Chapter 1

Most times, Yokozawa was more than thankful that the sales department didn't keep as late hours as the manga magazines. The last three days, he had gone to Kirishima's apartment to take care of Hiyo by himself. This last night, though, Kirishima had assured him he'd be back before Hiyo went to bed, but Kirishima's mother still went over and helped with dinner.

"Well, he's been working for Japun for years, so of course I know things like this will happen," she said as she manically worked the curry around. Yokozawa hardly ever had anything to do when she was over; she was the one who taught Hiyo to cook, after all, and she enjoyed it. This time, he was at least able to put a salad together. "Hiyo would never admit it, of course, but I know she'd rather spend time with her father than me."

"Yeah." Yokozawa put the knife he'd been cutting carrots with down and dumped the last of the ingredients in the salad bowl. "He does try, though."

"Well of course. But after Zen's wife died, he seemed to put more focus into his work. He rose up the ladder pretty quickly." She said it absentmindedly, and when she turned to Yokozawa, she didn't even seem to notice the alarmed face he was sporting. "You work for that publishing company as well, don't you? Have you noticed anything?"

Yokozawa coughed into a hand and turned away so he could put the salad into the fridge. "Yes, but I work in Sales so I don't see him a lot during the day." He ran a hand through his hair as he considered what she had told him, vaguely noting that she had changed the subject to something a lot less volatile.

It was true that they didn't always get to see each other. Kirishima did his best to get home by six o'clock so he could be there for Hiyo, but Yokozawa himself often had work to do and would pass on going over in favor of doing it at his own apartment. Zen and Hiyori Kirishima were probably the biggest distractions in his life, and as much as he hated it, he had to have self-imposed rules if he was going to get any work done. Kirishima of course did it on purpose, but Hiyo didn't even need to try to make Yokozawa forget about paperwork or project proposals in favor of watching a movie, helping her with her homework, or any other warmly domestic thing he found himself doing with her and her father.

Times like this, though, when Kirishima was under the crush of deadlines and just couldn't keep his promises, Yokozawa found himself sleeping over and spending more time with Hiyo than her father managed to. Hiyo still called him 'Oniichan' rather than some iteration of father, which he was fine with. Well, except maybe for the fact that it was slightly creepy that even if she didn't know it, her 'Oniichan' was sleeping with her Papa.

Just as Kirishima's mother took the curry off the stove, the front door opened and a world-weary "I'm home" sounded through the apartment. Hiyo had been doing her summer homework since she was relieved of cooking duty that evening, but at her father's voice, she burst from her room to greet him. She stopped just short of the genkan when she saw her father was bracing himself for impact. "Hey, Hiyo. Is your grandma here?"

"And Oniichan!" Hiyo said with a big smile. Yokozawa leaned out of the kitchen to confirm the accusation, but he leaned back out of view when he saw the rather lecherous smile Kirishima had when Hiyo ran back to her room. Hiyo, of course, missed both of these actions and said from her room, "Grandma said she'd bring me out for ice cream after dinner! Just the two of us. She said something about girl time."

Yokozawa started coughing at that, knowing that the time Hiyo spent out with her grandmother would not be spent doing the dishes or anything nearly as wholesome as that. Not that he necessarily protested, of course, it was just the thought that Hiyo could come home at any time and catch them that made him think about the most direct routes out of the apartment.

He was right, of course, about what was going to happen. As soon as Hiyo and her grandmother were out of the apartment, Kirishima locked the door and pulled Yokozawa to the couch.

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't want to do these things out here?" Yokozawa demanded right before Kirishima kissed him. The rest of his protests died in his throat, and he felt himself slip down into the warm comfort of the couch almost as if he were just a visitor in his body rather than in control of it. It was only when Kirishima broke the kiss and let his hand drift to Yokozawa's pants that Yokozawa got his wits about him again. "Hey, stop it!"

Kirishima looked slightly annoyed as he rolled over to sit on the couch and Yokozawa wiped at his mouth. "Geeze, you're so grumpy sometimes, I forget how cute you really are."

