Preferences

Amu had heard from her girlfriends that guys weren't much for cuddling after… certain activities.

Which she found odd because in the relationship she was in it was usually her significant other who pulled her close before she could do the same on her own.

Then again, none of her friends were dating a big domestic cat look-alike.

It was exactly after strenuous bed activities when she was lying sprawled across Ikuto's chest that a nagging thought came to her mind and wouldn't let her rest (but then again wasn't that true for any nagging thought?).

It wasn't like she didn't take precautions against the possibility—they were still too young (or maybe rather she was, since he was five years her senior and was nearing his thirties much faster than she was hers) for such a responsibility—but… she couldn't help but wonder – if they were to have a child one day, which one would he prefer?

She'd known him for so long and even so she was hard pressed to venture a guess at which he'd prefer – a boy or a girl.

She figured that since Ikuto was a man, he'd probably want a son. She didn't understand why but most of her guy friends said every now and then something like, "When I have a son, I'm going to teach him this," or, "I'd love to have a son to share this with." It was probably one of those things that she, a woman, wouldn't understand until she experienced first-hand but she guessed a boy would be her counterpart's choice if asked outright.

Then again, she wondered whether he wouldn't secretly want a girl—someone to spoil and baby even long after she had long outgrown her childishness, a girl that would be his "princess" for whom he'd be willing to go to great lengths to protect. Even though few of them admitted it, fathers had a peculiar bond with their daughters. Her own father being a fine prime example of the overprotective love that resulted from such a relationship.

She lifted her head up to glance at him curiously. He lazily opened an eye to find her staring closely at his face before he slid his eyelid shut again.

"What is it?" he asked, knowing sometimes she needed a little nudge to spill out whatever was bugging her.

"Nothing. I was just wondering… Which one would you like, Ikuto?"

Her cryptic question made him languidly crack open his eyes and raise a brow.

"Which one what would I like?" Did her head get overheated from their earlier episode? He wouldn't blame her if so, but this wasn't a usual occurrence (unlike the aforementioned "episodes"), so it had him slightly worried.

"If we were to have a child—which one would you prefer: a boy or a girl?" she said easily, her eyes holding a genuine interest in his reply.

It was only after she'd asked that it hit her, what Utau had told her a year or so ago, when she'd talked to Kuukai about a much similar topic and how much he'd freaked at being asked such questions. The witty blonde had even ventured to guess that most guys were probably like that, especially if they didn't feel ready for such an important step – they'd get snippy and edgy once the topic was raised.

Suddenly, Amu didn't feel nearly as serene as a moment ago and she cursed herself for her own stupidity. She had never talked to Ikuto about these things—because it was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment, frankly—so she had no idea how he'd react. But she most certainly didn't want to ruin a good day, week or month over such a thoughtless question as that.

But to her utmost surprise, the man beneath her donned on an equally tranquil thoughtful expression, completely unfazed by the possible—though completely not present—connotations of the query.

"Hmm, which one would I prefer, eh?" He put the hand that wasn't drawing lazy circles on her bare back behind his head, gaze pinned to the ceiling as though his reply was written in some way only he could discern.

What was more he gave such a nonsensical question she'd popped at him off the top of her head such a serious pondering that she had time to calm herself down (he wasn't freaking out; that was good, right? He wasn't freaking out, all right) and to even start looking expectantly at him.

After a good while he yawned—she would've reprimanded him for not putting a hand to his mouth but she enjoyed having his hand on her back so she bit back her rebuttal—and sighed.

"Do I really have to choose? I'd rather have both," was his profound reply after such a thorough mulling over.

Amu blinked a few times, staring blankly at her partner in the sparse lighting of the room.

"Don't you mean "either would be okay"?" This comment earned her a sardonic look from the virtuoso violinist.

"I mean a twin boy and girl." He seemed to appreciate the dawning of understanding in her amber eyes at his brief elaboration. "That way everyone will be happy and I wouldn't have to answer a question that otherwise makes no sense."

She pouted, propping herself up on her elbow by his side.

"So you just said this to worm your way out of my "senseless question"? Is that it?" She huffed and tossed to her side so her back was facing him. She was an idiot to have thought he'd answer her seriously even after all that thinking he—supposedly—did.

He sighed deeply and she could feel from the shifting of weight on the bed that he'd turned around as well. A sense of guilt stabbed her at the prospect of falling asleep to an argument—a very stupid, pointless one too—when everything had been going great.

All because of her pointlessly stubborn character that reared its ugly head every now and then.

To think that she'd just wanted to know what his preference would've been…

Before she could get needlessly emotional, she felt a warm breath tickling her shoulder and a long fingered calloused hand slipping around her midriff, pulling her into the warm embrace of her boyfriend.

