SUMMARY: You’ve been married to your husband Satoru Gojo for almost five years and things have been as perfect as they can be. You still go on dates, try new things, and spend a lot of time together. To celebrate your five year anniversary, the two of you decide to throw a vow renewal ceremony. But the day before your anniversary, he vanishes. After spending what feels like decades searching for your husband, he returns. But he doesn’t return as the man you once knew. Can the two of you navigate all the changes to your lives and relationship?
Also available on AO3 at HomainExpansion
Chapter One: Shoots & Ladders
Four years, eleven months, and three weeks. That’s how long you’ve been married to Satoru Gojo. While the two of you always make plans for your anniversary, there’s a lot more planning going into this one. It is a milestone after all.
The one part of your tradition is that you always get professional photos taken, this actually started before you got married. Even though you take plenty of photos together throughout the year, you want to look back on your relationship in more than just selfies. It also gives you an excuse to wear matching outfits which the both of you love.
The other part of your tradition involves the gift exchange. Neither of you want a gift that’s basically a price tag, so you agreed to choose a different theme every year and the gift must fit that theme. This gives you the opportunity to be sentimental, put a spin on an old idea, or be completely silly. This way you don’t have to worry about one person getting jewelry and the other getting a notebook.
The first year was stuffed animals and you got him a squishmallow of his favorite Digimon character to add to his collection. He got you a vampire bear that when you squeezed its hand, it spoke in *his* voice and said, “I vant to suck your tits.” So you can’t let kids play with this, but the back had a heartfelt message embroidered that said how happy he is to be married to you. That’s one of the things that you love the most about him, that he can combine his loving side and his horny side so easily but it doesn’t feel like it cheapens anything.
The second year’s theme was flowers. You got him a flower crown of blue roses, Alice in Wonderland style and he got you a bouquet of red roses. But once you looked closely, they all unraveled and were actually thongs wrapped up as roses. This fucking guy. Nothing like realizing that in the middle of a restaurant. But you still decided to keep them on display in your home because it’s funny every time you walk past them.
The third year's theme was glass. Every month that you’ve been together, Satoru gets you fresh flowers when the others start to wilt. So his gift this year was a custom and very extravagant vase for all your bouquets. You got him a custom snow globe of the place you were when you had your first official date. Later on that night, he surprised you with a glass butt plug. If there’s one thing that man wants, it’s multiple things, multiple kids actually, and he’s not shy about it.
For your fourth anniversary, the theme was games. Apparently the two of you only had one thing on your mind and your gifts that year reflect that. You got him an adult version of Jenga full of sexy prompts. And he got you Sexopoly instead of another variation of monopoly to add to game nights. You already felt pregnant the second you took it out of the bag. That still didn’t stop the two of you from arguing about who the winner was.
This year, the theme is a bit more sentimental. The theme is all about when you realized you were in love. You decided to make a giant collage full of some of your favorite moments with him. It’s going to include photos, letters, ticket stubs from dates, a variation of things. You’ve been debating on when to give him his real gift, the news he’s been waiting for for years, you’re pregnant. A part of you wants to tell him the night of your anniversary after the gift exchange. But sometimes you also want to tell him before the ceremony because it’s such a hard secret to keep. You also know that he’d probably love to scream it from the rooftop during your big day so it’s definitely a decision you don’t have a lot of time to make.
But until then, it’s more planning and the running of errands. Satoru wanted to go all out for this anniversary and you’re not complaining one bit. Not only are you getting your photos taken today, but you’re doing a small vows renewal with your closest friends and family. Then you decided to take two weeks off of work and the two of you are going to go on vacation. It’s a lot, but you’re really excited.
“How do I look? Good? I know.” Satoru comes out of the room wearing a blue sweater with a lighter long sleeve button up underneath and a pair of black slacks.
“You look like a social studies teacher.” He does look good though.
“Good. Now is the perfect time to do the teacher / student role play considering you’re perfectly dressed for it.”
He’s not wrong. You’re wearing a light blue sheer button up top and it’s tucked into a darker blue, black, and white argyle print skirt. You made sure to put on white thigh high tights, and a pair of black ankle boot heels. Yea, he’s right, it’s giving schoolgirl. But you’re also serving a look and you know you are so who cares.
“This is the most you’re going to get in that regard. I don’t have anymore room in my drawer for more costumes.” It’s full of costumes for everything from a nurse role play to the head cheerleader and football star.
“That’s fine, we’ll throw out some of your work clothes.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“What? Once I knock you up, you’re going to have to take maternity leave anyway. So, less work clothes.”
“One, you don’t go on maternity leave day one, I still need clothes for work. Two, maternity clothes are ugly. I’m still dressing the way I do now, I’ll just get everything bigger.” That might not be how they work but you know how to sew so it’s fine.
You end up rolling your eyes and feel your resolve starting to crack. If you tell him, it definitely won’t be until you return home because he’ll tell everyone on the street everything he did to get you pregnant. You appreciate his enthusiasm, but sometimes it’s like, people don’t want to know strangers have a sex swing, unless they’re your ex.
