Mirai groaned to the vibration of her cell phone near her pillow and didn’t feel like looking at her phone but as soon as she saw Natsu in the incubator, her conscience woke her up. Throughout the night, she had woken up at least five times to check up on him in case he was in pain or something. Shivering as the morning cold got to her, she fixed the blankets over her and Ryosuke and then looked at her texts, hoping it’d be something from Kota.

Haruka: mi-chan? where are you and ryosuke? did something happen? @ 10:57 a.m.

Confused, she looked at the time on her phone and saw 11:02 a.m. They had missed almost three class periods. She looked at her son and then back at her phone.

Mirai: we’re not coming to school today. I’ll text you the details later. @11:02 a.m.

*

Ryosuke and Mirai had finished washing up and were waiting for the return of their son, who, since morning, had been taken from the incubator and taken to complete some more tests. When Natsu returned with one of the pediatricians, the virtual family was asked to stay until the doctor arrived with the test results before they could officially leave. Since it felt like it had been a long time since the family had seen each other, they spent family quality time as they patiently waited for the doctor.

While she walked Natsu around so he’d get strong to stand and walk since he’d be a year old in five months, the door opened and the teens paid attention to the doctor entering with a white overcoat, a clipboard, and two pens in his right chest pocket. On his name card attached to the chest pocket was the name, Yuichi Nakamaru. Following him was a nurse.

“May I see Natsu?” Dr. Nakamaru asked.

She nodded and gave Natsu to him and hoped Natsu wouldn’t cry like the times she had witnessed when her nieces and nephews had visited the doctor.

Fortunately, Natsu didn’t mind. He was quite active for a baby who had been hospitalized for days. Because he moved around too much, the doctor and his nurse couldn’t get him to sit still to open his mouth or check his ear. After a five-minute battle, the check-up was finished, and Mirai and Ryosuke got the news.

“He’s doing much better compared to when he was admitted,” said Dr. Nakamaru, “so that’s a good sign.” He marked off something on his clipboard. “That doesn’t mean he’s safe completely.”

The teens’ silent hope flew out the window.

“He’ll need another checkup in two weeks for a follow-up.” He ripped a notice and handed it to Mirai. “That’s everything you need to know.” He gave his clipboard to his nurse, and she stepped out of the room. “Yesterday, I believe someone has picked up the medication, correct?”

The young parents nodded.

“My brother picked it up,” clarified Ryosuke.

Dr. Nakamaru nodded. “We gave him hemoglobin on his first night, so his fever and internal inflammations have subsided. To avoid future cardiac arrests, heart failure, or cardiovascular problems, he needs to take a low dose of aspirin daily.” He looked at Natsu with a smile. “That seems to be all that I have.” He looked at Mirai and Ryosuke. “Umm, I actually have a question for you two, although, it may be a bit personal, but it would...help me out here.” He laughed embarrassingly. “You two are...high school students, right?”

Mirai and Ryosuke nodded. “Hai.”

The doctor looked relieved. “I’m glad you two aren’t as panicky as many other teenage parents I’ve dealt with.” He stood up and patted Natsu’s head. “You two were pretty composed. I’m sure that doesn’t mean that you didn’t care for your little one, but somehow, you guys just seemed to be a bit mature.”

The virtual parents smiled.

Ryosuke pointed to Mirai. “That’s ‘cause I have this man-girl with me.”

Dr. Nakamaru changed expression, making sure that he had heard the young father correctly.

Mirai pointed to Ryosuke. “And I have this baka with me.”

“So, we weren’t scared ‘cause we have each other,” the two friends said in sync as if reading each other’s minds, and they laughed it off.

Dr. Nakamaru joined in on the laugh despite having no clue what the conversation was about. “Well, I’m glad everything’s well. See you in two weeks.”

“Matte.” Mirai stood up. “What... What about his surgery?”

He turned back around. “It’s unnecessary anymore.”

Mirai and Ryosuke’s smiled brightly.

“His inflammation has subsided, and as long as it doesn’t work up anymore, his daily dose of medicine would manage it.”

“But isn’t the medicine for his future heart problems?” Mirai asked.

“And that’s what his inflammation will cause if not treated. The surgery was a measure of action in case we face the worst-case scenario. Since his inflammation has ceased, surgery’s not needed.” He smiled. “Anything else?”

She sighed, relieved. “Hai, that’s all.”

When Dr. Nakamaru walked out, Mirai couldn’t hold in her excitement, so she picked up Natsu, hugged him, and carefully tossed him in the air, making him giggle. “I’m so glad you’re all right, Natsu!”

Natsu’s radiant giggles warmed his parents’ hearts and filled them with joy.

After enough rest, they packed their stuff and made sure they got everything. They also updated Kota, and Kota opted to pick them up, but the teens told him that they would hitch a taxi, so Kota promised to visit them soon. As the teens made their way to leave the hospital, Ryosuke had a shocking request.

