[multichapter] baby blue: part 5: chapter 23
Title: Baby Blue: Part 5: Chapter 23
Pairing: JunDa
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1257
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, and only the words are mine.
Summary: They knew that moving forward would be hard, but with each hurdle the happiness they deserve seems further and further away.
October 24th 2015
“I haven't agreed to a thing.” Taguchi reminded Ueda as the other smoothed down the front of his blazer and took another long sip of his long island iced tea. Taguchi was drinking beer to begin, they were having dinner once Mayuko arrived at the stylish restaurant they'd invited her to, but he needed something to calm himself down with as they waited.
“I know.” Ueda nodded in return, a small, uncomfortable smile on his beautiful features. Taguchi couldn't escape how much beauty there was in him, how entirely out of his league Ueda was, and yet Ueda had settled for him, Ueda loved him.
He loves Ueda twice over, he thought, as Ueda's eyes shined, overwhelmingly grateful and yet somehow apologetic. He would do anything for Ueda, would do anything to make him happy, he couldn't count the times he'd promised exactly that if he tried. That's how Taguchi found himself in that private room, in that high class hotel, waiting for the woman he used to fuck.
“Wow, this place is beautiful” Mayuko remarked as a staff member showed her to her seat beside them at the small table. “It's been ages since I've eaten somewhere as nice as this.”
Her tone was bright and friendly, but there was something in her expression that was bewildered, bordering on suspicious. “Thank you for coming.” Taguchi answered her as light-heartedly as he could, his chest was already tight with nerves.
“It's my pleasure, I'm glad of a night to myself for a change, Shizuka is so much trouble now that she's walking.” Mayuko explained, though her lips were wide with a grin.
“How is Shizuka?” Ueda asked and Mayuko's eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise - while polite, Ueda had never been particularly warm nor interested when it came to Mayuko.
“She's good.” Mayuko continued hastily. “Really good, she's so big now, and she can walk and she's saying more words and she just loves to dance...I have some photos if you'd like to see.”
Taguchi nodded quickly, and then gasped as Mayuko passed over her phone. He'd seen Shizuka only once or twice since she was born so it shocked him to see how different she looked, how cute. “She's gotten so big.”
“Oh here.” Mayuko said suddenly, as she flicked through the photos on her phone. “You'll like this.” And she pressed play on a video before turning up the volume.
It was a video of Shizuka dancing, it was uncoordinated and erratic, more bouncing than dancing really but Taguchi couldn't deny how adorable it was. It took longer than it should for him to recognise the song, Yorokobi no Uta. It wasn't them singing and from what Taguchi could see of the TV screen in the background he guessed it was Shounen Club, Koki's little brother's junior unit no doubt.
Taguchi smiled widely as he watched Shizuka spinning around before falling onto her bottom and laughing at the camera, her eyes almost closed with the force of her smile.
"Are you sure she's not mine?" Taguchi thought aloud, and then tried to cover it with a cough when Mayuko looked at him worriedly.
The plan was to wait until after they had eaten but Mayuko looked uneasy, and even if that hadn't have been the best opportunity to segue into their request, Taguchi suddenly felt as though she didn't deserve to be roped into to having dinner if she wanted nothing to do with them.
He waited just a moment as a waiter appeared with their drinks and then he cleared his throat. He opened his mouth to start but couldn't even find the right words. How was he meant to go about this? He glanced over at Ueda who seemed to be on his wavelength.
"Mayuko-san." Ueda started for him. "Junno and I want to ask a favour of you. It's...a huge favour and while we don't expect you to agree, we really have no other hope..."
"We don't want you to feel pressured... and if you can't answer right away...if you need time to think then..." Taguchi continued.
Mayuko watched on in discomfort and Taguchi had the faint idea that she already knew that they were going to ask.
"We want a child." Ueda said bluntly "We've looked at adoption and things like that but it's not legal for a gay couple to adopt. We've considered illegal routes but given our public image we know how easily we would be caught. The only way we would have any legal right to custody of a child, would be if that child were genetically one of ours. That leaves only for one of us to have a child naturally..."
Between them they managed to explain the whole situation, answer all of her questions and then assure her that there was really no other way. "I get it" Mayuko said finally, "And I'll think about it, I will but... I am curious why me?"
