Chapter Text
At some point Suguru had dozed off because he found himself being woken up by the pale light of the morning. The cup of tea from the night before was still in his hands, still half full. He was surprised he didn’t drop it while he was sleeping. He placed the mug on the coffee table in front of him. Judging by the sounds coming from the kitchen, Satoru was also awake and making breakfast.
Suguru pushed himself up off the couch and stretched in an attempt to wake up his body. He went over to the kitchen to see Satoru at the stove making pancakes. At this point there was already a rather large stack of them. Satoru didn’t cook often, mostly due to how busy he was, but Suguru didn’t mind that at all.
“Good morning,” Suguru said as he approached Satoru, wrapping his arms around his partner once by him.
“Morning,” Satoru replied, not looking away from the food he was cooking.
“Need any help?”
“I’m almost done here, but you can set the table.”
“Sure,” Suguru replied, giving Satoru a small kiss on the cheek then letting go of the embrace.
As Suguru was setting up the table the first sound of footsteps came down the stairs.
Suguru smiled as Yuta entered the kitchen. He was more surprised that the kid had come down stairs on his own as opposed to him being the first awake. Yuta still seemed to be very cautious as he entered the kitchen, standing just in the entrance, his hands close to his chest watching both Satoru and Suguru.
“Good morning Yuta,” Suguru greeted.
“Mornin’” Yuta replied, his voice quiet as he approached Suguru.
“You can sit where you like,” Suguru explained with a smile, “breakfast is almost ready and then we’ll just wait for Megumi and Tsumiki.”
Yuta nodded, taking a seat at the table.
Satoru brought over the large stack of pancakes and placed them in the middle of the table. “Megumi and Tsumiki are the other kids we take care of, " he told Yuta.
Yuta seemed surprised to hear there were other children in the house. Suguru wasn’t surprised by that, Satoru had a bad habit of leaving out important details like that.
“Don’t worry too much about them,” Suguru added.
It didn’t take much longer for Tsumiki to enter the kitchen followed closely by Megumi.
The first thing Megumi did when he spotted Yuta was to stare, which only helped to make Yuta more nervous.
“Staring’s not nice Megumi,” Suguru warned.
“Who’s that?” Megumi asked in a not so nice tone.
“Megumi,” Tsumiki nudged her step brother, “be nice.”
Yuta shrunk back into the chair.
“That’s Yuta Okkotsu,” Satoru introduced Yuta as he placed a plate stacked
with pancakes on the middle of the table, “he’ll be staying with us for now on.”
“Why?” Megumi asked, taking his seat at the table next to Tsumiki.
“Lots of questions this morning 'Gumi,” Satoru said with a smile. “Let's just say it’s for a mission.”
Megumi glared at Satoru for a moment before turning away. Suguru guessed the youngest boy wasn’t satisfied with Satoru’s explanation.
“Whatever,” Megumi huffed, placing some of the pancakes on his own plate.
The conversation over breakfast remained the same as normal, with Tsumiki and Satoru talking the most. Megumi had never been the most talkative and Suguru could tell Yuta was still unsure about everything.
“After breakfast,” Satoru spoke, addressing everything at the table, “we are all gonna go out shopping as a family!”
The only one who seemed truly excited about this was Satoru.
“We need to get some stuff for Yuta,” Suguru explained “and Satoru loves spoiling you kids.”
As breakfast was finishing up, Suguru noticed Yuta hadn’t said a thing during breakfast, in fact, the boy didn’t even make eye contact with anyone.
“Are you okay, Yuta?” Suguru asked, and Yuta just nodded.
“Don't worry about Megumi, he doesn't hate you, he's just like that,” Suguru explained, trying to reassure Yuta.
Yuta just nodded again.
It wasn't long before everyone was ready to go. Unlike Megumi and Tsumiki, Yuta didn't have any clothes to change into– an oversight neither Suguru or Satoru had thought of the night before.
“We should take my van,” Suguru said as he pulled out his keys. The suggestion was only because the van was larger than Satoru's car.
The hardest part was trying to get the kids in the vehicle. The van was rather standard with its seating, the driver and front passenger seats, two bucket seats in the middle, and a three seat bench on the back. Since everyone was coming along, Satoru would be sitting in the front with Suguru. The issue was Megumi wanting to sit with Tsumiki and Tsumiki not wanting Yuta to sit in the back alone.
The easiest option would have been all three in the back, but in the end Megumi and Yuta had the bucket seats and Tsumiki sat on the middle seat in the back.
While driving, Suguru would occasionally glance into the rear view mirror to see how the kids were doing. And though Megumi and Tsumiki were chatting away, Yuta sat quietly, keeping his eyes locked on his shoes, his hand wrapped around the seatbelt.
Suguru felt a pang of worry. He knew this all had to be a lot for Yuta. Just hours ago he was supposed to be executed, then he was sent to live with his would-be executioner and his family. And that family could be rather intense. He just hoped that shopping would help Yuta out, or at least get the kid to feel more comfortable with his new family.