“Can I…hold him?”

She stopped walking and looked at him. “What did you say?”

“Can I hold him?”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing because he had never asked to hold the boy, and the only time he’d hold the boy was if she asked him.

“I want to.” He spread his legs and put out his hands. With a stern expression, he said, “Give him to me.”

She laughed at his stance. “Get him yourself. You need to learn that too.”

He accepted her challenge and slowly approached his two hands to the boy and then paused mid-air, hesitating his next action. “How do I get him?”

“Pick him up.”

One of his hands hovered over the boy’s head.

She laughed. “Under his arms.”

“I knew that.” He slid his hands under the boy’s underarms and was astonished at how his hands could envelop the boy’s entire body.

“Now, lift him and pull him to your chest. Now, hold his back.” She made sure to list the steps in the correct order or else he’d make a fatal mistake.

He obeyed her specific instructions but thought twice when the little boy squirmed.

“It’s okay. You’re doing fine.”

Natsu stopped squirming and after a ten-second pause, Ryosuke robotically looked at Mirai.

He whispered to her, “Look! I’m holding him.”

“You don’t have to whisper,” said Mirai.

“But he might—”

Natsu, with his small fists, started to tap Ryosuke’s cheeks with delight.

Ryosuke backed his head away and yelped, “He-he’s attacking me!” With one hand, he slowly pushed the baby away.

She saw and pressed a hand at the little boy’s back. “You’re not giving him to me just yet.” Her other free hand stopped the little’s boy destruction on her friend’s face. “He’s harmless, Ryosuke.”

“It actually hurts.”

“You’re such a big baby.” She walked without him and heard him struggle to follow her, so she looked over her shoulder and saw him do his best to walk carefully with Natsu to catch up to her. She stopped and smiled to herself. The father-son duo made her heart fluttered.

He caught up to her and didn’t stop. Instead, he walked without her and held Natsu’s hand and waved it to her. “We’re leaving you, loser.”

She continued to watch the two boys. It was then that she knew the two boys were her world.

*

Since the virtual family had opted to miss school, they took this chance to clean every inch of the house for their son’s well-being. The little boy was fine until the house needed to be vacuumed, so Mirai took Natsu upstairs while Ryosuke vacuumed. Once he was finished, he had to vacuum upstairs, so she and Natsu would then be downstairs. It took them the entire day to finish everything.

From in the kitchen, she grabbed a spoon, opened a banana-flavored puree, brought it to the living room, picked up Natsu from his playard, and sat themselves on the same couch as Ryosuke. Before she fed her son, she needed his bid, so she eyed for it and found it near her friend. “Ryosuke, give me his bid.” She pointed to it.

He handed it to her, scooted to them, and eyed the puree with a frown. “What’s that?”

“A little snack for my boy.” She dipped the blue plastic spoon into the puree, scooped a dot of it, and fed the little boy. From behind her, she heard her friend said, “Ahh.” She looked at him and saw his mouth open. “What?”

“Me too. I wanna try.”

She gave him a taste of the puree, and he found himself liking it and requested a second bite. She pulled back and joked, “The rest is for him.”

“Meanie.” He averted his eyes from her to the boy playing with his bid. “You got your mom on your side, so she’s starving me.”

She scooped a big one for him but froze when two hands wrapped around her waist.

He had backhugged her, his head resting on her shoulder.

“Ryosuke?” She raised a brow. Her friend wouldn’t sulk over something she was joking about, right? He had to know that she was joking. “I’m kid—”

“For the first time,” he said softly, “I was scared.”

She felt him pulled her closer, and she didn’t say anything. She capped the puree, put it down, cupped his hands around her, and waited for him to continue.

“I… I thought we’d tear apart. And…I was scared to lose him.” He buried his face on her shoulder. “Thank you…for being here with me.”

*

Mirai heard the doorbell amidst her dream, so she batted her eyes opened and saw Ryosuke asleep on the adjacent couch and her son asleep in his playard on his belly. She recalled that after Ryosuke’s confession, he continued to hug her and watch her and Natsu as she fed the little guy his puree. After having fed her son, she put Natsu in the playard and then went back to sit with Ryosuke and hugged him until they fell asleep on the couch. The doorbell rang again, and she didn’t want her boys to wake up, so she scurried to the door. Without checking, she opened it. Not to her surprise, it was her friends.

“What took you so long?” frowned Haruka.

Juri squeezed between Haruka and the door to head inside and then stopped. He looked at Mirai and whispered as he pointed to the scene of the two boys asleep in front of them, “They’re sleeping?”

Mirai closed the door once her friends were inside. “We cleaned the whole day today. Make yourselves comfortable. I’m gonna be in the kitchen.”

Juri and Shintaro did as so. They took over the TV and connected the PlayStation and minded their own business while Haruka tailed after Mirai.

