It's almost imperceptible, at first, Naoki's dissatisfaction. It's just that Kotoko is so tired from the birth, and then from looking after a newborn. She has her mother-in-law to help, and Naoki tries his best, but the hospital had refused to give him more than four weeks' paternity leave because he was needed. They'd apologized, and frequently sent home healthy food for Kotoko to help with her recovery, and diapers and milk formula for Kotomi with Naoki, but it didn't beat having him around to help her look after the baby.

So it's almost six months before she notices that Naoki is just slightly sulky when he watches her interact with their daughter. At first she wonders if it's because he's jealous that the baby is taking her attention away, but she knows that's ridiculous and her husband would never be so petty (especially since it's his daughter as well).

She finally decides to ask him one night, after she feeds Kotomi and puts her back in the nursery. When she comes back, she sits next to him on their bed and puts an arm around his shoulders as she rests her head on his shoulder, stifling a yawn.

"Irie-kun, what's wrong?" she asks. Some might find it funny that after all these years of knowing each other, of being together, and even having a child together, she still calls him that, but it's just force of habit, at this point.

He starts slightly when she asks him the question. Sometimes he forgets that as dense as Kotoko can be sometimes, she knows him better than anyone else. Still, he tries to lie that's nothing wrong, not wanting to add to her burden. He knows she's exhausted looking after their daughter, and he wishes he could do more to help.

"Come on, you know better than to lie to your wife," she coaxes, and he relents.

"I want another baby," he confesses.

She pulls back to stare at him disbelievingly. She's just gone back to work, and the nightmare of pumping at work and worrying about how her baby is doing without her at home is all too fresh in her mind. She wants another child too – she grew up an only child and she doesn't want that for Kotomi – but it had always been a more distant thought for her. Naoki sounds like he wants to get started on making a baby immediately.

"Not right now, of course," he clarifies hastily when he sees her expression. He sighs, wondering if he should divulge the reason he wants another child so quickly. Is he ready for the storm of emotion that's sure to be coming his way?

Looking at Kotoko's expectant face, he knows he has no choice.

"I wasn't there when Kotomi was born," he says haltingly, embarrassed at the confession he's making. He looks down at his hands in his lap, then he turns to look at his wife. "I want to be there," he explains. "I want to watch you bring our child into this world."

Kotoko thinks she's melting. It had crossed her mind, of course, that it would have been nice if Naoki was there for the birth of their child, but she tries not to think about it too much, not wanting to seem ungrateful for all that she has in her life. She married a genius, after all. He has a duty to share his gift with the world, to save as many people as he can, especially their dear friends. She just hadn't thought that he felt the same way she did.

To some extent, she'd known he felt bad about missing the birth. He'd been extra attentive the month he'd taken off work to be with her and the baby, and if she was being honest, she knew that a month was already a lot. Most Japanese men didn't take more than a few days or a week off when their baby was born.

She also knew, without him having to say it, that it was about more than just missing the birth. She knew he still felt guilty about the way he'd treated her throughout her pregnancy, especially that incident with her hypertension. She'd seen the look in his eyes when she woke up to find him hovering over her, grasping at her hand like a lifeline. It had been… haunted, more pain in them than she could ever imagine. It had taken her breath away.

She kneeled up on the bed so her face was level with his, then pulled him close to kiss him on the forehead gently, the simple display of affection almost bringing him to tears. How could she be so kind to him when he was a selfish brute? How could she still love him after all he'd put her through? She'd struggled, tearing herself open, to deliver his child to the world, and he hadn't even been there for her. She gave and gave, and all he did was take advantage of her generosity, the love that she showered upon him that made him feel human, humbled and yet empowered.

She sat back down and leaned back against the pillows, and Naoki followed, resting his forehead against her collarbone as his large body covered hers, his arms braced on either side of her body holding his weight. She brought her hands up to his head, playing gently with his hair.

"Of course we can have another baby," she said softly, turning to press yet another featherlight kiss into his hair. "Not right now, though."

He turned and captured her lips in a passionate kiss. He knew they shouldn't have a baby so soon, and that it was highly unlikely, anyway, since she was still breastfeeding, that he would be able to get her pregnant again.

Still, though, the thought that she understood him so well without him even having to say anything filled him with love and tenderness. He cupped her cheek with one hand as he raised himself onto his knees over her. "I love you," he whispered to her, the words louder than expected in the darkness of their bedroom.

She smiled against his lips. She knew that too. It had taken a while, but after so long together she knew that he didn't express his love in the same exuberant way that she did. Even without the words, he told her he loved her every day, when he woke her up, when he came to find her during his breaks to give her juice or water, and those (admittedly rare) quickies on the rooftop. She knew it from the way he didn't seem to be listening when she told him about her day, or what her friends were up to, and yet he always brought it up in conversation later on (usually when he was reminding her about a social obligation she had forgotten about). It had taken her years, but she was finally fluent in Irie Naoki's admittedly strange love language.

