The most pressing problem was that… Makoto was an idiot.

  Taiki didn’t like saying that about children, but… Taiki had been living with them for the greater part of a year, and Makoto still hadn’t particurly caught onto the fact Taiki was sticking around.

  Taiki bmed it on the fact Makoto was suffering from Protagonist Syndrome. Or, at least, was oblivious to everything going on around him when it didn’t involve him.

  But Taiki was too amused by the situation to inform Makoto and instead had taken to tormenting him by just existing, leaving all expnations to Takuya.

  Fall was coming upon them once again. Eri was eleven and had been going through nine months of treatments. She was getting better. She had more energy now, still not as much as other kids like Makoto (who seemed to be filled with boundless energy, and that probably was abnormal too and should be checked out), but she spent more of her hours awake than asleep now. She was able to walk to the nearby convenience store or park with Makoto on occasion, as long as they took an adult or Patch (who acted as Taiki’s eyes and ears when he wasn’t around, though the children didn’t need to know that).

  There was still a long way to go, but Taiki was feeling confident that it was working.

  Taiki stood in the kitchen, having barely returned from a long night of tending to Eri. He poured a cup of coffee while he listened to eggs sizzle on the stove. He yawned so wide that even Patch, sitting sleepily by Taiki’s feet, yawned as well.

  “Tired?” Taiki asked, petting Patch’s head.

  “I don’t need to sleep,” Patch said, yawning and slumping against Taiki. “You work too much, Master…”

  Taiki chuckled, taking a drink from his mug. The coffee was bitter on his tongue as he began pting the breakfast and setting it out on the dining table. A tumble of footsteps could be heard coming down the hall and Taiki managed to slide out of the way before a small body could run into him.

  “Whoa Dad, you made- Why are you here!?” Taiki was too tired to even react to Makoto’s shriek, standing in the doorway and pointing at Taiki.

  “Good morning to you too,” Taiki drawled. He really needed sugar or something in this coffee. Well, he probably shouldn’t have even been doing coffee in the first pce, tea would have been better. He needed to go to bed…

  Takuya came up behind Makoto, gently pushing Makoto forward to get into the dining room. “I didn’t expect you to be up so early,” he said, wrapping an arm around Taiki in a gentle hug and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

  Taiki yawned, trying to cover it with his hand and but not succeeding. “Haven’t gone to bed yet,” he said. “Thought I’d make breakfast since I was up already.”

  Takuya rubbed the dark bruises under Taiki’s eyes while taking the still almost full coffee mug out of Taiki’s hand. “Go to bed, get some rest,” he said. “You’ve had a long night.” Taiki made obligatory incomprehensible compints about the stolen coffee until it was pced on the counter.

  Taiki leaned on Takuya, nodding sleepily. “Yeah… There’s bentos for you two in the kitchen, don’t forget them. And wake me up when you—" Another yawn cut him off, eyes trying to close where he stood. “When you come back from work. Need to— Eri.”

  “Yes, yes,” Takuya said, turning Taiki towards the door. “Go to bed. Don’t make me tuck you in.”

  “Mmm, sounds temping, though…” Taiki waved while leaving the room, heading up to Takuya’s bedroom. Despite there being a dog bed pced in the kitchen next to a heater for Patch’s convenience, Patch followed after Taiki.

  Makoto just stared between the two adults in confusion. “Adults are so weird!” he excimed. “Why does he keep spending the night? Doesn’t he have somewhere else to go!? And why does he keep coming out of your bedroom!? We have other rooms!”

  To Takuya’s credit, he kept a perfectly calm face. It was something he was going to need to have a conversation with Makoto about, and soon. He knew Taiki was amused, but it was starting to go on a little too long. Makoto was eleven, now.

  “Adult things,” Takuya said instead. “Come eat. Don’t waste his hard work.”

  Makoto grumbled, sitting at the table and eating his breakfast. It was, unfortunately, delicious. He picked at his food, Takuya doing the same.

  Takuya stopped eating, putting down his chopsticks as he quietly watched Makoto for a moment. It took several beats for Makoto to realize he was being looked up. Midbite, he looked up and swallowed thickly.

