Root Beer Float (Kaito x Meiko)

Five

"Good night, Rin," I said, hugging my niece.

She leaned forward and pecked my cheek. "I love you, Aunty Mei!"

I smiled down at her and then I turned around to tell Len goodnight, and what I found was Luka sitting on the edge of his bed, saying "What's wrong, baby?"

Len was hiding under his blanket. "Nothing, Mommy," I heard his voice crack.

I sat next to her and she pulled the covers away. "Oh, Lenny," she wiped his cheek with her thumb.

Len sat up, leaned against his mother, and began to cry. I saw Rin watching in the corner of my eye. The twins knew everything about each other, so I said, "Come here, Rin."

She sat in my lap but said nothing, all she did was gaze solemnly at her brother. "Okay, what happened?" I asked.

Len opened his mouth to talk, but he couldn't say anything due to his hiccuping sobs. Luka mumbled to him, trying to calm him down, and then she turned to her daughter. "Rinrin?"

"Tomorrow is Father's Day," she translated quietly. At that moment Luka looked right at me worriedly. I cringed back.

Len rubbed at his face with his arm, sniffling loudly. "All th-the boys on the block were talking about how they were going to do stuff with their dads and they asked me what I was going to do and, and-" he buried his face in Luka's shirt and then came his muffled question. "Where's my daddy?"

Luka sighed quietly as she tried to think of a reasonable answer. Rin leaned against me, neither of us saying a word.

After hesitating a moment, Luka said, "Your daddy is lost." Len looked up at her with a confused expression. "It's true. I haven't seen him in about eight years."

"And they haven't found him yet?" asked Rin.

Luka reached over and grabbed her hand. "He isn't literally lost, baby. His soul is. Not everyone is as lucky as we are. From the town me and Aunty Mei used to live in, not everyone knew love. Not real, true love."

"Daddy didn't love you?" Len looked up at her with watery eyes.

She smiled at him sadly. "Lenny, I would never lie to you, but sometimes the truth hurts. He... I hope that if he got a chance to know the two of you, that he would love you both."

"That's really sad." Rin sniffed. "I'm sorry, Mommy."

Luka wiped her own eyes. "If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be the same. You wouldn't have your cute little blond hair. You might not even be twins."

"Do you think he'll come back someday?" Len asked.

She ran her fingers through his hair. "I have no idea, baby. But I wish the best for him and I hope he has found what love really is."

"How about this," I spoke up for the first time in a while. "Tomorrow the three of you can spend the day together, and I'll go out with Miku."

Luka smiled. "You may not have your daddy with you, but that means I get to give twice the love! And we have Aunt Mei too, and Miku, aren't you glad we have them?"

"Yeah!" Rin said, hugging me.

Len nodded, sniffled, crawled over to me and kissed me on the cheek.

I touched it. "Aw, Len, you didn't have to-"

"Yeah I did," he cracked a grin. "I never kissed you goodnight."

Luka smiled and stood up. "I'm so glad you're feeling better now, baby. And if you want to talk more about Daddy later, we can, okay? You too, Rinrin."