“Hey.” He grabs you by your waist and pulls you to his chest. “You look beautiful.” Then he leans down and kisses you. This man knows how to make you weak in the knees and it’s surprising that you get anything done.
“Thank you, but please don’t smear my lipstick.” You’re already walking over to the hallway mirror to assess the damage. “It’s fine if it is, we’ll just go back to bed.” He says so casually as if this isn’t a tradition he wanted to start.
You just roll your eyes and grab your purse. “Let’s go!”
“Yes ma’am. How do you feel about a dominatrix fantasy?” This fucking guy. “if you get us there on time, I’ll do all the financial don stuff that you want.” You just had to sneak that in. You used to wish that you were one of those girls with the charm to just take a man’s wallet George Jetson style.
“You already take all of my money baby,” he says with a pout.
“If you keep annoying me, I’ll take your dignity next.” Is he stalling for time? What the fuck?
“Oooohhh, sounds fun. How do you feel about indulging a man’s humiliation kink?” He asks as he starts raising an eyebrow for dramatic effect.
“I’ll tell you what, if you get us there on time, we can do whatever the hell you want when we get home.”
That was a mistake to say because he decides to speed all the way to the studio.
♡♥︎♡
“You’re still married to him?” Kento asks you, knowing it’s going to drive your husband crazy.
“What’s wrong with me? I’m good looking and I’m hilarious” Satoru snaps back.
“She’s the only one who laughs at your ‘jokes.’”
“She’s the only one that matters. If she laughs, I’m funny.” He’s not wrong.
Kento walks over to you and puts his hand on your shoulder. Then he looks you in the eyes, and in the most deadpan tone he says, “please, it’s not too late to run.”
You can’t help but laugh at that. You have this conversation every year when you show up at his studio. You used to wonder if he’s actually hated Satoru since high school. But, he’s still here and they see each other pretty frequently, so he must like him at least a little bit, you think.
But there was a time when he absolutely meant that. Kento Nanami and Utahime Iori were the other members of your trio and your best friends since high school. When you finally revealed that you were dating Satoru, they were not amused and for lack of a better term or phrase, fucking hated him. But throughout the years, Kento has come around. But not Utahime, she still can’t stand him and he plays on it constantly so you really can’t blame her.
“So Nanamin, you ready to take our boudoir photos?” Satoru says with a smirk.
“That is absolutely not going to happen” you finally say. “Just our yearly anniversary photos, pleeeaseee.”
“Let’s get started then.” You know Satoru is disappointed by his teasing time being cut short, but you're grateful. This man will go all night if nobody stops him.
“How come you’re not that nice to me?” You hear Satoru ask as he starts going through his friends work bag.
“I have no respect for you.” Damn. “Huuuuhhhhh?!” At this point, you’re a little surprised you’ve never seen them fight, even play fight. Even Suguru has punched Satoru at least once, and he’s basically the most chill guy on the planet.
You’re full on laughing now and never understand when people say Kento has no personality.
“So, how are you Kento?” You decide to start a conversation before your husband can annoy your photographer some more.
“Things are fine. I’ll be leaving for Paris a few days after your ceremony for work,” he says while adjusting settings on his camera.
“Oh fun! Are you going to come back with a supermodel girlfriend?” You hope so, you really want him to find somebody. And since you’ve seen him sitting poolside, you're even more surprised that he’s single.
“Probably not, work is picking up.” Ahhh, that’s why. Work - a - holic.
“Well, I’m rooting for you regardless.”
After graduating from business school and working in the stock market for awhile, Nanami said he needed a change. He said his job was, “soul sucking bullshit.” Even though your friend group takes a lot of pictures, he is rarely in front of the camera. He prefers to take the photos and that’s when you saw that he definitely had ‘the eye.’ One day you came across some amateur photographer contest and convinced him to send something in. He ended up winning, just like you knew he would. It resulted in him making connections and having a career shift. He gets booked for months at a time, but he still makes time for all of you.
“Come on Satoru! We don’t wanna take up all of Kento’s free time.” He immediately comes over and gets posed in front of the camera.
“I don’t know what magic you possess to control a maniac like him so easily, but it’s powerful stuff. You should bottle it up and sell it.” Satoru is pouting now.
You stand up on you tip toes and whisper in his ear, “you can do it too. You just have to have sex with him.” His face. His fucking face. You don’t think you’ve ever seen Kento looking so disgusted, it’s awesome.
“What’d you say to him?” Satoru asks you.
“Nothing. Let’s take some pictures.” You can tell he doesn’t want to let it go, but he does.
The photo shoot goes by relatively quickly, even with Satoru and all his antics. You get everything from the usual couple's photo to him stealing kisses and sneaking bunny ears. You even make sure to take a few photos facing sideways because you know your husband is going to want before and after baby bump pictures. You’re so excited that you’re starting to feel you won’t make it to the big day to tell him, and that you’re going to crack sooner, maybe you should. You really wish you weren’t so indecisive.
Before you can allow your thoughts to spiral, the nausea kicks in. You try your best to hide it, but it’s apparently written all over your face.
