"I swear, that cat has it out for me - you can stop laughing now, Nakamura."

The wheezing outside the bathroom stall didn't stop. "A six-inch rip in your pants, and you didn't feel the air whooshing in?" Nakamura asked.

"At least I had my underwear," Yoru whined petulantly, trying to bend as little as possible while putting his pants on so he wouldn't feel dizzy.

"Whatever you say." Nakamura coughed to recover his breath. "So, why call me? We have some of our boys here at the hospital."

With an annoyed groan, Yoru plopped down onto the toilet. "Ken swiped my phone to play on it without my noticing," he answered. "Of course, once I had bolted into the bathroom here I couldn't very well leave it, so I asked this nice old man who came in to help me. He offered me his medieval-era flip phone, and your number is the only one I remember."

"Kei would probably sulk if he heard that."

"What? Yours is easy to remember! Nine followed by even digits."

"Fair enough."

Yoru finally opened the cubicle door and shuffled out, bright red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry for having you come over all the way from another city," he said.

"It's okay, you needn't be so formal with me. You're practically my brother-in-law."

Yoru smiled apologetically at Nakamura as they exited the washroom. "I wasn't comfortable asking anyone else," he explained. "I like the boys, don't get me wrong, but asking them to go shopping for pants is a bit..."

"Relax, anesan," Nakamura laughed. "I'll have you return the favor when the opportunity arises."

"Yes, yes. 'Excuse me, Mrs. Nakamura, your husband sent me to get a replacement for his ripped pants.' I'm sure she'll understand."

"I'll have you go when my wife and your husband aren't home." Mischievously, Nakamura winked.

"How scandalous," Yoru gasped, playing along. "Sneaking around behind our spouses' backs..."

"With true feelings and unshakeable determination, we shall protect our pact from the whole -"

Nakamura's voice cut off as if his vocal cords had snapped. The usual humor on his face had been wiped clean. Anger, pain and abject disappointment had turned his face white. Concerned, Yoru leaned around him to peek into Kei's room.

His heart dropped to his feet.

Instantly, Yoru squeezed his eyes shut, but the image of Kei's hands clenched on the shoulders of a woman with their lips locked was forever branded into his mind.

He didn't even flinch when Nakamura punched the door, hard. The feeling of betrayal hurt too much to move a muscle. He heard a thump and a feminine cry of pain - Kei had pushed the woman away. He began to talk rapidly in explanation, but Yoru couldn't hear anything over the echoes of the sounds both were making as they kissed.

"Don't say another word, Kei," Nakamura snarled. "I might just kill you."

"No, Azusa, wait-"

A hand closed around Yoru's wrist. He tried to pull his arm away, but the grip only tightened. "It's me," Nakamura said, his voice gruff with fury.

Nakamura tugged Yoru down the corridor and stopped at the elevator. The woman's voice sounded behind them, asking them to stop. Immediately, Nakamura towed Yoru to the stairs and made his escape, a nearly catatonic Yoru cradled in his arms.
*
When Yoru finally came to his senses, he was in a living room he didn't recognize. The most adorable tot he'd ever seen was painting his nails, and a toddler who looked like she'd been tossed into a high person's psychedelic dream was seated between his legs. The sun hung low in the sky, and the sound of laughter was filtering from the neighboring house. The sound of drilling and hammering was issuing from the one he was in.

Yoru's phone sat next to him, turned off. He stared at it. Slowly, a few dim memories of his dazed spell began to come back. He'd been with Nakamura in the latter's car, zooming down a highway. He'd noticed Nakamura's phone sitting silent in the cup holder, and the incessant ringing of his own phone had prompted him to turn it off too.

Ignoring the pain in his ribs, he drew in a deep breath, trying to calm himself. If he cried, he'd fall apart, and there was no need to. Technically, nothing had changed. Everything he had asked for before getting married - no coercion into having sex, no physical abuse, a stable home and protection from his abusers - was still very much available to him. Neither he nor Kei had made any emotional commitments to each other.

But still, it hurt. He was heartbroken. He was angry. He was very sad. And he was confused, because he couldn't tell what he couldn't give to Kei that that woman could.

The house phone began to ring. The older girl pranced over to the phone and took the call. "Hi, daddy," she chirped. "Yes, Auntie's playing with me." Pause. "No, Auntie's sick. He won't say anything."

A faint bark of alarm was audible from the earpiece, making the little girl wince. She returned to Yoru and handed the phone to him with a smile. "Auntie, my Daddy wants to talk to you."

