The hottest days were one of his greatest weaknesses. Oreki Eru had found this out very early upon meeting him.

Looking at him sprawled on the floor of her above-average sized home made her thankful that this week's Saturday did not ask them to work. She would have been too distracted with thinking about his suffering. Sitting in a dry leather chair in a well conditioned office would have been tolerable, but shuffling around town in shirt, tie, and jacket would have been the end of him (for a night and day), she was certain.

She giggled upon seeing beads of sweat going down the sides of his brow. His constitution is average and he was never bed-ridden for more than a couple of days, but his stamina had never improved. He was helpless in this heat.

She sat down next to his head, then brushed aside the bangs covering his forehead and dabbed a napkin over him. "Hōtarō-kun, you seem to be quite efficient today."

His response was a mumble, though she could make out "heat" and "sun". He looked irritated, moreso at his current condition than the witty comment. She picked up the habit of the rare sarcasm in her speech during her years in university upon finding out Hōtarō responded well to drier humor; Mayaka never approved of it, saying it was too "unlike my Chii-chan!"

"Would you like something cold to drink? You look parched, Hōtarō-kun." He gently bobbed his head, his body still unmoving.

Getting up from the floor, she gingerly walked around her husband's head towards the kitchen and came back quickly. They had unfortunately run out of ice cream the night before, but his favorite brand of bottled tea would be enough to mitigate the hot weather. At the very least, he would replenish the fluids that he's been losing all day.

"Here. It's very cold, so please drink it slowly."

"Aa, thank you..." He took it from her hands, and guzzled a third of the bottle down in a couple of seconds. He let out a relieved sigh after he finished drinking.

They sat in silence together for awhile after. Almost a decade ago, the two of them would have awkwardly been reading, occasionally looking up to peek at the other before hastily looking down. Now it seemed like the only thing they did when sitting together was look at each other. Fukube was consistent in calling them "lovey-dovey soulmates" since they married, and did so nearly every time the two of them would meet to see him and Mayaka. Hōtarō swatted his head every time he said so, but Eru and Mayaka laughed to themselves. All of them, Hōtarō included, knew it was true.

He broke the silence. "Do you want to go anywhere today?" He asked moreso out of fear than remorse, she could tell just by looking at his eyes. He had grown to be a very caring and thoughtful person, even if it was only to her.

"No, Hōtarō-kun. I'd like to spend today relaxing in our home." Truthfully, it wasn't the thing she wanted the most, but she too had learned a small bit of humility growing up with him over the last ten years. She was happy in giving him what he wanted occasionally.

He exhaled in relief as though dozens of pounds were released from his shoulders. "'Our home', huh?"

Instinctively, she puffed her cheeks and pouted. Here he went again...

"Hōtarō-kun, we're married now. A family's home is just that. This is our home." She looked at him intensely. She could feel him becoming wary, potentially at the "glow in her eyes" he made up years ago when they had first started dating.

"Eru, what is your full legal name?"

"Oreki Eru. I am the sole daughter of the Chitanda family, and married to Oreki Hōtarō."

"And whose home are we currently in?"

"The home of Oreki Hōtarō and Oreki-"

"No. I meant who are the owners of this oversized piece of land?"

Her lips pressed against each other harder, and she inched closer to him.

"Hōtarō-kun. This is your home too, now. Honestly, I thought we've been past this." Secretly she knew he was still slightly uncomfortable in staying here. Hōtarō's idea of her family was that of wealthy, traditional lords who wouldn't marry their daughter to anyone but a prince or scion of another wealthy family. His over-exaggeration was only half correct.

"Eru, there is no way I could ever explain the feeling of meeting the father of this house eye-to-eye. The father who watches his son-in-law come out of the room his daughter had grown up in, then later go into the room with said daughter during the night."

"Hōtarō-kun, my father and mother have known you for the better part of the last half of our lives. They accepted you as a member of this family a long time ago."

His face had told her that he wasn't even close to being convinced.

"...and besides, Hōtarō-kun. My father thinks very highly of you. You may have never heard it from himself, but he considers you to be a very intellectual and ethical man! I'm sure if you called him father the two of you would-"

"I refuse." He landed back onto the mat, his outburst brought back the fatigue of heat.

She pursed her lips and sat straight. It was worth the attempt.

Regardless of what Oreki Hōtarō thought of his position in the Chitanda family and their business, what she said was true. Her mother adored Hōtarō from the day she was introduced to him, and while her father took a considerable longer time to warm up to her close male-friend and quickly boyfriend, he had given his blessing to the two when Hōtarō had asked for her hand in marriage.

Her lips curved to a smile. She had never seen a more conviction-filled Hōtarō. Neither Fukube nor Mayaka had believed her when she told them.

"What's on your mind?" His voice brought her out of her reverie.

"Ah, nothing much. I was thinking about the day you asked my parents for their blessing." She leaned closer to him, cupping his hands in her lap. She played with the rings on their fingers, entranced in how they matched.