Nanami notices you looking a little blue and brings you a bottle of water. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just a little winded. Thank you.”
Satoru comes over then and kisses you on your temple. “Let’s go eat, then you’ll feel better.” At least that part is true. While you’ve felt sick in the morning, and at night, food hasn’t been making you sick yet so you’re grateful for that.
“Sounds good. Will you be joining us Mr. Kento Nanami?”
“Thank you, but I must decline. I already have a business dinner scheduled. I probably won’t see you guys until your ceremony.”
“Awwwhhhh how am I gonna survive with you for a few days Nanamiiiinnn??!!” Satoru throws an arm around his shoulder and whines that into his ear.
You’re starting to think that your husband is an energy vampire and he only feeds on Kento.
“Alright, we’ll see you in a week then!” You give him a hug and head out the door.
♡♥︎♡
*Four days until your ceremony*
You’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get everything perfect for the ceremony and Satoru has been putting in extra hours at the office to ensure that he won’t be bothered while you’re on your vacation. Planning has been relatively smooth with the exception of the last minute venue change due to double booking. But that aside, things haven’t been nearly as hectic as you expected, it just feels more exhausting due to your looming pregnancy that you’re still keeping under wraps.
The biggest back and forth between you and your husband has been choosing a place for your trip. It’s not that you can’t necessarily agree on a place, it’s more so that you two want pack as many things into one week as you can and that’s difficult because not one place will have everything that you want. The two of you settled on a trip to visit Las Vegas. It has basically everything; penthouse suites with gorgeous views, a ton of restaurants, shows, roller coasters, and the heat has let up so it won’t feel so grueling. Satoru will probably be a little disappointed that you can’t go on rides with him, but he’ll be more than willing to sit poolside with you after you give him the big news. You also got tickets for that Cirque du Soleil sex show as a backup.
Satoru should be home from work soon so you decide to try on your dress before he gets home to make sure it doesn’t need any more alterations. It may be a little extravagant for a vow renewal ceremony, but who cares? It’s your day and if you want to splurge on a couture gown, that’s your right. This ceremony is literally night and day from your first one and you want to have fun with it. When you got married, everything was black, dark purple, and red. But that was to be expected seeing as you got married on Halloween. But this time, everything is full of bright colors. You’re wearing a white, silk, floor length, off the shoulder corset dress with blue gems to accent the seams and create a more mermaid shape. You even have some sparkly, strappy heels that lace all the way up to your knee because you know your husband will lose his mind seeing that.
Everything looks perfect. Thank fuck.
You put your dress back in it’s garment bag and decide to just take a breather. You lay down on the bed and decide to enjoy some of the last moments of silence you’ll have before Saturday. When you got engaged, Satoru actually suggested renewing your vows every year and at first it sounded cute. Who doesn’t want someone to love them to the point where they always want to show it?
But after all this work? Absolutely not.
This will definitely just be a once every five years ceremony because the stress is stressing.
Just as you feel you could drift off for a quick nap, you feel it, the fucking morning sickness that lasts all day. You run to the bathroom only to find out it’s a false alarm, just a strong wave of nausea, it’s awful. But that reminds you that you need to eat and you feel absolutely no desire to stand there and cook. You decide to order food from one of Satoru’s favorite places and then settle down on the couch. You figure that you might be able to get one episode of your show in before your loud ass husband walks in the door and talks all the way through it. You love him, but ‘spoilers’ may as well be his middle name.
About five minutes into your episode, you hear a key in the door. Mother nature is giving you no breaks today, is she?
“Honey I’m hoooommeeeeee! Where is the love of my life?!” You hear Satoru shout from the front door.
“She left because you’re too fucking loud.” You hear him laugh from the hallway. You love having someone you can banter with. You made a joke like that with an ex and his response was literally, “if I’m such a burden, you can just leave.”
You hear your husband walking up behind you, “then I guess it’s a good thing that there’s a beautiful woman on my couch right now. Interested?”
“Depends, what am I being offered?” He narrows his eyes at you as if you just asked him the most ridiculous question.
“Well, me, of course,” he says, beaming with pride.
“Just you?”
“Just me? Baby, I’m a prize!” “Eh.”
He chuckles and walks around the couch to sit down next to you, then he pulls you to him so that you’re straddling him. He’s only been gone since this morning, but it feels like it’s been days. Just being with him feels like everything and then some.
“Hey baby.” Fuck, that voice.
“Hey, how was work?” You ask him as you wrap your arms around his neck.
“It was awful,” he says right before he leans in and kisses you. “I missed you all day.”
“You’re such a sap,” you say with no bite to your words because the truth is, you feel the same. Between the pregnancy and the upcoming ceremony, you feel like one big ball of emotions.
You feel him start to kiss down your next, slowly, like every kiss is completely calculated. You lean your head back and start to run your fingers through his hair. He moves his hands to your waist and holds you so tightly, as if he feels you’ll slip away. You don’t know how he manages to make you feel so much by doing so little, but it’s still incredible to you.
