Chapter Text
The alarm going off at the ungodly hour of 4 in the morning had become way too usual for Koutarou's likes.
He shut it off with a groan and blinked the blear from his eyes. Monday. Another week.
Koutarou grabbed his phone off the nightstand and winced at the brightness when he unlocked it to check his messages.
He had to be in at work at 5, Kuroo would pick up his kids at 6 to take them to kindergarten alongside his own.
Really, Koutarou didn't know what he would do if Kuroo wasn't there.
>> hey dude tsukki's taking the kids today
>> woke up with no voice so i'll stay in today
Koutarou grimaced.
<< ok get well soon bro you need anything? I make a mean chicken soup
No reply. Kuroo had probably fallen right back asleep. Koutarou shot his pillow a wistful glance, but heaved himself out of the comfort of his bed and shuffled into the bathroom, careful as to make as little a sound as possible.
When Tomomi had left two years ago, without a word and no way to reach her, Kuroo had stepped up and supported his best friend and godsons in any way possible, despite having two small kids of his own. And Tsukki, Kuroo's husband, who usually was pretty snarky, had done it too. Without them, Koutarou would have had to move back in with his parents, take the boys out of school and their usual environment, quit his job here.
A shower later, Koutarou dressed, did his hair and moved into the kitchen to prepare the bentos for the boys and set the rice and miso soup on the cooker so that it would be done by the time Tsukki came by to wake the boys and take them to school.
Koutarou winced. As grateful as he was for his friends, he always felt a pang in his chest when he couldn't wake up his boys during the week, spend the morning with them and drop them off. Sure, he picked them up in the afternoon, after his high schoolers finished practice, but the lack of a shared morning ritual was still tough sometimes. As selfish as it might sound, Koutarou wanted Kourai and Shouyou to wake up to his voice and his face.
Koutarou finished the bentos and grabbed the notepad and pen on the counter to scribble down a note for Tsukki, who didn't do the school drop off part a lot, and for his boys. He found out from Kuroo that they kept the notes he wrote them every morning and it made him feel all giddy and grin like an idiot.
He helped himself to a light breakfast, snatched up his bag and tiptoed out of the apartment, pulling the door shut as silently as possible.
The complex was still completely silent. There weren't a lot of people who worked the weird hours he did, but at least that meant he didn't have to go through rush hour on the Tokyo metro the way all the 9-5ers did.
Koutarou tightened his messenger bag strap, put his earplugs in and started into his new week.
"Thank you very much."
The movers grumbled their goodbyes and left the apartment, leaving Keiji among surprisingly few boxes.
Keiji sighed deeply. Thankfully, the apartment complex had a lift, otherwise the movers might have quit halfway through. The apartment was perfect, but on the eleventh floor of a fourteen storey building. If the lift ever broke, Keiji would sleep in the practice rather than drag himself up those stairs after working all day. Each floor had two apartments, but Keiji had yet to meet the Bokutos (written with quite unusual kanji) from the other side.
His landlord, Yamiji, had just grinned when he had asked about them and said that the Bokutos were a lively, but lovable bunch. Keiji didn't quite know what to make of that.
He heard the lift ding open and perked up. He could go outside into the hallway and greet his neighbours, but would that be creepy? Probably. He'd wait.
Keiji dropped onto his couch in the still mostly bare living room. He didn't have a lot of stuff, he had been living with Kyoomi since med school. Now that their relationship was over, they had squabbled over who got what and Keiji, worn out from their unsatisfactory relationship anyway, let Kyoomi keep most of it.
He never really understood why they had been together anyway. They met at med school and started dating, got an apartment together in their final year. It was convenient and Kyoomi was nice. They worked well together and Keiji wouldn't deny that they had been fond of each other. They graduated, started working, Kyoomi as a surgeon and Keiji as a paediatrician in the same hospital. Their shifts rarely matched up and shortly after their third anniversary, Keiji had announced that he had been offered a job at a practice with better hours and better pay. Kyoomi had simply nodded and within a month, they had broken up and moved out.
Except for the furniture issue, everything had gone very smoothly considering the fact that he had just come out of a three year relationship.
Keiji unlocked his phone and sighed. There was an unread message from Kyoomi, asking him about a book from med school that belonged to Keiji and had ended up in his boxes. Keiji texted back that he didn't need it. Kyoomi was now living at the other side of town, with his best friend from high school, Komori Motoya. Keiji couldn't be bothered to take the metro there for nearly an hour only to retrieve a book he hadn't opened since his last finals.
He glanced at the time. It was late. He had an early start at the practice tomorrow so he might as well start unpacking the necessary things and head to bed.
Koutarou exited the lift, humming under his breath. Practice had been good today, he was pretty confident that the boys would qualify for nationals this time. Tokyo had a lot of strong schools, but his boys were a formidable team and Koutarou was already looking forward to bringing Kourai and Shouyou to one of the games. They both loved volleyball and even though they were still pretty short, they bounced all over the court when Koutarou took them to practice. They were always a highlight for his high schoolers.