Taguchi shot Ueda a look that said he'd better not even mention the word love. "Because you're the only woman not related to either of us that really cares about one of us." Ueda answered carefully and Mayuko looked back at Taguchi, something shifting in her expression, something both longing and bitter sweet.
Ueda did mention the word love, but not until much later, not until after the plates had been cleared away and all they were left with were empty glasses, a fair number of them.
"Was I in love with him?" Mayuko mused with a light laugh. "I don't know, I'm not sure I even know what love is but do I care about him?" Taguchi felt simultaneously unnerved and excited, wary but happy, reminiscent. "I care about you a lot Guch." Mayuko continued, looking directly at him. "I want you to be happy...and I know that I need to be sensible and think about it properly, but I really want to make you happy, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to sleep with you again, or to have a child with you." She looked kind of sad all of a sudden, that bitter-sweet smile taking over her features. "You don't know how often I wish Shizuka were yours. I hope you get to be the great father that I know you can be."
“That's up to you.” Ueda said sombrely, the cheeky mood that he'd been in fading with Mayuko's words. “You're the only person we can count on, you're the only hope he has of ever getting to be a father.”
“Tatsuya.” Taguchi said in a low warning, what he was saying was true and yet Taguchi didn't want her to feel pushed into it.
Mayuko's expression was troubled, torn maybe and Ueda ignored Taguchi's warning, taking advantage of her indecision. “Come home with us...no pressure, no expectations...we could just see where things go...”
Mayuko pulled her lip into her mouth but then turned to Taguchi, watching his expression carefully “Do you want that?”
Taguchi didn't know, his mind was already fuzzy with alcohol but he was lucid enough to know this wasn't the right situation to be making these decisions. He almost said so, but he caught sight of Ueda's face, the hopeful expression, bordering on desperation. What he wanted was for Ueda to be happy, to give Ueda what he wanted and this was what Ueda wanted. Maybe the alcohol would make it easier.
After what felt like minutes he nodded, and earned two dazzling smiles in return.
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So I've completely lost track of what day I'm posting on/how long to leave between posts. So posting will just be random from here on out. The series is almost complete though, I only have one scene to finish in the last chapter (which will actually be chapter 27 not 28, sorry) and then Baby Blue is finished. Huge thanks once again to those still following the series after all this time!!
Pairing: JunDa
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1257
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, and only the words are mine.
Summary: They knew that moving forward would be hard, but with each hurdle the happiness they deserve seems further and further away.
October 24th 2015
“I haven't agreed to a thing.” Taguchi reminded Ueda as the other smoothed down the front of his blazer and took another long sip of his long island iced tea. Taguchi was drinking beer to begin, they were having dinner once Mayuko arrived at the stylish restaurant they'd invited her to, but he needed something to calm himself down with as they waited.
“I know.” Ueda nodded in return, a small, uncomfortable smile on his beautiful features. Taguchi couldn't escape how much beauty there was in him, how entirely out of his league Ueda was, and yet Ueda had settled for him, Ueda loved him.
He loves Ueda twice over, he thought, as Ueda's eyes shined, overwhelmingly grateful and yet somehow apologetic. He would do anything for Ueda, would do anything to make him happy, he couldn't count the times he'd promised exactly that if he tried. That's how Taguchi found himself in that private room, in that high class hotel, waiting for the woman he used to fuck.
“Wow, this place is beautiful” Mayuko remarked as a staff member showed her to her seat beside them at the small table. “It's been ages since I've eaten somewhere as nice as this.”
Her tone was bright and friendly, but there was something in her expression that was bewildered, bordering on suspicious. “Thank you for coming.” Taguchi answered her as light-heartedly as he could, his chest was already tight with nerves.
“It's my pleasure, I'm glad of a night to myself for a change, Shizuka is so much trouble now that she's walking.” Mayuko explained, though her lips were wide with a grin.
“How is Shizuka?” Ueda asked and Mayuko's eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise - while polite, Ueda had never been particularly warm nor interested when it came to Mayuko.
“She's good.” Mayuko continued hastily. “Really good, she's so big now, and she can walk and she's saying more words and she just loves to dance...I have some photos if you'd like to see.”
Taguchi nodded quickly, and then gasped as Mayuko passed over her phone. He'd seen Shizuka only once or twice since she was born so it shocked him to see how different she looked, how cute. “She's gotten so big.”