“So, what’s up?” asked Haruka as she leaned against the counter and watched her friend reach for something up on top of the fridge—a bag of chips.

“I’ll tell you out there.” Mirai walked out of the kitchen with the bag of chips in her hand, and Haruka followed her. Mirai gave it to Juri and Shintaro and announced, “Natsu has the Kawasaki Disease.”

Three pairs of eyes looked at her.

Mirai continued, “It happened during the sleepover. The big brat had known about it first and tried to hide it from me.”

“Why did he do that?” asked Juri.

“He didn’t want me to worry about it.”

“He shouldn’t have done that,” added Haruka. “You’re not mad at all?”

“I was, but it’s Ryosuke, guys. He’ll never do anything to hurt me on purpose, and he had done it because he didn’t want me to worry. I can’t get mad at him for that.”

“If it were me, I’d cut off all ties. Friends or not, I wouldn’t care.”

Juri agreed. “Yeah. A kid’s life was at stake, and he didn’t tell you.”

“That’s true,” said a dejected Mirai, “but he only meant good. But what happened doesn’t matter anymore. We promised to be there for our little boy. Together.”

“If you can smile for one more day, I’ll do whatever it takes.” It was Ryosuke, and his timing made everyone flinch as they thought he was sleeping. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

Mirai didn’t like his answer. “So, you’d be okay with keeping me ignorant of our son’s wellbeing?”

“If I have to be the bad guy, I will.” His eyes saw the chips in Juri’s hands, and he pouted. “Those are mine. Why you give it to him?”

“Sharing is caring, big baby.” She sighed. “So, yeah. Everything’s fine now. We’ll go back to school tomorrow.”

“How are you guys so calm about it?” asked Juri. “If I were a teenage father, I—”

“I wouldn’t know what to do,” interrupted Haruka, dropping her shoulders. “You guys are strong.”

“We were scared, guys,” said Ryosuke, and all eyes locked on him. He got up, walked to Mirai, placed a hand over her shoulders, and pulled her in close, almost into a headlock. “But we got each other,” he bumped heads with her, “so nothing can stop us.”

“Whoa…” sighed Haruka. “You two are starting to be like a couple.”

Mirai and Ryosuke frowned, and she pushed his head away from hers and instructed him to copy down the homework questions for them while she headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

“Mi-chan!” Haruka followed her friend again. “Let’s go dress shopping this weekend!” She forgot that Natsu was still sleeping, so as she made a ruckus, Natsu woke up and bawled.

Mirai rushed to get him, but Ryosuke had rescued the little boy without problems.

Shintaro tapped Juri on the shoulder. “Do you see what I see?”

“H-he picked up…” gasped Juri, “the brat.”

Ryosuke smirked. “The Great Ryosuke is no longer at the mercy—” Natsu cried again and wriggled, making Ryosuke uncomfortable about how to settle the boy, so Ryosuke rushed to Mirai and handed Natsu to her. “All yours.”

The friends laughed at how quickly he succumbed to his fears.

Mirai rubbed the little boy’s back as she rocked him side-to-side and asked Haruka, “What do you need a dress for?”

“My dad’s wedding,” answered Haruka. “He wants me to spend a day with the gold-digging wrench, but I don’t need to listen to him when he didn’t listen to me about not marrying her. And the wedding’s not even until months from now, but they’re preparing for it already.”

“Weddings are important. It’s every girl’s dream to have the most beautiful wedding. It’s the only public event where you and your loved one can be very intimate about the love you two share, and close friends and family attend to witness the exchanged, promised vows.”

“I know that, but I still hate her. She’s not the one for my dad.” She clicked her tongue. “Enough about that wrench. You have to go with me ‘cause you’re gonna need a dress too. Got a color in mind?”

“I haven’t had a chance to think about it.” She had calmed the boy down, so she secured him in his highchair so she could prepare dinner. “And I don’t know what colors match me.

Ryosuke playfully clicked his tongue. “You don’t match any, idiot.”

Mirai glared at him. “Be quiet.”

“You be quiet.”

“I said it first, so you be quiet.”

The virtual couple began their usual bickering but was stopped by Haruka to confirm Mirai’s answer.

“Sorry, Haruka,” said Mirai. “My big baby can’t handle my small baby,” as she said that, Ryosuke put her in a headlock, and she continued while pushing him away, “and if I bring Natsu with us, I don’t think we’ll get much done.”

Ryosuke released Mirai and volunteered, “I can watch him.”

“No, you can’t,” laughed Juri from in the living room.

Mirai quipped, “I second that.”

Ryosuke scowled. “If you can trust my brother with the brat, why can’t you trust me? He’s worse than me for sure.”

“I know how you are with him. When he cries, you cover your ears and walk away or hide in a corner. If he cries near you, you’r