Koutarou pulled the keys from his pocket and stopped humming when he noticed the new name tag on his neighbour's doorbell.
"Akashi?", he murmured and squinted. "Ah no, Akaashi. Sure hope they will be less annoying than the predecessors."
He turned to unlock his apartment door and was immediately greeted by a loud scream of "DADDY SHOUYOU IS DYING!"
Koutarou immediately dropped his bag and dashed into the apartment, heart thundering in his chest. "Shouyou?! Kourai?!"
"Calm down", a dry voice spoke up and Koutarou came to a stop in the living room.
Tsukki was sitting on the floor, baby Tadashi playing on his baby blanket while garbling nonsense, Kenma huddled up in a corner with Tsukki's phone and Kourai was sitting on Shouyou's back on the couch.
"What's going on?", Koutarou asked and straightened.
"Shouyou has a slight cold", Tsukki said and Shouyou sneezed into his face mask.
"Gross!", Kourai squawked.
"Ah", Koutarou said and sighed. "Should Tadashi and Kenma be here, then?"
"Tetsu is completely gone", Tsukki said and guided Tadashi's fist from his mouth. "He got hit with the flu full force. He's going to sleep over at his parents' place, but until then, we're here. Shouyou's cold is the lesser evil."
"Man, that's the third cold this month", Koutarou muttered and lifted Kourai of his brother. "C'mon, Kourai, give him some space, do you want him to get sick too?"
Kourai crossed his arms. "No! I want him to play with me! He promised!"
"Maybe tomorrow, starshine, huh?" Koutarou ruffled his older son's hair and Kourai pouted. "Maybe you can get Kenma to play?"
Kenma only huddled deeper into his blanket and Kei sighed.
Koutarou put his seven year old down and Kourai dashed over to Tadashi instead. The baby gurgled happily at the attention and Kourai started beaming.
"Hey, Shouyou." Koutarou rubbed his back and Shouyou whimpered. "You doing okay, sunshine?"
Shouyou sniffed and shook his head. "Head hurts!"
Koutarou glanced at Tsukki.
"He has a light fever", Tsukki said. "I gave him some children's tylenol, but it hasn't kicked in yet."
"Oh man", Koutarou groaned. "I'm taking him to the doctor. Can you look after Kourai?"
"Sure", Tsukki said and lifted Tadashi onto his lap when the baby started fussing. "We'll be here for a while."
"Great, thanks, Tsukki."
"Don't mention it."
Koutarou lifted Shouyou into his arms and his heart broke a little when he saw his little boy's flushed face, glazed eyes and red nose.
"Oh, Shou~", he murmured and carried him into the boys' room. "Let's bundle you up and get you to Sensei, okay?"
Shouyou sniffled and didn't fuss even a little when Koutarou changed him. Wow, he was really coming down with something. Usually changing time resembled World War III.
"Alright, let's go", Koutarou said and lifted Shouyou again. "Be right back, Kei!"
"Okay."
Koutarou stepped onto the lift and pressed his cheek to Shouyou's forehead. He was burning up and his stomach clenched. Shouyou had always had a penchant for catching colds, but this was the third time this month and Koutarou was getting worried. Luckily, the boys' doctor was only a five minute walk from the apartment and given the time, they should almost be done with regular appointments.
Koutarou walked the short distance to the practice with Shouyou bundled up in his scarf, while chattering away about his day to keep the kid from dozing off.
He pushed the door to the practice open and approached the front desk. "Hi, Anahori-kun!"
"Bokuto-san!" The blond nurse looked up and a grin spread on his face. "How are you doing!"
"Good, good", Koutarou said and shifted Shouyou around. "Shouyou not so much. Is Shirofuku-sensei still in?"
Anahori blinked. "Shirofuku-sensei transferred. Akaashi-sensei is heading the practice now. He should be free?"
Koutarou blinked. "Huh? Why'd she leave?"
Anahori shrugged. "No idea. But Akaashi-sensei is already really popular here and it's only his first day. His appointments are done for today, I'll check in with him real quick."
He pressed the button for the intercom. "Please excuse the intrusion, Akaashi-sensei, one of our longtime patients just came in."
"That's alright. Send them in", a man's smooth voice sounded from the intercom and Anahori gestured to examination room one.
"Thanks", Koutarou said and moved into the room they had been assigned. He sat Shouyou onto the table and started unbundling him. Shouyou sneezed and Koutarou sighed. "How does your little nose even handle all these sneezes, huh, Shouyou?"
Shouyou sniffled. "Dunno, daddy."
"Sheesh", Koutarou mumbled and put Shouyou's scarf, hat and parka away. "Now, there's a new sensei, is that okay?"
Shouyou blinked owlishly. "Wah! What happened to Sensei?!"
"Nothing bad, she just moved", Koutarou said and grinned at his son. "I'm sure the new sensei will be super nice!"
"I hope not to disappoint", the smooth voice from before said and Koutarou turned to greet his son's new paediatrician, but his jaw fell open and somehow didn't close again.
