"What do you think you're doing?" Nishikiyama tuts sternly, his footsteps quickening towards your side as you waddle into the house carrying multiple bags in each hand. He has to wonder how you got out of the house right under his nose, but he'll leave that at the back of his mind while he brings the groceries into the kitchen with a sigh, placing them on the counter.

You're eight months pregnant and still acting like you can take the burden of the entire world. "Sit down, please." With a gentle hand he leads you towards the nearest chair, his palm slipping from your grasp to rest upon your shoulders.

As much of an issue as his spouse can be, he still feels an insurmountable amount of luck and pride welling in his chest alongside his beating heart. If someone were to tell his 17-year-old counterpart that he would get married in the future with a child on the way, he's not sure if he could even believe that. 

Nishikiyama was a down-on-his-luck orphan with nothing to live for—a truly pathetic boy who could barely withstand living in the shadow of his sworn brother Kiryu.

No. He can't afford to think like that anymore. He has a family to raise now, they can't have a father who is trapped within his own mind worrying about the past when he should be living in the present.

"Promise me that you'll be more careful," he murmurs, his fingers combing through your soft hair, his head tilting down to press a kiss onto the crown of your head. "You can't be putting stress on the baby."