“Oh here.” Mayuko said suddenly, as she flicked through the photos on her phone. “You'll like this.” And she pressed play on a video before turning up the volume.
It was a video of Shizuka dancing, it was uncoordinated and erratic, more bouncing than dancing really but Taguchi couldn't deny how adorable it was. It took longer than it should for him to recognise the song, Yorokobi no Uta. It wasn't them singing and from what Taguchi could see of the TV screen in the background he guessed it was Shounen Club, Koki's little brother's junior unit no doubt.
Taguchi smiled widely as he watched Shizuka spinning around before falling onto her bottom and laughing at the camera, her eyes almost closed with the force of her smile.
"Are you sure she's not mine?" Taguchi thought aloud, and then tried to cover it with a cough when Mayuko looked at him worriedly.
The plan was to wait until after they had eaten but Mayuko looked uneasy, and even if that hadn't have been the best opportunity to segue into their request, Taguchi suddenly felt as though she didn't deserve to be roped into to having dinner if she wanted nothing to do with them.
He waited just a moment as a waiter appeared with their drinks and then he cleared his throat. He opened his mouth to start but couldn't even find the right words. How was he meant to go about this? He glanced over at Ueda who seemed to be on his wavelength.
"Mayuko-san." Ueda started for him. "Junno and I want to ask a favour of you. It's...a huge favour and while we don't expect you to agree, we really have no other hope..."
"We don't want you to feel pressured... and if you can't answer right away...if you need time to think then..." Taguchi continued.
Mayuko watched on in discomfort and Taguchi had the faint idea that she already knew that they were going to ask.
"We want a child." Ueda said bluntly "We've looked at adoption and things like that but it's not legal for a gay couple to adopt. We've considered illegal routes but given our public image we know how easily we would be caught. The only way we would have any legal right to custody of a child, would be if that child were genetically one of ours. That leaves only for one of us to have a child naturally..."
Between them they managed to explain the whole situation, answer all of her questions and then assure her that there was really no other way. "I get it" Mayuko said finally, "And I'll think about it, I will but... I am curious why me?"
Taguchi shot Ueda a look that said he'd better not even mention the word love. "Because you're the only woman not related to either of us that really cares about one of us." Ueda answered carefully and Mayuko looked back at Taguchi, something shifting in her expression, something both longing and bitter sweet.
Ueda did mention the word love, but not until much later, not until after the plates had been cleared away and all they were left with were empty glasses, a fair number of them.
"Was I in love with him?" Mayuko mused with a light laugh. "I don't know, I'm not sure I even know what love is but do I care about him?" Taguchi felt simultaneously unnerved and excited, wary but happy, reminiscent. "I care about you a lot Guch." Mayuko continued, looking directly at him. "I want you to be happy...and I know that I need to be sensible and think about it properly, but I really want to make you happy, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to sleep with you again, or to have a child with you." She looked kind of sad all of a sudden, that bitter-sweet smile taking over her features. "You don't know how often I wish Shizuka were yours. I hope you get to be the great father that I know you can be."
“That's up to you.” Ueda said sombrely, the cheeky mood that he'd been in fading with Mayuko's words. “You're the only person we can count on, you're the only hope he has of ever getting to be a father.”
“Tatsuya.” Taguchi said in a low warning, what he was saying was true and yet Taguchi didn't want her to feel pushed into it.
Mayuko's expression was troubled, torn maybe and Ueda ignored Taguchi's warning, taking advantage of her indecision. “Come home with us...no pressure, no expectations...we could just see where things go...”
Mayuko pulled her lip into her mouth but then turned to Taguchi, watching his expression carefully “Do you want that?”
Taguchi didn't know, his mind was already fuzzy with alcohol but he was lucid enough to know this wasn't the right situation to be making these decisions. He almost said so, but he caught sight of Ueda's face, the hopeful expression, bordering on desperation. What he wanted was for Ueda to be happy, to give Ueda what he wanted and this was what Ueda wanted. Maybe the alcohol would make it easier.
After what felt like minutes he nodded, and earned two dazzling smiles in return.
--------------------------------------------------------
So I've completely lost track of what day I'm posting on/how long to leave between posts. So posting will just be random from here on out. The series is almost complete though, I only have one scene to finish in the last chapter (which will actually be chapter 27 not 28, sorry) and then Baby Blue is finished. Huge thanks once again to those still following the series after all this time!!