(no subject)
It was a very slow day at work. So slow, in fact, that I accidentally overslept and nobody even noticed.
"What's all this, then?" Linette Akechi nee St. Paul dropped her briefcase on the couch and folded her arms over her chest. The three men in her kitchen exchanged glances, drawing straws with their eyes. Kisho lost. Yeijiro let out a barely audible sigh of relief and filled a fresh dishtowel with ice. Rintaro accepted it with a grateful nod and gingerly settled it against his broken nose.
"Well..." Kisho's voice wavered with something that might have been laughter. He coughed and tried again. "Well it's like this, see. A little after lunchtime Kas started having contractions, so I Gated her in to the Guardianship and called Rin at work-"
"Kas went into labor and nobody called me?!" Linette demanded, her voice gone gravelly and dangerous. Kisho and Yeijiro both shook their heads in frantic denial.
"Nono," Kisho said, "let me finish. Rin got in just as Ikue started checking Kas over. She was, understandably, stressed and cranky. As soon as he stuck his head into the infirmary she started shrieking at him about not being there sooner when it was all his fault anyway."
"Shrieking?" Yeijiro asked, lips twitching. Rin rolled his eyes emphatically above the dishtowel. Kisho scowled.
"Were you there?" he snapped, "Yes, shrieking. Anyway, after the fifth 'all your fault', Rin said..." Kisho paused, either for dramatic effect or to swallow his own giggles.
Linette sighed, "C'mon, Kisho."
"He said, 'Well you're the one who ovulated!'"
Lynn pressed a fist to her mouth and stared intently at Rintaro, who suddenly found the blood on the front of his shirt to be quite fascinating. Yeijiro made a strangled, high pitched noise. He had himself under control when she looked to him, though his eyes danced behind his glasses and his face was flushed with swallowed laughter.
"Oh, Rin, you fuckhead," she said, shaking her head.
"And then Kas-!" Kisho, openly hooting now, pounding the kitchen table with a fist. "K-kas grabbed a bedpan ananand just cracked him in the face!" He keeled over the table, holding his ribs in his free arm. Linette strangled back a snicker.
"Oh, wait, that's not even the best part," Yeijiro said with a positively gleeful grin. His wife bit her lip in cautious anticipation.
"I-Ikue looked up and s-s-said 'False labor.'" Kisho squeaked out, his voice gone all high and strained with giggles. Rintaro gave him a glare like a kicked hound and sighed into his icepack. Kisho, rolling on the floor in hysterics, did not notice.
"Ikue wants to keep Kas overnight, just in case," Yeijiro continued, "Joy flat out refused to mend Rin's nose. She said she doesn't like to waste her energy on injuries sprung from stupidity."
"In so many words?" Linette asked, biting her knuckle now to keep the laughter back.
"In exactly those words," Yeijiro grinned. "and so...here we are. Bleeding all over the kitchen."
"So you are," Lynn crossed over to stand before Rin, carefully removing the icepack. He winced, triggering a fresh rill of blood from his right nostril. She studied the crooked swell of the break for a moment, her head canted thoughtfully to the side. The skin was pulpy and mottled with purple and yellow, dried blood crusting both nostrils. The bruising curved under Rintaro's left eye, which was beginning to swell up itself. With a decisive nod, she pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger and jerked it back into alignment.
"Daugh!" Rin howled, nearly toppling the chair backwards. Blood gushed freely from his nose, quickly staunched on the dishtowel. "Wad wad dad for?!"
"Well we don't want it healing crooked or Kas might feel bad later," Linette said with a sickeningly sweet smile. "And I didn't think you'd want to explain the bedpan-to-the-face incident to a doctor."
Rin glowered as Kisho and Yeijiro went off into fresh fits of laughter. Lynn stepped past them to wash his blood off her hands. She looked up from the sink, hands dripping with sudsy water, and discovered there wasn't a clean towel in the place.
"What's all this, then?" Linette Akechi nee St. Paul dropped her briefcase on the couch and folded her arms over her chest. The three men in her kitchen exchanged glances, drawing straws with their eyes. Kisho lost. Yeijiro let out a barely audible sigh of relief and filled a fresh dishtowel with ice. Rintaro accepted it with a grateful nod and gingerly settled it against his broken nose.
"Well..." Kisho's voice wavered with something that might have been laughter. He coughed and tried again. "Well it's like this, see. A little after lunchtime Kas started having contractions, so I Gated her in to the Guardianship and called Rin at work-"
"Kas went into labor and nobody called me?!" Linette demanded, her voice gone gravelly and dangerous. Kisho and Yeijiro both shook their heads in frantic denial.
"Nono," Kisho said, "let me finish. Rin got in just as Ikue started checking Kas over. She was, understandably, stressed and cranky. As soon as he stuck his head into the infirmary she started shrieking at him about not being there sooner when it was all his fault anyway."
"Shrieking?" Yeijiro asked, lips twitching. Rin rolled his eyes emphatically above the dishtowel. Kisho scowled.
"Were you there?" he snapped, "Yes, shrieking. Anyway, after the fifth 'all your fault', Rin said..." Kisho paused, either for dramatic effect or to swallow his own giggles.
Linette sighed, "C'mon, Kisho."
"He said, 'Well you're the one who ovulated!'"
Lynn pressed a fist to her mouth and stared intently at Rintaro, who suddenly found the blood on the front of his shirt to be quite fascinating. Yeijiro made a strangled, high pitched noise. He had himself under control when she looked to him, though his eyes danced behind his glasses and his face was flushed with swallowed laughter.
"Oh, Rin, you fuckhead," she said, shaking her head.
"And then Kas-!" Kisho, openly hooting now, pounding the kitchen table with a fist. "K-kas grabbed a bedpan ananand just cracked him in the face!" He keeled over the table, holding his ribs in his free arm. Linette strangled back a snicker.
"Oh, wait, that's not even the best part," Yeijiro said with a positively gleeful grin. His wife bit her lip in cautious anticipation.
"I-Ikue looked up and s-s-said 'False labor.'" Kisho squeaked out, his voice gone all high and strained with giggles. Rintaro gave him a glare like a kicked hound and sighed into his icepack. Kisho, rolling on the floor in hysterics, did not notice.
"Ikue wants to keep Kas overnight, just in case," Yeijiro continued, "Joy flat out refused to mend Rin's nose. She said she doesn't like to waste her energy on injuries sprung from stupidity."
"In so many words?" Linette asked, biting her knuckle now to keep the laughter back.
"In exactly those words," Yeijiro grinned. "and so...here we are. Bleeding all over the kitchen."
"So you are," Lynn crossed over to stand before Rin, carefully removing the icepack. He winced, triggering a fresh rill of blood from his right nostril. She studied the crooked swell of the break for a moment, her head canted thoughtfully to the side. The skin was pulpy and mottled with purple and yellow, dried blood crusting both nostrils. The bruising curved under Rintaro's left eye, which was beginning to swell up itself. With a decisive nod, she pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger and jerked it back into alignment.
"Daugh!" Rin howled, nearly toppling the chair backwards. Blood gushed freely from his nose, quickly staunched on the dishtowel. "Wad wad dad for?!"
"Well we don't want it healing crooked or Kas might feel bad later," Linette said with a sickeningly sweet smile. "And I didn't think you'd want to explain the bedpan-to-the-face incident to a doctor."
Rin glowered as Kisho and Yeijiro went off into fresh fits of laughter. Lynn stepped past them to wash his blood off her hands. She looked up from the sink, hands dripping with sudsy water, and discovered there wasn't a clean towel in the place.