"'Nothing much?' I nearly lost a month of my life that night!" He tried to sound serious, but his voice cracked just slightly. He couldn't contain his smile either, and the two of them heartily laughed.

"Yes, but it was worth it, wasn't it? A month of your life for that one day?" Eru looked down at him from above, her long hair brushing against his front bangs.

He held a sheepish expression and turned away from her gaze. "...It was worth much more than a month." He mumbled it quietly.

"Hm? Did you say something, Hōtarō-kun?" She turned her head and re-entered into his vision.

"Nothing." His vision skewered further. He didn't want to play this game of cat-and-mouse today. She smiled anyways. She never minded him being weak at romanticizing. To her, it even became an endearing quality of his. Most girls in Kamiyama High School (herself included) had thought Hōtarō to be attractive, and his stammering unease with women in close proximity to be cute, though they were mostly turned off by what they thought was his laziness.

Oreki Eru had never needed Oreki Hōtarō to constantly sweep her off her feet and show her the wonders of the world. All she needed to love him and go forward was their first confession. He effortlessly seduced her as she had him, and neither wanted anything more.

Love. It had taken her a while to realize the feeling she felt for Hōtarō turned into love from fascination. She became less interested in his capacity to deduce (though she was still very interested in that) and more towards the person he was. She didn't say anything, fearful that a rejection would put a rift between the two.

It took them two years and a few months more to finally go past the barrier of "friends", to the relief of Fukube and Mayaka, who have dated since their second year, and to nearly everyone else in their graduating class. She would never forget the expression on his face when she told him how happy she was to have "a rose-colored graduation", though he never told her why his was shocked to hear her say it.

"-meet them?" His voice found its way back to her. "Aa? Did you say something, Hōtarō-kun?"

"I was asking if you had spoken to Mayaka about meeting them tomorrow."

"Yes. We agreed to see them in the early afternoon. Noon, in their home." She anticipated him praying for a cooler, cloudier day tomorrow.

"I see. I hope the two of them can make enough room for a third person. Their place isn't exactly spacious."

"I find their home to be quiet cozy. It's a nice place to raise a family, Hōtarō-kun."

The apartment of Fukube Satoshi and Mayaka was modern and quite compact. It was an intimate space, the two of them could hardly go about without seeing the other in their field of view. Perfect for the two of them, she thought.

"Satoshi, maybe. But if that child inherits the father's behavior, then Mayaka will surely reveal her tengu form and-" The sound of a light slap accompanied Oreki Hōtarō's light yelp.

"Hōtarō-kun, that isn't nice!" She puffed her cheeks again. Hōtarō and Mayaka, despite being in their budding later mid-twenties, never once tried to grow out of their childish bouts.

"Speaking of Mayaka..." Hōtarō recovered from the quick blow to his arm, "she must be due any time now."

"Mm. She told me the doctor had expected a healthy childbirth. They were initially worried about complications due to her size, but the chances of a Caesarean section are very low, they say."

"That's good to hear. Satoshi probably slept for a few more hours every night since hearing that." Hōtarō closed his eyes in relief. Eru thought the same thing; the two of them had spent a few nights losing sleep thinking about Mayaka, hoping that her childbirth would be rid of any problems to her health. Satoshi must have lost an exponentially higher amount of sleep than the two of them.

Eru pictured their two friends, happily watching their child as she would learn to draw from her mother. She was certain that the girl would inherit her father's resourcefulness and her mother's passion and drive. Amongst all of the admirable qualities of the two, those were certainly the ones she loved the most.

She looked down onto her husband, whose eyes were staring at the ceiling. She had spent hours thinking about their children. Who would they resemble the most, and what would their personality be like? She had hoped above all else that they would take their father's deductive skills, and her own desire for discovery. Her greatest fantasy lately was of her and Hōtarō writing and building scenarios for her child to solve, and the three of them reading a mystery novel together.

"Hōtarō-kun, have you thought anymore about children?" She spoke slowly and carefully. They had only spoken about it years ago, and both reached the concensus of "some day."

It took him a few minutes to respond. "They would get lost in this ridiculously sized manor." Another muffled slap, and playful gasp from Hōtarō.

"Hōtarō-kun, I'm being serious!" His chuckle filled the room of the Chitanda-Oreki house.

"I know, I know." Hōtarō looked up into her eyes, smiling. "Our child... will be a real handful, I think."

"Yes, I think so too. He'll have his father's brain and his mother's adventerous spirit." She mused about her future son. "He?"

"Yes, a boy. At least one of them will be a boy, I'm sure."

Oreki Hōtarō shuffled on his back. "A...At least one, huh...?"

"Of course! Two, at least, Hōtarō-kun!" Eru answered with enough furor to give Hōtarō that wary look on his face again. He closed his eyes and made a slightly pained face for a few moments.

When he finally spoke, his voice had slowed down considerably. "You know, that's asking for a lot. For both of us."