If there’s one thing that your husband is good at, it’s making you feel not just loved, but desired. He always puts his hands on you any chance he gets and touches you with such care that you know he worships you. Feeling insecure about your appearance is completely non-existent in your marriage. Your husband doesn’t touch you any more when you have makeup on than he does when you don’t. Your bitter ex tried to convince that one day you’ll wake up alone because he found someone ‘hotter,’ but you’ve never felt more secure than you do now.
“I missed you too, I can’t wait for our trip,” you say as he goes back to kissing your neck.
‘Me too. I’m going to absolutely defile you in that hotel room.” This fucking guy.
“What?”
“Don’t worry about it, just let me take care of you.” Defile? That’s the word he chose?
Just as he starts pulling down your top, there’s a knock at the door. He closes his eyes and groans, you can hear the disappointment even in that. “Who is showing up and ruining our ‘fucky fucky time’?” Is he serious? “One, I ordered food. Two, we are absolutely never calling it that.” You can’t even stop yourself from laughing because it’s so stupid and he knows it is. “That's fine, I’ll come up with something that you like.” The truth is, you don’t completely hate that title. You just know that if you were about to have sex, you’d laugh and dry up faster than you could recover.
After dinner, you decide to head straight to bed. You don’t remember the last time that you saw your husband so tired, it looked like he was falling asleep with his fork in his hand. By the time he hit the bed, he looked like he was completely out. And even though it’s still fairly early, this pregnancy is already draining you, resulting in you crawling into bed right after him. You would have bet money that he was asleep before you laid down, but like every night, you feel an arm wrap around your waist and pull you to his chest. It’s like he has a sixth sense that only reacts to you, but maybe that’s not the worst thing.
♡♥︎♡
*Two Days Before Your Ceremony*
Fuck it. You’re telling him.
You wanted to wait until Saturday to tell him the big news, but you’re doing it today. After this morning, you realized that you can’t put it off any longer, not even two days. You didn’t even notice that this was starting to make you a little distant towards your husband until he said something. “Are you upset with me?” Satoru asks you, concern written across his face. “I can stay home if you need me to, am I working too much?” Damn, you feel bad. “What? No. We agreed on all this together, I’m not upset.” How do you explain all the reasons you feel the way you feel without revealing too much?” “It’s just, you’ve been distant,” he looks down as he says to you. It’s almost as if he’s scared of your reaction. “It just feels like you’re always on the other side of the room. We haven’t been eating together, hanging out, having sex, and you’ve been asleep by the time I get home the past few nights.”
Shit. The real reason is that your morning sickness that’s supposed to only have you sick in the morning, has extended to the rest of the day. His cologne and some cooking smells have really been hitting you hard. And the fatigue? You feel like you now need three naps a day. “It has nothing to do with you.” Kind of.”I’ve just been feeling a little under the weather. I think it’s just a bug. I’m sorry.”
He steps closer and wraps his arms around your waist before leaning down and kissing you. He feels so good, but fuck this cologne. You just have to keep it together until he leaves.
“Do you want me to stay home?” You can tell that he wants you to say yes, but you need some time to yourself. You just want some time to think and take a nap.
“No, go do what you have to do. It’s your last day for the next two weeks, I’ll be here when you get home,” you do your best to force a smile.
“Okay.” He kisses you again. “I’ll check on you throughout the day. Love you.” With that, he turns to leave.
You didn’t even notice that he was feeling you pulling away from him, that truly wasn’t your intent. The situation is what it is, and it’s time for you to fix it. Tonight you’re going to reveal your pregnancy so that your husband knows that it’s not him that’s bothering you. It’s just his cologne, detergent, and whatever food he brings home. Alright, it still sounds bad but context is key.
You want a cute reveal but unfortunately, you don’t have time for all of that. You thought about putting the ultrasound photo in his wallet and asking him if he had change for a larger bill, but he’ll just give you his card. You thought about putting it in his tie drawer, but this would be the one night he doesn’t go in there. So you’ve settled on a much simpler idea.
When you were at the doctors, you got not only a photo, but a dvd of the ultrasound. That’s it, that’s the idea. You’re just going to sneak the dvd in and call it a day. It’s not one of your most elaborate plans, but you keep reminding yourself that he’s going to be so excited, he probably wouldn’t remember if you went over the top with the reveal. You did make sure to order food and time it with his arrival because there’s no fucking way you could stand in the kitchen for an hour cooking right now.
You hear a knock at the door and start to freak out until you remember that your husband has a key and wouldn’t be knocking. That means it’s the delivery person and you’re going to wait a minute before opening the door because you don’t want to go viral for showing up in the delivery photo. After you feel certain that they left, you go outside and bring in the bags of food. As you’re laying everything out on the counter, you can’t help but laugh. It always reminds you of the time that you first met Satoru’s parents. They were coming over for dinner and according to him, they have really high standards. He said there’d be no point in trying to cook for them, so he just ordered food and passed it off as his own. He picked the fanciest place available on the app and put all the food in your pots and pans, turned the heat on low, and served it in front of them as if he cooked it. He’s so ridiculous, and he was right, they have the highest fucking standards.