  Takuya sighed, folding is hands in front of him. “Makoto, how much do you remember of your mother?”

  Makoto’s brows furrowed, mouth opening just a bit as he though deeply. “Mom… She… was really pretty. She liked… flowers. And red. She had this… red nail polish she’d always wear, and a favorite jacket that was… dark red, I think. It smelled like mint when she hugged me. It was always warm. She read to and pyed with me all the time. But then she… was gone.”

  Takuya’s expression became complicated as Makoto talked. “And what do you think about Taiki?”

  Makoto shrugged. “I dunno. He’s a stupid onii-san that likes to tease me.”

  Takuya nodded solemnly. “I see…” He sighed. “Makoto, I think you’re blending memories.” Makoto tilted his head in confusion. “The red jacket that smelled like mint- It was Taiki’s high school jacket. That nail polish is his as well. Your mother… wasn’t very fond of books.”

  Makoto jumped to his feet, unable to even speak from the shock. His eyes were wide, body frozen. “No… That’s… It’s not true… Mom…” His memories of the years Taiki had babysat him were hazy at best, but the part as clear as day was that the person in the red jacket had always felt warming and loving, but the one that existed in the background was cold. Not mean, but it was clear they didn’t want to be there.

  That had to have been Taiki, right? Because Mom loved him, and Taiki had been a teenager and stupid and didn’t want to be around Makoto at all, not when he had Eri to spend time with— But Dad had said—

  A small, reserved smile made its way to Takuya’s face. “Taiki has cared about you longer than I realized,” he said. “That’s… good.”

  “Good!?” Makoto shrieked. “I’m— I— He’s—!” He fell back into his chair.

  Takuya gave Makoto a few moments to gather his thoughts before speaking again. “Taiki is my partner, like your mother used to be.”

  “You married him!?” Makoto seemed paler at the idea of that more than anything else.

  Takuya chuckled. “No, not quite,” he said. “However, we are in a committed retionship. For the foreseeable future… he’ll be here with us. He’s going to be part of our lives for a long while, son.”

  Makoto cringed and half rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out like he’d just witnessed something disgusting. “Does that mean he’s my new mom?” he compined.

  The visual of Makoto calling out for Taiki using “Mom!” and Taiki coming in with a frilly apron entered Takuya’s mind. He chuckled, but kept the visual to himself.

  “No, I don’t think he would be pleased to be called that,” he said. “Just call him as you usually do.” Takuya looked down at his bck and gold watch. “You’d better hurry it up or you’ll be te. Don’t forget your bento.”

  Makoto groaned. “Yes, Dad…”

  He jumped up and grabbed the bento from the kitchen counter before practically running out of the house towards his school.

  He grumbled the entirety of the day, unable to stop thinking about the conversation with his father. Taiki-onii was an idiot. A few of his cssmates were getting into retionships (none that sted very long, but Makoto supposed most retionships were like that— which was a nice thought, because that meant that Taiki wouldn’t be around very long after all), so he knew a little bit about them. One cssmate had described her crush as feeling warm and safe, and your heart beats really fast, and you get shy around them, so you blush a lot more. Another had said it was more along the lines of wanting to show off your good points, wanting to protect the person you cared about, though he also agreed with the fast heartbeat.

  Thinking about that made Makoto gag, because his dad felt that? For Taiki Kuroda? Gross.

  And wasn’t that dangerous anyway? Taiki had always told Eri she couldn’t move fast or get excited because if her heart started beating too fast it might burst. Makoto hadn’t understood that as a kid, but she’d die if that happened, right?

  Adults were weird if that happened and they still went out looking for love.

  Makoto’s thoughts drifted to Eri, as they did most days. It was a shame that she couldn’t go to school, though it was for the better, really. What if she met a boy a got a crush on him? Her heart probably wouldn’t be able to take it…

  Makoto tried to think about what Eri would look like if she had a crush. Would she be one of the shy people who blushed, or one of the more outgoing ones who tried to show off? He could picture her blushing and stammering better than he could picture her trying to swing super high or kick a ball super hard.

  The image of Eri shyly giving a confession (which in his mind had totally accidentally been aimed at him, no way was that on purpose) popped into Makoto’s head and he felt his cheeks go hot. He tried to hide them in his arms, leaning down on his desk to bury his face in his arms.