"I know. I think about how much our parents must have worked to raise us. Even Tomoe-san must have exhausted a lot of effort into raising you as well." Upon saying this, she had a faint feeling that Hōtarō was thinking his sister bullied him into maturity than raising him. She resisted to confront him about this prematurely.

"It will probably drain me of all the energy I've saved since we've met."

"Mm. It will, I think." They both sat in comfortable peace. She knew he was still conserving energy as best as he could every day, but Oreki Hōtarō would do anything for things he wanted. It filled her heart with solemn happiness knowing that this was his way of showing he too wanted to raise a child. She brought her head down next to his; the two of them laid out on the floor, the heat had cooled into a pleasant warmth between the two.

"We've been working together for years. Your family's business has even grown since you've taken me in-" for a split moment, the warmth was replaced with a shock. "...since we've worked together after graduating."

Her husband looked into her, preparing for another rare moment of emotional intimacy.

"It would be nice, Eru. To step forward and start a family." He said it directly, without any pause.

She smiled and blinked out the tears before they could form any more. Inching towards him, she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Yes, it would."

The two continued to lay out in warmth. Both of them, eyes closed, were internalizing the idea of having a child. She thought of all of the couples and newlyweds who were hit with parenthood suddenly and unfortunately, sometimes unwantingly. It eased her to know they were both willing to walk into it together, and even a little more prepared than usual.

She was content with that. Oreki Eru took a deep breath, and a tear slid across the bridge of her nose, landing on her husband's shirt. She was more than content with it.

Still, even at a time like this, she had to point it out.

"...Hōtarō-kun, you smell just a little." She said so while still being in her wonderful trance, eyes closed. He didn't react in the same fashion, and his eyes shot open.

Hōtarō carefully got up, to not throw off Eru's head from his shoulder. "It's this damn heat! I've been sweating all day!" He began to whiff at his shirt, noticing that his back was damp from having laid down for long enough.

"I'm going to wash myself. A cool bath sounds nice right about now anyway." He began to stand, but was stopped when the fabric of his shirt was in a ginger grip.

Eru grinned. "Hōtarō-kun, my parent's aren't home. They won't be home for quite a while, actually. They left this morning to visit relatives in the neighboring city."

"Yeah, I remember seeing them off this morning."

She pulled him back down to the floor, carefully climbing on top of him until her face was close to his. She could feel his chest gradually quickening, and heard his breaths getting shorter.

"Your bath, Hōtarō-kun?"

"Aa...Y-yeah?"

"I wonder... would my parents not being home possibly change your bath? Could them being missing... make it any different?" Her eyes narrowed, and her hands went to his shoulders. She moved her lips aside his ear.

"Hōtarō-kun, kininarimasu..."* she said it softly. She didn't want him to spend too long figuring this mystery out.

She yelled and laughed in shock, as he immediately got up and scooped her in his arms, darting the two of them to the bath as quickly as he could. Everyone in the world who knew the two of them could always agree on one single fact: Oreki Hōtarō could never resist his wife. She, he, and everyone had accepted this long ago. She hadn't felt guilty about it once, and was certainly not going to start now.

END

* - "I am curious", but I'm certain the reader knows this.

(Author's Note, IE you can stop reading here.)

I'd like to add a huge disclaimer right about here. As far as I know, Hyouka (the anime adaptaion) stopped a volume before the final novel. I myself haven't gone as far to know what happens in the last novel, both through a language barrier and not exactly wanting to spoil myself. Unfortunately there hasn't been a word about any OVA to continue Hyouka, but frankly the ending of the anime series seemed pretty definitive to me. Maybe the most "happily ever after" ending I've seen Kyoto Animation ever produce.

But in case I somehow interpreted everything wrong and the novels don't point toward this direction, I can only say this is a work of a fan and nothing more.

I've been hopping "favorite" series for as long as I can remember. I don't think I've ever belonged to a singular fandom, but since it's airing I've always been fond of Hyouka. There's something about the charm behind the characterization that I've found endearing, moreso than what's been watched for a few years. I personally love helpless dumb romantic epilogues, and this entire thing was probably rose-colored to make Oreki Hōtarō lose his appetite. I think I stopped caring about it a few lines into writing this. I hope you can look past that as well.

This, as far as I can tell, is done here. I'm not a whole fan of writing out a series of domesticated husband-wife-child slice of life chapters, but I actually really like them. I don't think I have the diligence or creativity to make them interesting though. But I'm certainly interested in Hyouka, so it possibly won't end here.

I don't have/never had/never looked/probably won't look for a beta to go through this, so I'm knowingly putting it out despite whatever crudeness might be in it. If you see any that's jarringly obvious, please point it out to me, I would appreciate that a ton. Hard to proof-read through and make corrections even a day after having written it.

Finally, if something drew you into this writing at any point, I'm quite flattered and thankful! Unfortunately I don't really have any consistency in writing or updating lately. I can't even use the excuse of a lack of time, I just simply don't have any interest in keeping things updated for as long as I can remember. That's always open to changing, but at this moment not quite.

Thanks for reading this far.

- K