"Seems my phrasing is as bad as ever," he murmured in between kisses he trailed from her slender shoulder towards the column of her neck. It was through years of interaction with him that Amu knew well from his tone of voice and manner that he meant to apologize for hurting her, over however nonsensical a matter. "Even if you ask me like that, I just can't choose. I don't have a right to either, really. If we are to have a child, and it's a girl if I tell you now I'd prefer to have a boy, I wouldn't want you thinking I'd love her any less just because of her gender or vice versa. The gender doesn't matter and besides there are some things I'd rather teach a son and others I'd rather tell a daughter." He nipped lightly on her earlobe then, much like he'd done all those years ago, when she'd still barely met him. "Even if you put me on the spot now asking my preferences, I couldn't possibly answer just as easily. And I don't really think I should have to."

She turned around—so she could face him—and a small smile stretched on her mouth before she craned her neck to place a gentle peck on his lips.

"I didn't mean to put you on the spot, sorry. I was just wondering what you'd say." She was glad that the room was mostly dark so he wouldn't see the blush that rose to her cheeks at her next admission. "I was… kind of happy over what you said… and thought it would probably be great if it were to come true."

His looked at her with curiously raised eyebrows.

"About the twin boy and girl." She nodded. He smiled. Then he pulled her closer and kissed her forehead while she curled herself into embrace.

And that's how they fell asleep that night, calm and serene, entangled together in a comfortable, reassuring hold.

"Hey, Ikuto?" Amu had started the next morning while preparing breakfast.

"Mmm?" he'd hummed in reply to indicate he was listening to her even though he looked quite immersed in sorting his mail.

"How did you know that I was asking just hypothetically yesterday?" At his confused look, she added, "How did you know I wasn't already pregnant and asking your opinion on whether you'd prefer it was a boy or a girl?"

At those words of hers, he seemed to have lost interest in the conversation, turning what appeared to be all of his attention to the envelopes in his hands. Just as she was about to snap at him, he spoke.

"Because if you were pregnant, I'd probably notice before you did."

If it had been the more immature Amu, she'd probably have argued that he probably questioned her intelligence, thinking she was stupid enough not to recognize her symptoms on her own.

But the twenty-three-year-old young woman knew that what he meant was that he knew her so well that he'd notice any change about her before even she herself would be able to.

And this fact was yet another reason why she loved him so deeply and was able to talk to him freely about anything that was on her mind, no matter how worrisome, scary or silly a matter.

Some several months later she was sitting anxiously in the uncomfortable chair in the waiting room of the maternal ward of the local hospital, lively amber eyes darting all over the place until he placed a hand softly on her shoulder and gave her a look that made her settle down.

She was now three months pregnant and they were in the hospital for an echo graph, to make sure that the pregnancy was proceeding normally. And Ikuto had on his hands a very excitable fiancée for a reason he couldn't fathom but he had an inkling that a conversation they had led quite a while ago probably had something to do with her state of mind.

Something he found unexplainable but then again, he had never completely understood how that garbled mind of hers worked.

They were soon called into the room, she was asked to expose her stomach and the nurse—a pleasant woman in her mid-forties—had smeared some kind of weird fluid on Amu's belly before she touched the appendage of the large machine to the place she'd used the odd fluid on.

"It seems everything is alright here," she established after a bit, turning the monitor for both of them to have a good look at. "We have a steady heartbeat and there don't seem to be any abnormalities with your pregnancy."

The soon-to-be mother and father shared a small smile between them before turning their attention back to the screen. And, as it usually happened, it was Ikuto who noticed the oddly scrunched up expression on the nurse's face before Amu even had a chance to.

"Is something wrong?" The slightly alarmed note in his voice that he did a very good job at hiding from everyone else but his significant other made the pink-headed young woman turn her gaze to the woman's concerned expression. It only rouse a similar anxiety in her that she'd heard in her lover's tone but the woman's reassuring smile made to dispel some of it.

"Oh, no, no. Everything's fine with your baby. It's just that…" She took a closer look at the monitor before her face practically beamed. "It seems I've made a mistake." This kind of information seemed to only alarm the young parents even more so she hurried to elaborate, tracing some odd smudges to the side of the monitor as she explained. "I was wondering why the heartbeat sounded kind of off while still being a healthy one but that's because there were two." When neither of them seemed to understand what she was saying, she simplified. "They're twins—a boy and a girl." She even showed them to the dumbstruck pair.

It was only after the thought had sunken in properly on their way home as they held the ultrasound picture of their kids—the first picture of many to come—that Amu could give her fiancé a brilliant beaming smile that he reciprocated with one just as radiant.

They were going to have a boy and a girl. A boy and a girl…!

And Ikuto had been right—the twins truly made everyone happy.

A/N: Not sure where this came from but I thought it would be cute so I wrote it. Sorry for any imbecility and inaccuracies. Just point them out to me and they will be taken care of. Proof-reading will be done tomorrow – I just wanted to have this up tonight as soon as I have it ready. XD And I just wanted to add lastly that I think Ikuto would make a great daddy~!