You’re so lost in thought that you barely heard your husbands keys in the door. Here you go, it’s all or nothing, now or never, or whatever the fuck people say.
You start to walk over to him, but he’s distracted with his phone in his hand resulting in him walking right past you, and into his office, closing the door.
Fuck.
You can’t remember the last time that happened. He really thinks you’re mad at him. Time to do damage control.
You walk over to his office and brace yourself before knocking on his door. At first, silence, no reaction of any kind. You wait a few moments and then knock again. You hear a distant ‘yeah’ from the other side, he must be all the way across the room. You slowly enter and look around for him, spotting him at the desk, setting up his laptop.
“Hey babe, everything okay?” You ask, a bit timid, you can’t remember the last time you saw him like this.
“Everything is fine, I just have some work to finish up.” He never brings work home unless he decides to actually work from home for the day. But he never extends his day and works throughout the night. You made a deal when you got married that you wouldn’t allow work to consume you and once you get home, that time is for each other.
You don’t want to annoy him, but you speak up again, “can it wait a little while? I have dinner set up and I thought we could watch something.” You can tell from the way he’s looking at you that he wants to say no. He probably wants space as much as you do right now, but this is for all the wrong reasons. You don’t want to miss telling him, you don’t want to go to sleep angry, and you don’t want this to follow you into your ceremony.
“This is a big case and I should prob-,” you cut him off because you already seeing where this is going. “Please. Just dinner, and then you can go back to work,” you say as your voice starts to break. You see his eyes widen a little before he stands up and walks over to you. ”I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, don’t cry.” He wraps his arms around you before leaning down and placing a kiss on top of your head. “You didn’t do anything.”
“Were not supposed to bring work home,” you say as you look up at him, tears in your eyes.
“I thought you needed some space from me, it won’t happen again.”
“I didn’t need any space, I’m sorry I made you feel that way.” He tilts your head up and kisses you, fuck, this man is great. “I ordered food from your favorite place.”
He smiles after you say that. One of the things you love the most about your husband is his lack of being stubborn or spiteful. There’s no grudges and throwing negativity back in your face later. You get to work kinks out this easily and it’s incredible. After seeing your friends and family argue with their partners for days over petty bullshit, it scared you out of dating. But Satoru is the opposite and for that, you're grateful.
You lead him over the the couch in the living room and the you start bringing over boxes of food and plates from the kitchen.
“You need any help?” He asks you and you realize that now is the time.
“Nope, I got it. But, maybe you can find something for us to watch.”
You walk away far enough that he thinks you went back to the kitchen, but you’re standing around watching him, trying to see his reaction when the time comes. He reaches for the remote and your heart feels as though it’s pounding through your chest. You see the tv come on and Satoru is just sitting there, frozen.
“Babe! What is this?” He sounds confused, it’s kinda cute.
You walk back over to him, “oh that? Just something that I picked up recently.”
“Picked up from where?”
“The doctor.” He narrows his eyes at you.
“The doctor?” He just continues to stare at you.
“Yes, the doctor.” He’s just staring you down as if there’s some big prank going on. But then his eyes widen and his lips form an ‘o’ shape and he looks back at the tv.
“Is this what I think it is?” He asks as he breaks out this huge smile.
“That depends, what do you think it is?” You’re smiling too.
“Are we having a baby?” You don’t think you’ve ever heard his voice this high before.
“Well, I’m having a baby. But you can stay and help out.”
He walks over to you and kisses you, deeply, passionately. He moves his hands to your waist and you feel him pouring love into every touch.
“I love you.” He tells you everyday, but something about it feels different this time, good different. “I’m so happy that we’re expanding our family. Thank you. I love you.” Kiss. “I love you.” Another kiss. “I love you so much.” Many kisses.
“Alright alright, I get it. I love you too, now get off me so I can eat,” you barely manage to get out because of his onslaught of affection.
He finally pulls away from you and you go to sit down on the couch and eat. He comes to sit next to the left of you and snatches the fork out of your hand.
“What are you doing Satoru?”
“Feeding you. You need to rest. Also, practice for the baby. Here comes the airplane!” He starts making sounds that are not even close to an airplane and trying to get the fork in your mouth, which he successfully does once you start to laugh.
“Sir, respectfully, give me my fucking fork and eat your own food. I worked hard on cooking this.”
“Didn’t you order out?” He says with a smirk.
You slam your hand against your neck as if you’re clutching your pearls, for dramatic effect, of course. “The cheek, the nerve, the audacity, the gall, and the gumption! I’ve been slaving all day while carrying your baby and you accuse me of lying?”
“Isn’t the baby only the size of an olive right now?” Bastard.
“So what! You just told me I can’t even feed myself anymore.” Please let him give this up because you don’t think you have anymore comebacks lined up.
“Fine, I’ll concede.” Thank goodness. “When did you find out?”
“Uhhh, about a week ago.”
“Why’d you wait so long to tell me?” Is a week that long? Ehhh, maybe for someone as excited as he is.