Akaashi-sensei was plain gorgeous. He was tall, nearly Koutarou's own height, and had a head of dark curls that looked so soft that Koutarou wanted to run his hands through it for at least an hour. His almond shaped dark eyes were framed by long, dark lashes and his soft smile made Koutarou's heart skip a couple of beats and his cheeks flush with more than just the cold.
It took all of Koutarou's willpower not to propose to this beautiful man on the spot.
"Good evening", Akaashi-sensei said and bowed lightly. "My name is Akaashi Keiji, I took over Shirofuku-sensei's practice."
"Uh", Koutarou said intelligently. "Yeah. I'm Koutarou. Uhm! Bokuto Koutarou!"
He bowed hurriedly. "It's good to meet you!"
Akaashi-sensei smiled and approached Shouyou. "And you are?"
Shouyou sniffed. "Bokuto Shouyou."
"Well, Shouyou-kun, you're not feeling that well, right?", Akaashi-sensei said and brought out his stethoscope. Koutarou was still staring.
Shouyou shook his head.
"Can you take deep breaths for me?"
Shouyou did, in the exaggerated way kids always did, while Alaashi-sensei listened to his lungs.
"Alright, thank you, Shouyou-kun", he said and pulled Shouyou's shirt back down. He turned to Koutarou. "His lungs sound fine, so it's not a bronchitis or pneumonia. I'll take his temperature and check his ears and throat, just to be sure."
Koutarou nodded. "Yeah, sure."
Akaashi-sensei checked Shouyou's ears with the otoscope, then asked him to stick out his tongue, open wide and say "ah".
Shouyou did as he was asked, although his "ah" resembled more of a shout. Akaashi-sensei winced a little bit.
"Thank you, Shouyou-kun", he said and tossed the wooden stick he had used to press Shouyou's tongue down into the garbage can. "It seems he has the beginning of a strep throat, hence the fever. Please give him a regular dose of children's Esutakku Ibu Fine, it should help the sore throat too. You can give him a small dose of Ryukakusan at morning too. Do you need a prescription or do you have it at home?"
Koutarou scratched the back of his head. "We're running low on Esutakku, Shouyou had another two colds this month and his brother had one. But we still have Ryukakusan."
"Very well." Akaashi-sensei smiled at Shouyou. "All done, Shouyou-kun. I'll write up something for your father and then you can go home."
"Am I dying, Sensei?", Shouyou whispered, eyes wide and wet.
Akaashi-sensei gave another gentle smile. "No, Shouyou-kun. You should be back to health in a few days."
"Nii-chan said I'm dying."
Koutarou rolled his eyes. Kourai just loved to tell his easily impressed brother bullshit.
"He's wrong", Akaashi-sensei said and hit enter on his computer, pulling a prescription from the printer. "There you two go."
"Thank you", Koutarou said and looked at Akaashi a little longer than was probably normal. "Uh, do you live around here?"
Akaashi-sensei blinked. "... yes."
"Well, if you want", Koutarou swallowed heavily. "We live just down the street so if you wanna come over for lunch or something or dinner or—"
The intercom cut him off.
"Akaashi-sensei, I'll be clocking out", Anahori's tinny voice came out.
"Yes, goodnight, Anahori-kun. Thank you for the hard work", Akaashi said and turned back to Koutarou. "Excuse me. What were you saying?"
Koutarou's courage had apparently already left the practice. "Uh. Nothing. Good evening! C'mon, Shou."
He grabbed Shouyou's hand and fled the scene.
"Daddy", Shouyou asked outside, his breath coming out in white puffs. "D'you not like the new sensei?"
Koutarou looked down. "What? Why?"
"Cause you ran away. I couldn't say bye." Shouyou pouted and Koutarou sighed. Oops.
"Sorry, sunshine", he said unlocked the front door to the complex. "I just don't want Uncle Tsukki to have to look after your brother alone for so long."
Shouyou seemed to accept that. "Kourai is mean."
Koutarou kind of agreed. "That's what big brothers do."
"I wanna be a big brother too!", Shouyou complained and hit the button for the 11th floor in the lift.
Koutarou winced. That wasn't happening. Tomomi was gone, god knew where, and Koutarou didn't have the time to invest in actively looking for a new girlfriend.
A new boyfriend however...
Koutarou slapped himself internally. God, he had only just met the guy. And he was his kids' doctor. Absolutely not going there.
Even if he had nearly asked Akaashi on a date.
Oh lord, he was already in way too deep. Kuroo always told him he fell in love too easily and for the first time, Koutarou believed him.
"Daddy?"
"Huh? Ah, sorry, Shou. Tadashi is basically your little brother, so you have him!"
Shouyou seemed to contemplate this and accept it. "Yeah! Tadashi is a baby and I'm his nii-chan!"
Koutarou let out a sigh of relief. Dodged a bullet there. He was not about to explain to Shouyou why his mother had left them tonight. Not that he himself really knew.
Koutarou glanced down at his little son and smiled.
Well, it didn't matter anymore. It was her loss. And Koutarou was doing fine on his own.
He really was.