"I love you too," she whispered back, needlessly – they both knew.

The hand that wasn't cradling her face found the hem of her nightgown, sliding under it and up her thigh. She let out a breathy giggle as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down and closer to her. It had been a while since they'd done this – there had been a long hiatus from any bedroom activities in the last month or so of her pregnancy, then two months after while she recovered from the birth. Even after that, between his full-time job (and later hers, when she went back to work), and taking care of the baby, they were usually too tired in any free time they had left to fool around.

"Should we practice for making a baby when the time comes?" he asked, nipping at her neck.

She smiled into the darkness as she bent her legs, feet braced against the bed, so that her legs formed a vee around Naoki's hips. This also had the effect of causing her nightgown to ride up almost all the way to her hips, something he appreciated as his hands slid further up her thighs.

"Mm, practice is very important in any endeavor," she agreed, tilting her head to give him more access to her neck. He smiled; she was obviously quoting something he'd told her.

"It's more important for some than for others," he said teasingly as he pulled the nightgown over her head and tossed it on the ground somewhere.

She rolled her eyes as she leaned up to kiss him, beginning to unbutton his shirt. "Is that so? Then you'd better start practicing," she said, sliding her hands over his shoulders to push his shirt off. "You have a lot of ground to cover."

Naoki pulled back slightly to stare down at her face. "What do you think I'm trying to do?" he asked, skimming his hand up over her waist and closing it around her breast. After so many years together, he knew exactly what she liked, how best to push her up and over the edge. As he caressed her nipple, she moaned and arched further into his grip and he gave her a not-quite grin of smug satisfaction.

Not to be outdone, Kotoko flipped them both so that she was on top and straddled her husband, smirking down at him. For someone who tended to be so clumsy and hesitant in her daily life, Kotoko was surprisingly bold in the bedroom… and occasionally out of it. This time, however, she hesitated once they were in that position. She'd done this entirely out of habit, and now wasn't sure if she should have.

This was a position they'd enjoyed greatly in the past, although now her body was so different it was a little more nerve-wracking; she knew that every inch of her body was visible like this, and she didn't know how she felt about the fact that all her stretch marks and the saggy skin on her belly that hadn't gone back to its pre-pregnancy appearance were visible in the low light of the bedside lamp and the moon streaming in through the windows.

Naoki made his appreciation of her body known without a word, though, stroking a hand down her side and giving her a small, adoring smile. If he was being honest with himself, Naoki knew that the signs of pregnancy only made her more beautiful to him – they were proof of how much she loved him, she'd nurtured a life created by the two of them in her body for nine months, and then delivered his daughter.

Her confidence regained, her previous cocky expression returned to her face as she continued their little game.

"I don't know," she said, feigning innocence. "Do you need me to teach you what to do?" She ground down slightly as she asked the question, so naturally he was speechless for a moment, unable to answer. (She'd learned early on that that was an incredibly effective way of getting him to shut up sometimes, and used it often.)

"Mmm," she moaned luxuriantly, tipping her head back as she traced light patterns onto his chest with her fingertips. Naoki, for some reason, loved her neck, always kissing and biting it. She knew she'd succeeded in her tease when she felt him move, one hand closing around her wrist and yanking her down onto him while the other slipped into the panties that she was still, for some unknowable reason, wearing.

His fingers unerringly found her clit and stroked gently, in exactly the way he knew would wind her up the fastest. All the attitude went out of her in a second as she went limp, clinging to him. Even though he was painfully hard at this point, he still enjoyed this part of their encounters. It was nice to be able to take their time and enjoy each other slowly, something that had been exceedingly rare in the past months with their newborn daughter.

He stifled a laugh at how quickly the fight went out of her. "I think I can handle it," he said as she whimpered and clung to him, her nails digging into his arms.

She tried to retort, but his fingers skidded across her g-spot at that moment, and she could do nothing but gasp as she clenched down on his fingers.

But Kotoko wasn't without a few tricks of her own, and she knew her husband's body almost as well as he knew hers. She raised her head slightly to look down at him, and when he quirked a brow at her in question, she smiled back at him as she shifted slightly so his fingers slipped out of her, then slid off him entirely and stuck her hand rather unceremoniously down his pajama pants.

"Something you're looking for?" Naoki asked as she closed her hand around him.

She cocked a brow at him as she stroked. "Why, did I find something good?" Since her thumb was currently circling the tip of his cock in exactly the way she knew drove him crazy, she didn't really expect an answer. She got one nonetheless, when he growled as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand out of his pants.

