she didn’t want them – she hadn’t found the teasing raspberry to be anything like a kiss, and had only been protesting the way it made her cheek feel weird and sticky and damp afterwards.

Rien laughed a little, still highly amused with both of them. “Course we still want Shinji kisses, ain’t ‘at right, Ki?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at Kippei for confirmation.

Kippei just shook his head at all of them, mouth quirking wryly at their collective silliness. “Reckon so,” he agreed dryly. As if anybody would ever not want Shinji kisses.

Feeling bad for making her worry, Shinji leaned in to kiss her again, smiling reassurringly and petting her hair.

“Shinji loves Yuni kisses too,” he promised. “I know Yuni likes Shinji kisses. Shinji loves Yuni.” It was too easy to forget that she had her own set of ghosts and he needed to ask Rien more about them. He looked over determinedly and pinned Rien with a glare.

“I want to talk more about what you know tonight.”

Rien sobered instantly and studied the two of them for a minute, finally giving him a silent nod, though he was not at all sure it was a good idea, neither could he refuse. No more secrets, they had agreed, and he would rather die than betray that trust or risk it. Still, he wasn’t looking forward to talking about those things any more than Shinji probably was to hearing them.

Shinji knew he would want to smother her in love and hide her away from the world once he knew, but he hated the small minefield he often walked in just getting to know her. He needed to know even the dark things that made her who she was, in the same way she had needed to know he had hurt his head. That Rien was willing to share those truths with him meant the world to him, knowing Rien trusted him that much.

“Love you, Ri,” he murmered softly, then looked down at Hyun-ki for confirmation. “We love Rien, don’t we Yuni?”

“Love Ri!” she agreed earnestly, nodding her head in eager confirmation and looking from one to the other of them. She knew vaguely that they had been talking about her, but had no idea why. The one thing she did know was that she loved them all desperately, just as grateful that they loved her in return. She settled in to cuddle in Shinji’s lap, then, quietly sucking her thumb until the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of the first delivery.

Kippei went to get the door, taking the order of Chinese and tipping the delivery man, bring it back to set on the table just as the bell rang again; the pizza man had just arrived as well.

Laughing as the food started to pile up, Shinji unpacked the chinese and examined the various dishes Kippei had ordered. He’d ordered some of everyone’s favourites, and Shinji suspected Rien had done the same. It made him grin as he got up and fetched plates and forks for everyone, dishing up a piece of pizza for Hyun-ki and then grabbing a piece of garlic bread for himself, munching happily as the Indian was brought in and put out on the table with all the rest.

“This is the best idea ever!”

It was a pretty damn good idea, and Kippei took his plate and sat quietly watching them, all so happy and smiling brightly, enjoying themselves to the max.

Rien was beaming, taking bites in between helping Yuni with hers, making sure it was all cut into small enough bits and nothing was too spicy for her.

“Damn, that’s good,” he sighed as he finished the Indian and started in on the Chinese. No doubt they were going to have leftovers, but he meant to make a good dent in it anyway.

Shinji wasn’t sure where Rien put it all, but the thought occurred to him that maybe Rien needed to stock up. That he wouldn’t get fed like this, or maybe at all, on his mission. That he was maybe making the most of it while he could. It reminded him that Rien was leaving soon and he slumped back in his seat, finished at least with what he had served himself and just watched Rien eat, feeling the desperate need to hold on almost strangling him, but forcing himself to just watch and not react. Akira was right; he was far too co-dependant, and it had to change or Rien was going to quit his job out of sheer frustration with his looney husband.

Kippei was less focused on his food, as always, and more in tune with Shinji. He shifted once he had finished eating to sit beside Shinji, wrapping an arm around him and kissing his temple.

“I’ll miss him too,” he murmured. “He’ll be okay. We’ll be fine.”

Looking up quizzically, Rien tilted his head at them, not quite getting what the problem was, or possibly not wanting to. In any case, he didn’t want Yuni to catch their mood, so he turned his attention to her, feeding her bits and pieces, making her laugh by playing airplane with her food.

It was cute and silly enough that it made Shinji laugh, a low chuckle as he turned in against Kippei and wrapped his arms around his neck, hugging him harder than he wanted to but unable to let go even that much. He sighed at the familiar scent so close to his nose, mingled with the various scents of their dinner.

“Love you,” he murmered softly, knowing that no one would ever understand him as well as Kippei. Only Kippei knew, always, when something was wrong, and knew just what to do about it.

Kippei hugged him back, wrapping him up and cuddling him close, smiling a little to himself just because it was nice to be able to feel still, after all this time, that no one knew Shinji better than he did, and no one else was so capable of giving him exactly what he needed.

“Love you too,” he murmured back, stroking his hair and giving Rien a rather silly smile over top of Shinji’s head; Rien laughed softly at both of them, but it was good to know they’d have each other while he was gone.

“Ain’t they cute, Yuni?” he whispered loudly to her, pointing at Shinji and Kippei’s little cuddlefest in amusement.

Shinji stuck his tongue out but he didn’t really care. The more Hyun-ki saw him with Kippei the more comfortable she seemed to be with Kippei, which made Shinji happier with every day. He deliberately turned Kippei’s head and leaned up to kiss him, slow and deep and filled with passion, knowing it would distract Rien and if Hyun-ki thought it was weird then she should start getting used to it while she was still too little to complain.

Far from complaining, she merely giggled and hid her face against Rien, and he pulled her into his lap to snuggle while he watched them kissing, knowing he would get his own kisses later. In the meantime he finished off the remains of his dinner. Leaving was going to come all too soon, but he was feeling a bit better about how they’d be doing without him… hopefully everything was going to be just fine.