Satoru decided that the first stop should be getting Yuta new clothes, where Satoru ended up choosing a fancy place.
Yuta stayed close to Satoru as they wandered the store. Satoru seemed to have more fun picking out the clothes then Yuta, in fact, he seemed to be more overwhelmed than anything, agreeing to almost any piece of clothing Satoru showed him. Suguru mostly kept his eyes on Megumi and Tsumiki.
“Are you okay, Yuta?” Suguru asked.
“Yeah,” Yuta replied quietly with a small nod.
“Satoru can be a bit much,” Suguru said with a smile, “if you need him to slow down let me know.”
Yuta just nodded again.
Suguru felt that they had spent too much on clothing but of course Satoru disagreed. The numbers the white haired sorcerer was willing to put on clothes was something Suguru could never understand, but Satoru did come from old money. And there was still a charm to him wanting to spend all that money on the kids he brought in.
It probably meant more when it first happened with Megumi and Tsumiki. Toji probably couldn’t offer the kids the best life when he was alive. But Suguru didn’t meet the kids until after they had known Satoru for a while.
Suguru placed the last bag into the trunk of the van before closing it. He could see through the window that the kids had once again settled into their seats. Satoru was saying something to Yuta.
Suguru got back into the driver's seat of the van and clipped his seat belt, “well where are we getting the furniture from Satoru?”
“Ikea.”
Suguru found that a surprising answer but went along with it.
“Have you ever been to an Ikea before, Yuta?” Satoru asked, moving to look behind his seat to face Yuta.
Suguru glanced into the rearview mirror to see Yuta shaking his head.
Satoru turned away and leaned back into his chair. “You are gonna love it.”
“He’s lying,” Megumi said, “Ikea isn’t that great.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Satoru responded.
Suguru couldn’t help but smile. It was these small moments that made him the most grateful he stuck around with Satoru.
Once they reached Ikea and were in the store, Satoru held his hand out to Yuta, “it’s easy to get lost here.”
Yuta, without hesitation, grabbed onto Satoru’s hand. Another moment that made Suguru smile.
Much like when they were shopping for clothes, Suguru kept an eye on Megumi and Tsumiki as Satoru led the group around the store, pointing out stuff that he thought Yuta would like and Yuta agreeing to whatever Satoru had picked.
In the end, shopping for furniture was much less chaotic than shopping for clothes. Again, the bought items were placed into the back of Suguru’s van and the family returned home.
It took most of the rest of the day to set up Yuta’s room. The whole time Yuta had stood in the doorway as Satoru fumbled around going between the pieces of the instructions.
At dinner, Yuta sat quietly, slowly pushing his food around on his plate, seemingly trying to avoid eye contact with anyone else.
“Yuta, are you okay?” Suguru asked.
Yuta just nodded.
“Don't like dinner?” Satoru asked.
Yuta shook his head.
“You're just being very quiet,” Suguru added.
Yuta stopped pushing his food around and sat still. “Gojo spent too much money on me,” Yuta explained, his voice wavering as he spoke. Suguru could see the boy was trying not to cry.
“He didn't,” Megumi added, “he spends that much all the time.”
“Megumi’s right,” Tsumiki added, “Gojo always spends a lot of money on me and Megumi.”
Suguru watches and Yuta bit down on his lip. He was a bit afraid the younger boy would cause it to bleed.
“It's fine, Yuta,” Satoru said with a smile, “I like spoiling you kids. Besides, you needed that stuff, what type of guardian would I be if I didn't get all that for you.”
“Why,” Yuta's voice cracked as he started to cry.
Suguru moved closer to Yuta, pulling him into a wordless hug, bringing the young boy close to his chest as he rubbed small circles on his back.
“Because I wanted to,” Satoru added at the same time.
Yuta didn’t say anything as he kept himself pressed into Suguru, still crying.
“It’s okay, Yuta,” Suguru said softly, “we’re your family now.”
After some time Yuta calmed down, stopped crying, and slowly ate his dinner while sniffling. Satoru and Tsumiki both did their best to bring him into the conversation. And after dinner, the rest of the evening went on peacefully until it was bedtime for the kids.
As Satoru was settling Megumi down, Suguru dealt with Yuta, carefully tucking the boy into bed.
“Need anything else?” Suguru asked.
“No,” Yuta mumbled, tired, clearly the events of the last two days finally catching up with him.
“Satoru’s and my room is across the hall if you need anything.”
Yuta nodded.
“Goodnight and sweet dreams then, Yuta,” Suguru said.
“Night.”.
Suguru lingered at Yuta’s door for a few seconds. He realized how much more peaceful Yuta seemed now. He hoped that over the next few days, the kid would grow to love his new family as much as everyone else in it did. If anything, Suguru was willing to give Yuta as much time as he needed to feel comfortable.