Yoru frowned in confusion as he took the phone from her. "Yoru! What's wrong?" came Nakamura's panicked voice.

"Nothing. I was really out of it is all."

"Oh, thank God." Nakamura sighed in relief. "I thought you'd fainted or something."

"I'm fine. I think. Where are you?"

"Is the phone on speaker? No? Okay. I visited a lawyer. I'm about to go buy dinner, do you have any requests?"

"No scallops. What's with all the drilling?"

"...you really were out of it, weren't you? I'm getting all the locks in the house changed. I suppose it's useless to ask you if my wife came by?"

Yoru thought for a few seconds. He could now recollect Nakamura introducing his daughters, Yua and Ichika, to him. Next, he remembered being dropped off at Nakamura's house with a request to watch the kids while he ran a quick errand. After that, there was nothing.

"It's useless," Yoru conceded contritely.

"It's alright. By the way, I'm sorry for dragging you out like that." Nakamura released a noisy, pained sigh. "I wasn't thinking."

Yoru followed suit. "You got me out faster than I could have done myself," he answered, trying not to let his voice tremble.

"What now?"

"I don't know."

"We'll think about it after I put the girls to bed. Well - I'll see you in a bit."

Talking about Nakamura's girls brought Kei back to the forefront of Yoru's thoughts. At some point in the future, he and Kei were supposed to have children too. Yoru had secretly been very pleased that Kei wanted kids with him. He'd even been looking forward to it. What a fool he'd been.

The first hints of pain began to chafe at his numb cocoon, and he immediately threw himself into attending the kids. He didn't want to think. Yet as he watched Yua coat her sister with yet another layer of paint, he kept recollecting and analyzing every affectionate gesture Kei had shown. What had he done wrong? He'd fooling himself into thinking that Kei was all his, but had his lack of reciprocation turned Kei away from him?

His thoughts remained in that depressed spiral until Nakamura returned home. The Beta did a splendid job of hiding his distress from his daughters, whisking them into the bathroom and dumping them spectacularly into the large bathtub. Yoru spent welcome half-hour "helping" bathe Nakamura's daughters, which basically involved recapturing the fugitives when they tried to escape. Dinner was a riot too - at the end, Yoru's front was drenched in miso, Nakamura had green peas in his nostrils and Ichika's plate was lying face down on the floor.

"You're welcome to stay the night," Nakamura said at around 10 p.m, as they both sat nursing cups of strong coffee. Yua and Ichika were in bed, the dishes were done and both adults had cleaned themselves up. Now there was nothing left to distract them from the ache in their hearts.

"It won't look good," Yoru replied with a shake of his head. "Considering the circumstances..."

"I don't mind, and our spouses don't have a right to complain anymore."

"Are you sure about divorcing your wife? I mean, you have your girls to think about, and you were so upset when you went. Isn't this a snap decision?"

Nakamura chuckled bitterly and sipped his coffee. "I've been considering divorce for a long time now," he said. "I thought I would hang on for Yua's and Ichika's sake, but I can't take it anymore. Today was the last straw."

"She's cheated on you before?"

"Yeah. But then again, her feelings were never really for me, so..." Suddenly, Nakamura began to stare at Yoru contemplatively, making the omega squirm. He took one sip. Two sips. Decision made, he continued. "I guess you should know. My wife is Kei's ex-girlfriend."

Yoru choked on his coffee so hard it came out through his nose. "You have to be kidding me," he coughed, red with exertion as well as outrage.

"I wish I was." Nakamura offered Yoru a tissue. "My wife, Hina, was Kei's girlfriend in high school. She, Kei and I all went to different schools. Theirs was a real whirlwind romance, and since it was Kei's first relationship, he was very shy about having her meet me. It took me all of senior year to get him to agree. But before anything could happen, shit went down. In a nutshell, Kei found a traitor in the group, internal strife nearly tore the group apart and he ended up getting shot in the head.'

'Hina left him immediately, saying she didn't want to date yakuza. Things had already changed dramatically for Kei by then, and this last bit nearly broke him in half. It was frightening, Yoru. Kei didn't speak for almost six months. By the time he did start talking, he had turned into this mean-tempered, violent recluse. He decided he wasn't destined for anything other than becoming a yakuza boss, and nobody's ever been able to convince him otherwise.'

'A year after getting shot, I went off to college in Kanagawa, while Kei attended college here while training to take over the group. He made no effort to keep in contact with me and rejected mine, so we fell out of touch. In the mean time, I met Hina and fell in love."

