This Is Gospel (ShimaxYukio)

25. We Happy Few

"What's the matter, dude?"

Yukio was brought out of his thoughts by his brother, who was sitting on the park bench next to him. He smiled wryly and shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. "Nothing...I'm fine. Just...thinking." He said. It wasn't a lie. He honestly was thinking. Thinking about how they murdered Russell. Thinking about how Russell nearly strangled him to death. Thinking about how Shima had eyes on him even when he wasn't around. He would like to believe that Shima had killed Russell to save him, but in actuality he understood that it was in cold blood.

Shima was already going to kill him. All he needed was a reason. That's how it always was. You do much as thought about crossing Shima and you ended up dead.

Who the hell was he getting married to?

"You're a terrible liar, you know." Rin said. Yukio shrugged. "So I've heard." he replied. He was grateful that Rin understood to drop it, letting a comfortable silence fall over them as they watched Ling and Bon play with the twins on the playground.

Bon was pushing Aimi on the swingset, laughing and smiling as she called out to him. "Higher, Papa! Push me higher!" her little voice pleaded, squealing in joy as he complied. "Look, Mommy, I'm flying!" she called out to Rin. The raven beamed at her. "I see, honey! Not too high, okay?" he said, directing the last bit at Bon. The older man rolled his eyes, but reigned in his pushes a bit.

"Buzzkill."

"I heard that."

"I wasn't whispering!"

Yukio chuckled at the exchange. Their years together hadn't dulled them as much as they thought. "You let your kids call you mommy?" he asked, an afterthought to his own private thoughts. Rin shrugged. "I'm a man who had babies. They can call me whatever they hell they want as long as it's not 'Bruh' or something."

Meanwhile, Ling was sitting cross-legged in the sandbox with Renji. It seemed like they were collecting different colored rocks and shells. Ling was smiling, and so was Renji. He was being awfully talkative too, which was a pleasant surprise for Rin and Bon. Renji rarely ever expressed himself in words, and the fact that Ling was so patient with him had coaxed him out of his peculiar ways.

"So, you guys hired him as what? A nanny?"

"No. That's my boyfriend."

O...kay...

"I'm not sure that I follow." Yukio admitted. He was mortified that Rin could even say that with a straight face. Rin smiled a little, remembering how it was only a few of weeks ago that Ling said the same thing, and the exact words that Bon used to clarify it to him.

"Polygamy."

"Oh...but why?"

Rin shrugged. "I really like Ling. I didn't think it was possible, but I think you can fall in love with two people at once. It's also helped our marriage. We're more open with each other now, and our sex life is great." he said. Yukio supposed it made sense, since having a polygamous relationship with a third party would ultimately eliminate any urge to cheat.

"I guess. Why cheat when you can fuck 'em together, right?"

"That's the way."

Yukio also couldn't help but wonder how excluded Ling must have felt since Rin and Bon still had their private marriage and he was basically just standing along the sidelines. He'd have to ask the kid about it later, only out of curiosity.

"We include him in things whenever we feel it's necessary. The kids love him, and Bon is warming up to him too. We have dinner, we go out together, hang out at home together. Sometimes it's just Ling and I, and others...well, I don't think Bon likes him enough to hang out with him alone unless they're fucking."