"Who's cute?" Yokozawa asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Well you, of course. And it's been so long since we've been alone that I thought you'd want to as well." Kirishima put a hand to his mouth as he yawned widely, his eyes unfocused behind his messy bangs. He was clearly too tired for the physical activity he'd been hoping to participate in.

Seeing that he wasn't at risk of being pounced again, Yokozawa stood up and headed towards the kitchen. Hiyo had gotten the tea kettle and chamomile tea out for them before she left, because she seemed to understand better than anyone when Kirishima really needed to sleep, even better than Kirishima himself. "You haven't spent much time with Hiyo lately, either," he said as he went to fill the kettle. "Her summer vacation started so she doesn't have school to distract her."

Kirishima sighed and folded his arms across the back of the couch as he watched his boyfriend prepare tea. "You know my mother specifically brought Hiyo out for dessert so we could do exactly what you're avoiding."

Yokozawa's face heated up, but he managed to warp the blush into a scowl as he put the kettle down on the stove. "Your mother doesn't even know about us."

"Like hell," Kirishima said good-naturedly. "Yokozawa, my mother isn't stupid. And we act enough like an old married couple to make it obvious, anyway." He just smiled innocently when Yokozawa glared at him, and then he sighed and laid down on the couch. "But you're right. I suppose I should take the opportunity to spend time with both of you."

Yokozawa glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall, which Hiyo dutifully crossed a day off of every morning. His own sense of time and days was rather eschew with his sometimes strange work schedule, but it was, apparently, Friday night. He had the day off, and Kirishima did in theory. The entire time through dinner, however, no one had thought to ask him if he really was done with whatever had been keeping him at work late or if he had just managed to escape for the night. The fact that he was there at all just made them happy, and bringing up work didn't seem appropriate at the time.

With the water set to boiling, Yokozawa considered going into the living room while he waited and brainstorming with Kirishima places Hiyo might like to go. When he went over to the couch, though, Kirishima was fast asleep. Yokozawa just rolled his eyes and quietly padded back into the kitchen to put one of the mugs away.

xxx

The next morning, Yokozawa found himself waking up quite miserable and sticky. He'd ended up staying the night with the Kirishimas even though he'd only planned to if Kirishima couldn't keep his promise to be home before Hiyo went to bed. It didn't really matter, though, considering Yokozawa kept sleep clothes, work clothes and casual clothes there, if rather unintentionally. It just kind of happened, and Kirishima was more than happy to send his suits for dry cleaning or add the rest of his clothes to the wash on laundry day.

To Yokozawa's credit, the reason he woke up sticky that morning was because it was hot, and the air conditioner they had installed in his room was busted. Even if it wasn't, he would've been reluctant to have it on all night simply because it would mean higher electric bills for Kirishima, who refused to let him contribute to bills as long as he didn't actually live there.

Yokozawa's chagrin at the high temperature was interrupted when he heard Hiyo exclaiming happily. He managed to drag himself out of bed in time for her to run past his door and to her own room, saying that she needed to pack. A quick glance at his alarm clock confirmed that it was four-thirty in the morning, and he nearly choked.

"What the hell?" he asked when he saw Kirishima in the kitchen, fully dressed and casually drinking a cup of coffee.

Kirishima smiled when he saw Yokozawa, and he said, "Oh, at least I don't have to wake you. Hurry up and pack something to swim in."

"…dare I ask why?"

"I thought we'd go to Isshiki Beach for the day," Kirishima said, shrugging like it was no big deal. When Yokozawa just gaped at him, he said, "Well, you're the one who said I needed to spend more time with Hiyo. And we both have the day off. So why not?"

Yokozawa could see inside Hiyo's room since she hadn't thought to shut the door, and she looked so happy as she packed the blue swimsuit her grandmother had gotten her back in June that Yokozawa couldn't really protest. He could, however, secretly think that Kirishima was insane.