She smirked as she pulled away from his grasp, letting him know that she wasn't done playing yet. Hooking her fingers in the waistband of his pants, she pulled them off and leaned over him, drawing her tongue up the underside of his erection, tracing the large vein she found there. He shuddered as he speared his hands into her hair, guiding her while trying his best not to push her down and possibly choke her.

A glob of precum spurted out, and slid down the length of his dick. Her tongue followed it back up to the source, licking across the tip as Naoki shuddered helplessly beneath her.

"As much as I'm enjoying this," he said sardonically, although the effect was ruined by the way he was gasping for breath, "this doesn't really help us make a baby."

She looked up at him. "No, it doesn't, does it," she said, feigning thoughtfulness as he growled at her.

Finally, she took pity on him and swung her leg over his body. He helped her straddle him and guided himself into position, then supported her as she sank down slowly on him with a beatific sigh, as if he was soothing a chronic ache in her body at that moment. (He was.)

This position was comfortable for her; it allowed her to dictate how fast and deep he went, which helped when they hadn't had sex in a while because Naoki was… proportionate all over, and he was a big man.

Naoki lay still, lacing his fingers with hers to provide more support for her. He sweated and grit his teeth as she slowly rode him, never sinking very deep, which was both frustrating and endlessly stimulating to the sensitive head of his erection, but he didn't complain or rush her. He may be a thoughtless, inconsiderate, selfish husband, but no one could accuse him of being a selfish lover.

Kotoko bit her lip as she teased him, watching his expression carefully. When she was sure he was about to open his mouth to ask her if he could go deeper, she changed the rhythm, taking him deep in one stroke, bottoming out in a second.

Both of them panted. Kotoko took one hand away from Naoki's, reaching over to brush his bangs away from his forehead, where they'd stuck due to sweat. This was how they were: gentle, tender, thoughtful touches in the middle of fucking each other's brains out. It was how they'd always been, and Kotoko hoped how they always would be. He gave her a small smile of thanks, and she lifted herself and slammed back down again. The moment for tenderness was over as they started moving faster, going for the finish line.

Kotoko gasped and cried out as Naoki gripped her hips as he thrusted upwards into her, helping her go faster and harder. He rotated his hips so that he skidded across her g-spot with every thrust, and she tipped her head back to gasp for air.

"You," she said breathlessly. "You on top; you're stronger than I am," she choked out between thrusts, and without missing a beat, he'd flipped them both, hooking his arms under her knees to spread her legs wider as he drove into her.

"Mmm, I'm close," she warned, gasping as she floated up ever higher in ecstasy. "Irie-kun!" she almost screamed as he reached down and clamped her clit with two fingers, causing the pressure building up to explode inside her. She arched against him as she came, clenching down on him repeatedly.

"God, I –" Naoki choked out, his hips almost a blur with how hard he was driving into her. "Kotoko," he gasped as he shuddered, on the verge of orgasm but still holding out.

Stubborn man. Kotoko wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her. "Breed me," she whispered into his ear, smiling a secret smile to herself when he redoubled his efforts immediately, groaning as he pulled her even closer to him. "Don't you want to? Put a baby in me."

That was it. Naoki groaned like he was dying as he came, more than he ever had in his life. One of Kotoko's powers, they had discovered, was the ability to know exactly what Naoki needed to hear to put him over the edge. His mind never stopped working, and physical stimulus alone often wasn't enough to get him off. As hard as it was to know what he was thinking at the best of times, her power in this respect was unparalleled. As far as talents went, it was a pretty good one, she supposed, as she hugged his sweaty, heaving body to her.

Mindful of his weight, Naoki rolled off her, although Kotoko mewled in protest as he slid out of her. He reached over and pulled her close to him, and she snuggled in, resting her head on his chest.

"Kotoko?" he asked, his voice sounding loud in the darkness.

"Hmm?"

"I love you." He didn't say it that often, but it was a thought that bore repeating, especially after they'd made love. She yawned and curled further into him. "Me too," she told him, giving him an affectionate little squeeze.

"Thank you."

She didn't need to ask what he was thanking her for. She knew what he meant. Thank you for putting up with me, even though I'm like this. Thank you for having our child. Thank you for agreeing to have another one. Thank you for loving me. And most of all, thank you for not giving up on me all those years, because I don't know what my life would look like now without you in it.

She tilted her head slightly to look up at him, and smiled. "You're welcome."

And Naoki wasn't a religious man, but as they drifted off to sleep, he sent up a quick prayer to any deity out there that they would continue to have the good fortune to be together forever, no matter what life threw at them. And, of course, for another child, and soon. He would appreciate this child more, he swore. He would be so good to his wife throughout the pregnancy, and he would, no matter what, be there for the delivery. He promised.

Hope yall enjoyed; I'm a little out of practice writing smut. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.