“I was going to wait to tell you the night of our anniversary. But, today happened. I didn’t want you to think I was pulling away from you because of, well, you. I was just feeling a little sick from the cologne and stuff like that.” He chuckles a bit, “so, still me?” Shit.
“But not you because you upset me, just the strong smells, and feeling more fatigued lately.” He hums at that. “I also figured you’d want to celebrate with everyone coming instead of finding out afterwards, so this just made the most sense.”
You thought he’d be more upset by you not telling him sooner, but he doesn’t, so that’s a relief.
“I can’t decide between calling everyone we know and telling them, or taking you on this couch.” “Satoru! I’m eating!” You giggle as he starts kissing your neck, This man’s libido should be studied because he went from trying to airplane feed you to wanting to fuck in like a minute. “Yeah, I know, I’m hungry too,” he says as he slides his hand between your legs. His ‘eating’ comments never fail to make you laugh even though you find them completely unsexy.
You barely have time to react before he’s slowly pushing you down on the couch, kissing his way down your neck as he does so. It’s been a few days since the two of you had sex and you desperately miss the connection. But just as you feel yourself starting to get into it, things take a turn for the worse.
“ Fuck, Satoru, stop.” He ceases all movements and looks up at you. You just cover your mouth and run to the bathroom in your shared bedroom and start to gag. This is so humiliating.
“Damn, was I that bad?” he asks as you’re hunched over the toilet bowl. You know he’s trying to lighten the mood, but really? Now? You appreciate the attempt but you’re literally dry heaving with tears in your eyes.
Once you realize you’re not going to actually throw up, you wipe your mouth off and brush your teeth anyway. “I’m sorry Satoru. You’re cologne, it smells like ten sprays instead of two and it’s getting to me.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” he says softly. “I’ll take a shower, wash it off, and cut it out until it no longer makes you sick. Okay?” You love this man.
You decide to head to bed and get comfortable while he washes off. You grab your phone and pick a podcast to listen to while you wait for your husband to finish up. Even though you found out about your pregnancy a week ago, something about it feels more real today. It’s almost as if telling Satoru confirmed what the doctor already deemed to be true. Your family is expanding and you feel overcome with happiness and hit with a wave of emotions. Before you know it, you have tears running down your cheeks, worrying your husband as he comes out of the bathroom and sees you. That’s one part of the pregnancy that you hate, because you’re typically not someone who cries a lot.
“Are you okay?” He rushes over and sits down next to you. The concern in his eyes is so evident you can’t help but feel grateful for him. The last man you cried in front of told you to do it in another room so he doesn’t have to hear it. But, not Satoru.
“I’m fine, just thinking about life, and the baby. I’m just… happy.”
You see relief wash over his features and that helps calm you down as well. He wipes your tears before he leans down to kiss you, first on the lips, then on your forehead. He stands up and walks over to the closet to put on his pajamas, which is just a pair of boxers, before he goes to his office to grab his cell phone, you already know what’s coming.
You make sure nothing is playing on your phone and just listen for any sounds coming from the next room over. It’s silent for about thirty seconds, and then you hear it. “Suguru!” You were right. “I knocked her up! We’re gonna be parents!” You can hear the smile in his obnoxiously loud voice, but you won’t complain about the noise, he’s too happy.
After that, the sounds are muffled, but you can tell that he’s still really excited. You hear him close his office door so he must be coming back to join you. The bedroom door opens and there he is, beaming like nothing could make him happier. He says your name and when you turn to look at him, you see his phone facing you, Suguru on facetime.
“Congratulations to the both of you,” you hear Suguru say before Satoru turns the phone back around.
“She looks pretty good for someone who’s been carrying a baby for… babe, how far along are you.” You laugh at that because you just realized that you forgot to tell him. “Eleven weeks.” “Eleven weeks!” He yells into the phone, poor Suguru. “She’s more than just a pretty face,” you already know he’s about to say something ridiculous. “She’s also a strong working woman, mother,” okay, maybe you were wrong. “And a nice pair of tits.” “Satoru!” He just laughs that comment off, but you’re not surprised, he just can’t help himself. “It’s late, stop yelling at the man and let him get some rest.”
“Okaaaayyyy, mom!” Dumbass. “I’ll talk to you later Suguru. Love you, xoxo,” and you noticed he hung up.
Years ago, before you started dating Satoru, you asked Suguru how he deals with him. He literally said, “you just have to know when to hang up or walk away.” You always praised him for that but you’ve since married who you once considered an annoying nuisance so there’s that.
“Who else should I call and tell the good news?”
“Whoever you do call, just please make it quick. I don’t want you to annoy people to the point that they don’t want to show up on Saturday,” you ask of him. And to your surprise, he agrees to only call one more person. “Alright, I’m calling Nanami.” Of all the fucking people he could have chosen to call at eleven o’ clock at night. He would pick the one person who needs a month to recoup after dealing with him for a day.
There’s three rings before you see Nanami answer the phone, and you can tell from the camera that he was in bed. Now you feel kinda bad. “Nanamiiiii!” Your husband sings, he’s really trying to age that man as much as possible.