  He swallowed thickly, gripping at his sweater. His heart was beating really fast, and he felt all hot. And he really, really did want to protect Eri. She was his best friend! But… did he have a crush on her?

  Makoto swallowed again. Dad had kissed Taiki on the cheek that morning, and they were a couple. If he kissed Eri on the cheek, would that make them a couple? Would she even want kissed on the cheek?

  He’d been trying to eat outside yesterday, but one of the third years of the connected middle school had been trying to give another a confession and the event had ended in tears, so Makoto knew it was entirely likely that she might not. But what if she did?

  The thought had him blushing even more.

  His lunch was, unfortunately, not destined to be had in peace.

  “Whoa, did your mom make that for you!?” Makoto looked up with a frown at the boy who’d spoken, a newer redheaded student who Makoto had never learned the name of. He was currently ogling Makoto’s open bento.

  “No!” Makoto shrieked, pulling the bento away from him defensively. “He’s not my mom!” Not only was Taiki a guy, but he wasn’t going to be around super long (as proven by the current retionships surrounding Makoto).

  The boy whined, sitting heavily in the chair across from Makoto. “Geez, you’re so lucky your dad makes you food,” he said. “My dad’s terrible at cooking, so Mom banned him from the kitchen.”

  He pulled out his own bento, having apparently decided that he was going to eat with Makoto and chat his ear off.

  “I don’t even know you,” Makoto said, not touching his food but instead staring at the boy.

  The boy swallowed his rge bite, grinning doggishly at Makoto. (He was reminded of Patch, which was bad because thinking about Patch made him think about Taiki which made him think about Eri and no, he was not blushing again—)

  “I’m Rin Ueda, nice to meetcha,” Ueda said, pointing his thumb at his chest. He blinked at Makoto. “This is where you tell me ya own name.”

  Makoto grumbled. “Makoto Takeuchi,” he said, leaning heavily on his hand. Red was a bad color.

  Ueda’s grin widened. “Heya, can I try a bite?”

  “No way!” Makoto said, holding his bento close once again. He might not like Taiki, but he wasn’t going to let anyone know his sworn enemy could make good food. No one else needed to suffer the knowledge that such a loser made something edible.

  Ueda compined about Makoto’s selfishness for a few more minutes, but then went on to other topics for the remainder of lunch, hardly taking a break to inhale his food. Makoto would have found him annoying, but, well, it was better than the sobbing third year from the day before.

  When school was over, Makoto walked into the house, finding Taiki talking to Patch in the living room. Makoto had noticed he did that on occasion, talk to the dog like it would actually respond. Well, considering the timing of some of Patch’s barks and growls, it wasn’t much of an odd assumption. What kind of friendless loser mastered talking to a dog like that? Makoto was really sad for Eri to have that kind of brother.

  Taiki finished pulling on his jacket just as Makoto entered the living room. He looked up with a tilted grin. “Ah, welcome home. I’m about to head home to see Eri. Are you coming?”

  Makoto’s face flushed a bright red, but he nodded so quickly Taiki was momentarily worried about his neck. “Y-Yeah! I’m coming!”

  Taiki snorted, but waited by the door for Makoto to throw his backpack in his bedroom and join him through the garden door. Eri was sitting out on the back steps with a book, biting on her thumb as she read intently and the red and gold leaves fell around her.

  She immediately looked up as the tched door opened, getting to her feet. “Nii-chan! Mako-chan!” she cheered, coming closer to them, though refraining from running.

  Makoto hid a bit behind Taiki, cheeks still pink, hand going to clutch at the fabric over his heart. Taiki hummed in amusement, putting his hands on his hips.

  “You know, you should start calling her Auntie,” Taiki said, closing his eyes and tilting his head as he grinned.

  Makoto’s jaw dropped and he jumped out from behind Taiki to start hitting Taiki’s arm. “Why would I do that!?”

  “Do what?” Eri asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she looked between Taiki and Makoto.

  “I told him to call you Auntie,” Taiki said, opening his eyes, entirely unphased by Makoto’s attack.

