Chapter Text
Fuyuhiko hadn't realized that his son had fallen asleep until after he had pulled the car back into the driveway.
Great. That was great. He'd somehow managed to put his son to sleep just by driving to the store and back and going on some tangent about how successful their clan was going to be with him as leader some day. Who was he kidding, though? He had done the same thing just about every time his own father had brought it up. It ran in the family, he supposed. Go figure.
Now he faced the issue of how on earth he was going to get his son inside and upstairs without waking him, and without disturbing Peko by enabling his temper tantrum nonetheless.
That was the difficult part, he guessed. Peko had eyes like a hawk, and no doubt was she downstairs playing with their other two, Natsumi and Masato. That meant Fuyuhiko had no choice but to get Junichi upstairs to his bedroom without causing a stir within the household, or else he'd earn himself a nice scolding from Peko herself.
That was fine. He could do it. He'd been tasked with worse before. Changing the kid's diaper for the first time had definitely heightened his senses. Dear lord, that was some experience.
He put the car in park and got out swiftly, making sure to shut the door lightly as to not wake his sleeping little boy, but hard enough for it to close with no problem. He worked his way around to the other side and opened the door before toying around with the toddler's car seat buckle. The toddler still hadn't stirred once. Jackpot.
Fuyuhiko was going to use this to his advantage without a doubt. He lifted the toddler into his arms and shut that door in just the way that he had with the driver's side. Making his way over to the trunk, he popped it open and picked up the plastic grocery bags in his free hand. God help him. Now came the hard part.
After shutting the trunk, he had no difficulty maneuvering his way over to the front door and turning the knob (after setting one or two bags down, of course). He'd expected to see Peko and the kids, yet he saw no one and heard nothing. The house was quiet. It was strange and very unlike their usual routine, but it was relieving all at once to know that maybe Junichi wouldn't throw a fit today. Maybe.
Fuyuhiko went into the kitchen to drop the bags of groceries before he decided to head upstairs to put the toddler down. He was almost there. Victory was just about in his grasp. He could almost feel it.
Walking down the hall was about the easiest part of his trek. The room was just a few doors down. He could see it. Thank god.
He didn't expect to stop so suddenly, though. As he walked, he had gotten a quick glance into his own bedroom that he and Peko shared and noticed three softly breathing heaps under the covers. So that's where they'd gone. Of course.
The kids must have worn Peko out just as much as she'd done to them, because they were all curled up under the comforter together, faces gently pressed up against each other, arms lightly wrapped around one another protectively, lovingly.
Of course.
Fuyuhiko couldn't take it upon himself to just leave them alone. If he was being honest, as adorable as it was, he felt sort of left out. With that in mind, he trudged over with light steps and sat down on the edge of the bed as silently as possible. He set the toddler in his arms down first. Junichi had managed to make it this far without stirring. He was in need of a well-deserved nap.
Fuyuhiko wanted to believe that he was too. A few thoughts ran through his head. The groceries could wait. There was really nothing that could go bad in those bags. Not after a few hours, anyway. They'd be fine, he was sure. For now, he wanted to sleep. He wanted to curl up with his beautiful wife and children and hold them tightly while he could, because this was one of those rare moments that you could never replicate. He wanted to close his eyes and embrace them all, asking himself how he got so lucky. He wanted to rest.
So that's exactly what he did.