“What do you want? I was in bed.” Fucking Satoru.
“We’re pregnant! Well, my wife is pregnant, but she said I could stay.” He’s going to run that into the ground, isn’t he? You have a feeling he’s going to bring that up every time you ask him to do something that he doesn’t want to do. “Congratulations, that’s amazing news,” he says in that monotone voice, but you can tell he’s supportive.
“Thank you Kento!” You yell from your side. All you hear in response is, “but, like I said before, it’s not too late to leave hi–” And then Satoru ends the call.
“That’s enough of that.” You’re cackling now. You’ll never get tired of Nanami’s running joke, mostly because you know he doesn’t mean it. And honestly, you think it’s fair. Satoru loves playing pranks on him and annoying him so his one liners are fair game as far as you’re concerned.
Satoru puts his phone on the charger and then he crawls over to you, wrapping an arm around your waist, and pulling you against his chest. You used to hate when people were overly cuddly, but being like this, with Satoru, has become one of the best parts of your day. You don’t even realize how tired you are until you feel him next to you. It’s as if his presence alone is enough to relax you.
“Hey baby,” you hear Satoru whisper.
“Yes?” You reply with a yawn.
“I love you. And thank you for making me a dad.”
You’re not usually an overly emotional person but you feel like you might cry again. Fucking hormones.
“I love you too. And you don’t have to thank me. This is what we both wanted, and I’m glad you’re happy.”
He hums and you feel him kiss the top of your head, and hold you a little tighter. Before you know it, you’re asleep.
♡♥︎♡
*the day before your ceremony*
You wake up and find Satoru already awake as well, just playing around on his phone. You just look up at him, you can’t help it, he’s so beautiful.
“You should take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he says with a smirk.
”I don’t want to break the camera.” That smirk? Gone.
“What do you want for breakfast?” He asks you as he starts to get out of bed.
“Whatever you wanna make.” You don’t want to be difficult.
“Ooohhh, so chocolate and strawberry pancakes? Drenched in whipped cream and and syrup?” Fuck no.
“I was thinking more like eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast. Ya know? A breakfast for a growing adult.”
“Sounds good…. For you, my love.” He bends down to kiss you before making his way out of the room and to the kitchen. After about a minute, you hear a ‘baaaaaaabeee’ coming from the kitchen. Just as you’re getting out bed to see what’s wrong, he’s coming back into the bedroom.
“So, as it turns out, we have nothing for breakfast. And I mean, nothing.”
Then, it hits you. You forgot that you haven’t been ordering out just because you want to, the both of you have been so busy that grocery shopping has taken a backseat. That's definitely something that’s going to have to change before the baby is here.
“We could—“ Satoru cuts you off before you can finish that sentence.
“Don’t say ‘order breakfast.’” That’s absolutely what he was going to say.
“My beautiful wife is carrying my baby and I’m going to make her a home cooked breakfast for the occasion.”
“But we don’t have anything,” you say in response.
“I’ll just run to the store and go pick some things up.” Maybe you should order, that seems like a lot of work for breakfast.
“I don’t want you to do all of that just for breakfast.” You already know that you probably won’t change his mind, but that won’t stop you from trying.
“We need stuff anyway, I’ll just get enough until it’s time to leave for our trip.” You know he’s right. But who the hell wants to wake up and immediately run errands?
“Well, I’ll go with you then.” As you start to get out of bed, he stops you.
“You’re carrying precious cargo, you’re not going anywhere that you don’t need to go. I’ll go handle everything, and you take a break and stay in bed a little longer.”
“Are you sure?” He can sense your reluctance.
“Please.” He kisses you. “Stay in bed. Relax. You can call me if you need anything.”
You don’t want to give in, but you do. He goes to the walk in closet to get dressed, comes back to the bed to kiss you one more time, and then he’s out the door.
You decide to take advantage and stay in bed to relax. You put on a show you haven’t watched in a while and get comfortable in bed. But as it turns out, you’re more tired than you realize and you start to drift off.
About twenty five minutes into your impromptu nap, you hear your ringtone start up and you immediately know that it’s your husband, so you pick up.
“Hello?”
“Hey babe! I was thinking of picking up some stuff to throw on the grill and maybe we could do a mini get together with our closest friends tonight. Ya know, before the big day? I just want to share the exciting news with the people who matter most since most people will probably end up drunk tomorrow.”
“Well, they are gonna need the alcohol to tolerate your shenanigans.”
“Awwww I love you too. So, what do you think?”
“Sounds good. But you have to send out the invites.”
“I already sent it to everyone in our group chat.”
“Of course you did.”
“Sorry, I’m really excited!”
“It’s fine. As long as you’re doing the cooking, I’m fine with it.”
“Yay! Alright, I'm going to check out and then I’ll be on my way home to snuggle with you and our baby.”
“Yeah yeah, hurry up.”
“I love you!”
“I love you too, Satoru. I’ll see you when you get home.” And with that, you end the call.