Nakamura laughed again. "What an idiot I was," he groaned. "Hina knew I was Kei's best friend. She knew I was yakuza. Still she agreed to marry me. And the real kicker is that when I finally introduced her to Kei for the first time, the bastard said nothing."

"Wasn't he trying to protect your happiness?"

"He said as much when he finally spilled the beans after Ichika's first birthday. He knew I'd leave Hina in a heartbeat if I found out what she'd done, but he, having lost his own happiness, couldn't bear to see me lose mine. Still, it doesn't take away from the fact that I married his love and created a family with her right under his nose." Nakamura dragged a hand across his face in agitation. "The guilt has been killing me ever since. That's why I was so happy when Kei married you, and why I didn't bring my wife and kids to the wedding."

For a long time, Yoru turned the story over in his mind. He was okay with Kei having loved someone before, but having that past become a threat to him rubbed him the wrong way.

So what if you don't have a place in his heart, his inner voice said. That was not part of the deal. You have what you wanted. But then again, he hadn't even realized when he lost sight of what it was that he wanted in the first place. His hands tightened around his mug as he prepared to ask the most painful question of all. "So," he ground out, "there was never any space for me, was there?"

"No - yes - ugh! I don't understand!" Nakamura slammed his mug down on the table. "There's no pretense in it - Kei is wrapped around your little finger. He would never cheat, Yoru. Not after everything he went through, and certainly not with the way he looks at you."

"Yet, here we are."

"There has to be another explanation. Hina I expected this from - I've seen  her make eyes at Kei multiple times - but he wouldn't do this."

"...you know, the more I play what I saw in my head, the more it feels like Kei was pushing her away, not pulling her close. Your wife sounded like a porn video, but Kei seemed to be struggling. But after what you told me, I'm convinced that's probably me twisting facts to suit what I want to believe."

"Do you want to talk to Kei, then?"

Yoru shook his head. "I need to sort out my thoughts. And on that note -" he inhaled shakily - "I should go."

"Where will you go?"

"If I can trouble you for a lift, I'll stay with my parents tonight."

"Out of question. You're spending the night here."

"I'll be fine. Dad won't hurt me now."

"I'm not willing to take that chance."

"I'm not willing to take a chance either. Are you going to seek custody of the girls? Yes? What do you think the judge will say when he hears that both spouses who got cheated on spent the night together? Do you think the judge will believe that nothing happened between you and me, an omega? I hope you realize that a yakuza father is already in a weaker position than a civilian mother."

That reasoning hit home. Nakamura took Yoru to his parents' house with no small amount of protest ("Are you sure you don't want to stay and enjoy the sight of my wife finding out she's locked out of her own home?"). He arranged for men to keep an eye on Yoru's house all night and made him promise to keep his bedroom window open in case he needed to scream for help.

To Yoru's consternation, his father was home. The old man, however, didn't say a word: he merely moved aside to let Yoru in, barked at Miriko to bring his dinner to the study, and disappeared.

Miriko, in contrast, was much more curious. "Did you two fight?" She asked, placing a bowl of ice cream before him.

"Yes."

"Already? You've barely been married a month!" Miriko exclaimed, unable to hide her satisfaction. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Seems serious."

"Please, Mom. I said I don't want to discuss it."

"What, he has another woman on the side or something?"

Yoru flinched. For his mother, this was the ideal situation. A long sigh informed him that she had realized she'd hit the bull's eye. He didn't even have to look at her to know that she was smiling smugly.

"I'd told you marrying him was a bad idea," she said. "But you wouldn't listen. Now you have to go through the mess of a div-"

"I am not divorcing him!" Yoru snapped. "I married him to get out of this hellhole. He can pick the throat of anyone he wants: I don't need his loyalty."

"That's very practical of you and all, but to him, you're just a burden on his time and resources." Miriko felt her heart ache at the immense hurt that appeared on Yoru's face. But this was a golden opportunity to get her son out of the clutches of that damned yakuza, and she'd be a fool to let it go. "Not to mention that he'd have to work hard to keep his affair from society. You think he won't get tired of such a lifestyle?"

The spoon dropped from Yoru's hands. The fear in his eyes was evidence he'd understood Miriko's implication perfectly, but false hope still made him ask, "What do you mean?"

"Kei may have married you, but his heart clearly lies elsewhere. Eventually, he'll replace you with her. What will you do then?"