  Eri’s eyes sparkled as she spped her hands on her cheeks, turning to Makoto. “Do it! Call me Auntie!”

  Makoto blushed when she leaned into his space, but went pale at her demand. “No- No way!”

  Eri pouted, curling her hands into fists at her sides and stomping her foot. “Call me Auntie!”

  “No way! That’s weird!”

  “Why is it weird!? I wanna be called Auntie Eri!”

  “No way! You’re just a kid! Aunties are old!”

  “That’s why it’s funny, Mako-chan!”

  Taiki watched the two in amusement as Eri continued to demand Makoto referred to her as his aunt, going as far as to grab his arm and shake him, but Makoto became redder and redder, getting too flustered to even coherently speak.

  “Come along now,” Taiki said, patting Eri’s head to distract her from her assault. “Go on inside so we can do your check-up. The sooner it gets done, the sooner we can all py.”

  “Yes, nii-chan!” Eri excimed, going towards the house.

  Makoto made to follow her, but Taiki stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Taiki leaned down so his head was on Makoto’s other side, chuckling and grinning devilishly. “It’s much harder to date her when she’s your aunt, isn’t it?” he said.

  “Wha- Date!?” Makoto shrieked. “I don’t wanna date her! That’s weird!”

  Taiki chuckled. He may not hate Makoto, but he was very unimpressed with the child who almost got his sister killed. Makoto still had a long way to go before he would ever have a shot at being worthy of Eri, and Taiki wasn’t going to make pursuing her easy, if that’s what Makoto had in mind.

  He pinched Makoto’s cheek. “Sure, keeping telling yourself you don’t have a crush on her. That’s fine by me. Maybe we’ll both believe it one of these days.”

  He walked off towards the house, cackling as he left a spluttering Makoto to run after him.

  Eri’s health continued to improve, her body getting stronger every day, making it easy to do many of the things she once had never been allowed to do.

  The st piece of Taiki’s treatment could not be done at home, however, but instead in the hospital. While her body itself had recovered and strengthened, her heart was too weak after the many years it had suffered.

  Eri had a transpnt at thirteen.

  Everyone worried throughout the surgery, sticking close to phones and even the waiting room while she was in surgery. There were cheers all around when Taiki returned to tell them it had gone well, and she was expected to recover quickly.

  That June, Taiki joined Takuya for Makoto’s middle school sport’s festival.

  “What all is he doing?” Taiki asked as they walked around, looking for the boy.

  “The rey race,” Takuya said, looking at the handwritten list Makoto has pressed into his hand just the night before. “It looks like the ball toss and tug-of-war as well. Oh look, there he is.”

  Takuya pointed to a rope sectioning off the racetrack from the regur field and the two made their way over to Makoto. Makoto grinned brightly as they joined him.

  “Dad!” he excimed. “The hundred-meter dash is about to start.”

  “Nice,” Taiki said, setting their bento boxes down at their feet. “Anyone we should be rooting for?”

  Makoto shrugged. “No one from my css is doing it, I don’t really care.”

  A loud horn blew out at the opposite end of the track, and a commotion could be heard that wasn’t just the students running. Between all the school sanctioned gym uniforms of white and red was a girl in regur blue gym shorts and a bright green shirt, bck baseball cap tugged over her head, though it did nothing to hide her silver braid.

  Most of the students were faster than her, but with her outfit so bright compared to everyone else, she was eye catching. As she passed by where the trio stood, silver hair lifted on the wind.

  Makoto and Takuya’s eyes widened, but Taiki just put his hands in his pockets and smirked.

  “Eri!?” Makoto shrieked.

  She did not cross the finish line first, or any number that mattered. But she crossed it, ughing and cheering and face upturned towards the sun with the brightest smile Taiki had ever seen.

  She pressed a hand to her chest, right above where her heart was, and Taiki could feel his own beating in tandem with hers.

  She met Taiki’s eyes from across the track, gaze watery despite the bright smile.

  “Nii-chan, I did it! I ran my race!”

  A/N: Last update for the year, everyone. I hope you've enjoyed the ride so far, now that we're so close to our finish line. Happy holidays, everyone, and I will see you all in the new year.