Just as you’re about to put your phone down, you start getting a bunch of notifications. It looks like it’s mostly people letting you know that they got the invite and that they’ll be coming over tonight. For a split second, you were thinking it may be a bit much to have people over tonight when you’re doing something so big tomorrow, but you’re actually pretty excited.
Through the influx of messages, one stands out, a text from your husband. You’re curious seeing as you just spoke to him on the phone so you wonder what crazy thing he’s planning next. You take a deep breath and open it,
Satoru, My Love: I know we just spoke, but I wanted to tell you again that I love you. I’m so excited for the future with us and our new journey as parents. Thank you for making me a daddy, and not just a ‘daddy.’ Love you and I’ll see you when I get home.
Sappy fucker. For all the antics that people complain about, one thing is true. Satoru has never, not once, failed to make you feel loved. And truly loved, not just in private loved but keep a distance in public. Even though you’ve been together for years, it’s like he still can’t believe he has you and he always shows it. He’s incredible. Even though he’s less than thirty minutes away, it feels like it’s taking ages for him to get home. You decide to just lay down and relax so that you can help him cook when he gets home, regardless of what he says.
♡♥︎♡
When you wake from your nap, you feel as though you slept all day, cementing the reasons you hate going back to bed or taking a nap in the middle of said day.
You reach for your phone to check the time and see that you slept for three fucking hours. You look to your right and see Satoru’s side of the bed empty, the bathroom and closet lights off, so he must be in the living room giving you your space.
You get up, go to the bathroom, put on pants, and stroll into the living room to look for him. However, once you get there, you see that everything is off and he’s nowhere to be seen.
Weird.
You walk over to the kitchen to look for him here, nothing. Balcony? Nothing. What the fuck?
You go back to your bedroom to get your phone and see if you have any missed calls or texts from him, nothing. If he was going out with someone, he surely would have told you. But there’s nothing, well nothing from him. You start checking your messages to see if any of your friends mentioned him stopping by, but there nothing for that either.
You’re already starting to panic. Due to your obsessive nature of watching true crime docuseries and YouTube videos, you immediately start thinking the worst. But, you’re going to call and text friends first and see if plans changed and you just weren’t informed.
First call, Suguru.
You bring up his contact and hit the call button, probably with a little too much force. After about four rings, you hear him pick up.
“Hello?”
“Suguru.” Shit, your voice is already sounding shaky.
“Is everything okay?” You feel like you already worried him, whoops.
“Ha-have you heard from Satoru?”
“Not since this morning, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. He was just going to the grocery store and coming right back home. I feel asleep right before he was on his way and I woke up a few hours later and he’s not here. I was wondering if he was with you.”
“No, he’s not here. I haven’t even heard from him since he sent out that invite.” Fuck. “But don’t freak out yet.” Too late. “I’ll call around and see if anyone else has heard from him. He may have just taken a detour.”
“A detour from a store fifteen minutes away?”
“Fair point. Just keep your phone on you, I’ll make some calls. Try not to stress too much, we don’t even know what’s going on yet.”
“Okay, I’ll keep my phone on. But I’m absolutely going to go panic.” He chuckles a little bit you can’t blame him. You say your goodbyes and decide to sit in bed and wait by the phone.
You get a notification on your phone and see that it’s Nanami. All it says is, “I’m coming over.”
Shit. Suguru must have told him what’s going on and if he’s showing up instead of calling, it must be something serious. Before you know it, you’re crying and can’t stop it. You know they always say that things happen when you least expect it. But, what the absolute fuck universe?
About ten minutes later, you hear a knock on your door. Nanami must have already been on his way by the time he messaged you. You brace yourself before heading over to answer it.
When you open the door, you can see it in Nanami’s eyes, pure concern. It’s the afternoon and you’re just crying in your pajamas, this sucks.
“Hey. Suguru told me what’s going on.”
You spent a moment just looking at him, trying to figureout out what to say.
“Just tell me, Nanami.” Now he looks confused.
“Tell you what?”
“Suguru told you what was going on and you, being the most level headed in the group showed up. Let me guess, it’s bad news and you’re here to deliver it, right?”
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I have nothing to report. I just came by so you didn’t have to be alone while all these calls are made. And I thought I could check his computer, your tracking app, whatever the hell kids are calling it these days, that’s all.”
In a way, you’re relieved. You hate being in the dark, but at least there’s someone to sit with you.
About an hour after Nanami arrived, Suguru showed up. But there’s still no news on your husband. Suguru decided to call hospitals and jails, but nothing came from that. Nanami checked Satorus phone and he can only view its last location, the grocery store. It appears as though his phone has been turned off because it keeps going straight to voicemail.
You’ve been trying to remain calm all day, but you’re entering full blown panic mode.
“We should call the police. Something’s not right,” you hear Nanami say and you immediately burst into tears.
“Fuck, you’re right,” you barely manage to get out through the tears.
“I’ll make the call.” Nanami excuses himself from the table and returns to the office to retrieve his phone.
Suguru tries to calm you down, but it’s too no avail. You’ve never experienced this much fear in your life and it’s overwhelming you. Nanami walks back over to the table and that’s when you hear it,
“I need to report a missing person.”