Chapter Text
“We are all, in a sense, experts on secrecy. From earliest childhood we feel its mystery and attraction. We know both the power it confers and the burden it imposes. We learn how it can delight, give breathing space and protect.” -Sissela Bok
**
In the beginning, Yuuri was far too young to understand the concept of secrets, but it hardly mattered given that he had yet to master vocalization.
** ** **
With his wife resting in the hospital bed, covers tucked up to her chin, Toshiya sat in the nearby chair with his son in his arms. Visiting hours were nearly over and soon Toshiya would have to return to the onsen to see to Mari and their guests. His eldest was in the capable hands of her grandmother, but Hiroko would want a full report on how Mari was handling the current change in her life and transition to being a big sister.
But for now, he had this time with his newest child, his son.
The baby had given them a scare towards the end of labor, with his heart rate dropping and causing the midwife to encourage Hiroko into a number of positions to try and resolve the problem. After a long minute, the disquietingly slow thump from the monitor sped up into a far more reassuring drumbeat and the lines of strain above the midwife’s mask relaxed.
Although there were no further scares after that moment, Toshiya’s own heart did not feel as though it slowed back to normal until two hours later when the small, slippery baby finally emerged, complete with umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and quickly released by the midwife, and began to yell his disapproval to the world.
And now the baby lay swaddled in his arms, drowsing with his eyes mostly closed, though opening periodically to squint around as though to check as if his change in location was real.
Much like it had with his daughter seven years before, Toshiya’s heart felt full to bursting, a feeling somehow both longed-for and unexpected at the same time. Toshiya rubbed his forefinger in the baby’s tiny palm, smiling as his son grasped him with surprisingly strong fingers.
“Welcome, son. Listen carefully, because I have something important to tell you.” At the sound of his voice, the baby’s eyes opened and Toshiya had the impression that the baby was waiting for him to continue speaking. “I am already proud of you.”
** ** **
Hiroko inclined her head respectfully and nodded along as her mother lectured her - again! - on the importance of eating properly during her rest time after little Yuuri’s birth. This came only a few hours after the lecture on using her mother’s presence to heal from the birth and actually rest.
Rest. With a newborn to care for – ha!
Fortunately, this reprimand was a brief one – Yuuri’s increasingly loud squalling did not leave much opportunity for a lengthy sermon – and by the time the baby was settled and eating happily, Hiroko’s mother had gathered up the half-empty lunch tray and bustled out of the room.
Exhausting as it was, Yuuri’s insistence upon eating every two hours did serve to provide Hiroko with something of a buffer against her mother’s well meaning though chafing criticisms. By the time the baby finished, Hiroko had begun to listen for the sound of her mother gathering her things to go meet Mari from school. While she was gone, Hiroko should have just enough time to fix herself a snack and clean up the evidence of her escapades in the temporarily off limits kitchen.
She smiled down at her son’s drowsy, milk-drunk face. “Well, I am glad at least one of us has enjoyed our meal!” Hiroko held Yuuri against her chest and rubbed his back to coax a burp from him before he fell asleep.
“I will tell you this, my Yuuri. Children do not have to grow up to be their parents. And I certainly did not learn my cooking skills from your grandmother.” Hiroko smiled and nuzzled against the soft fuzz of her son’s head. “And I will trust you not to tell her: as much as I am happy to have her help, I look forward to when Mother returns home and I am back in charge of the cooking!”
** ** **
Mari hovered over Yuuri where he lay on he blanket-covered floor surrounded by toys and dodged his attempts to grab her hair. He wiggled around a lot and grabbed at everything within reach – including her hair! – but when he’d thrown or pushed all of his toys out of reach, he wasn’t able to get them back on his own.
That’s where Mari came in. While mom cooked in the nearby kitchen and dad was busy with the visitors, Mari’s job was to do her schoolwork and entertain Yuuri.
Well, the baby wasn’t officially her job, but it was a task that she had appointed to herself once she realized that she always knew what the baby wanted even when everyone else seemed pretty clueless. So Mari took it upon herself to be his protector. She collected his favorite toys for him, warned mom when he was getting hungry before he started whimpering, sang songs she learned at school and on the radio that was always playing when it was cleaning and laundry time, and if the onsen visitors ever got too loud while Yuuri was sleeping, Mari was quick to shush them (and earn herself a reprimand, not that it would ever stop her).
Right now, Mari’s schoolwork was nearly done and Yuuri wanted to talk.
Well, he wanted to gurgle and be talked to. So long as Mari kept up a steady stream of chatter – everything from that week’s school lessons to television programs to gossip that she definitely wasn’t supposed to be listening in to from the guests – then Yuuri remain rapt, eyes locked on her face and fingers shoved into his mouth. It was in her best interests to keep talking because when she paused in her storytelling, Yuuri would turn his focus to the dangling strands of her hair and reach out slobbery hands to grasp at it.
So Mari told him everything about her day. She even told him about Hisashi picking on Naoko before school and how Mari found Naoko crying in the bathroom.
“This is a secret, Yuuri,” Mari told him solemnly as she finished up her tale of the day’s drama. “You mustn’t tell anyone.”
Yuuri’s determined sucking him his fingers paused at her words, his eyes glued to hers as she punctuated each word with an imperious finger tap to his chest.
“I told her to pour glitter from the art project on his hair.”
Yuuri’s face broke into a huge smile around his fingers, and he giggled as Mari tickled his belly.
“Yes, I thought it was a good plan, too. He will think better of picking on people next time if he has green sparkly hair all day.” She looked down at her brother, seeing his eyes still locked on her face.
“Mari, what are you and Yuuri doing out here?”
Uh oh. Mari really hoped that her mom hadn’t heard the end of their conversation.
“We’re talking, mom. About my day at school. Yuuri is a good listener.”