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4. March 23rd
They are on their way back to the headquarters after another tiring campaign when Daisuke first sees Haru smiles.
It was a fraud prevention campaign and attended by many companies and firms. Originally, Haru was the only person tasked for this campaign. However, Daisuke asked (insisted) to join and help Haru with the work, much to the brunet’s dismay. After several failed attempts to dislodged Daisuke from his ass, Haru gave up and let Daisuke did whatever he wanted. Though not without a heavy sigh and unintelligible grumbling.
Bringing Daisuke along turned out to be a good thing for Haru. Like any other campaigns he attended, he’d get lots of souvenirs to share with the others. This time, though, the amount of souvenirs he got is crazy. Haru was sure he won’t be able to carry all of them alone.
That was when Daisuke came in handy.
“Hold out your hands,” Haru orders him, something undecipherable glinting on his eyes.
Daisuke only stared at him with masked bewilderment, one eyebrow raised, but holds his hands out nonetheless. Haru proceeds to plop more than half of the souvenirs on Daisuke’s outstretched hands with an amused look on his face. He’s going to make Daisuke carry most of the souvenirs. Daisuke, on the other hand, doesn’t look amused at all. While the souvenirs aren't exactly heavy, they're a pain to carry with.
He frowns at Haru, displaying his dislike at having to carry more than Haru does. Usually, Haru is the “I can hold all of these on my own” or “Here, let me help” type of person. What changes then?
“Consider this a punishment for sticking to my ass all day.” Is his reasoning, leaving Daisuke’s mouth hangs slightly open, unnoticed by Haru who already turns around and walks first to his car.
For someone complaining to be tired, Haru sure does have enough energy left to bounce slightly on his walk. Daisuke lets out a weak sigh and follows after Haru’s back, making a mental note in his head to prepare a smart retort the next time Haru uses the same reasoning to make Daisuke carry more things than usual.
The stack of souvenirs almost obscured Daisuke’s line of sight, but he still pays attention to his front to see Haru suddenly stops in the middle of his walk. Daisuke halts his step before he could crash straight to Haru’s back. He’s about to open his mouth to inquire what causes Haru to stop in his track, when the brunet walks to the other side, near the fountain. Slightly confused, Daisuke follows him.
Haru puts the box he's been carrying on the ground and crouches down beside a crying little girl. Judging from the lack of adults around her, Daisuke assumes she’s lost her parents while walking around the park. As Haru tries to comfort her by assuring the little girl that he's the police and won’t hurt her, Daisuke takes his time observing Haru. This is a new sight of Haru, something Daisuke hasn’t experienced yet.
His posture is less tense, very apparent in the lack of tightness on his shoulders. His facial expression too, more relaxed without the usual frown between his eyebrows. Daisuke can even spot the slight upturn on the corner of Haru’s lips. Maybe, Daisuke thinks, it’s the perfect expression to calm a panicking girl. Imagine if Haru came to the girl wearing his usual tired and frowning look, accompanied by his usual grumbling every time he’s exasperated. The girl will run away for sure.
“Here,” Haru offers. “Do you remember your parents’ phone number? I’ll call them and tell them you’re here with me.” The little girl nods, then Haru inputs the number to his phone and calls them. They must be frantic, Daisuke can hear the panics on the mother’s tone.
(He might or might have not scoots closer to Haru to eavesdrop on the conversation.)
As Haru describes the location of the girl's parents, Daisuke glances at the little girl who is holding on to Haru’s beige pants with his usually calm face. Somehow, the girl finds his expression scary, because she whimpers a little and hides more behind Haru’s legs. Haru shots him a sharp glare, mouthing “What did you do to her?”. Daisuke shakes his head, slightly offended because Haru thought he did something to her.
A few minutes later, they spot the parents running towards them, relief all over their faces. The girl runs to her parents, scooped up to her father’s embrace. The parents thank Haru for staying with their daughter and for calling them. Haru lifts both hands, saying he’s just doing his responsibilities as a policeman. From the father’s embrace, the little girl hugs Haru’s neck and giggles.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Kind Policeman!”
“Take care, now. Don’t go running around anymore, okay?”
To Daisuke’s surprise, Haru smiles and ruffles the girl’s hair fondly. A wide smile, that makes the corner of his eyes crinkle and shows the top row of his teeth. If Haru wasn’t focused on the little girl, he would’ve seen Daisuke’s mouth gapes open and his eyes wide in disbelief. Basically, it’s Daisuke’s first time seeing Haru smile like that. And it kinds of… takes his breath away.
Later, in the car, Daisuke tucks the foreign feeling inside his heart after seeing Haru’s smile. He glances at the driving Haru from the corner of his eyes. Haru is back to his usual expression, unfortunately. Daisuke would like to see more of Haru’s expression. He puts his chin on his hand and stares out at the passing night light.
“So you can smile like that.” He quips, hearing the choked noises from Haru’s direction.
“Shut up, Kanbe.”
3. May 14th
If there was one thing Daisuke learned from being Haru’s not-official-partner (Haru calls it ‘stalking’, Kamei calls it ‘imprinting’), it is the fact that Haru can’t stand seeing other people in trouble. He’ll do his best to try and help them, then stating that it was his responsibility to help people. At first, Daisuke thought Haru was just liking the gratitude given to him, but as time goes, he realizes Haru’s motive is purely sincere.
There are times when Daisuke is marveled at how little he knows about Katou Haru behind the usual quick-tempered front. Daisuke knows Haru is a humanistic person, though he didn’t know to what extent. After spending lots of time alongside the brunet, he finally understands. If Katou Haru would be glad to risk his own life to protect others, then he’s perfectly content with helping others no matter how trivial.
Just like two days ago, when he helped a girl retrieve her balloon from the tree. Haru had to climb a tree and almost broke his arm if not for Daisuke's quick steadying hands. Sometimes, Daisuke almost wonders what kind of thing will happen that requires Haru’s help. Whatever it is, it’s too interesting to watch Haru fumbles around helping others, sometimes getting injured as the result.
Today, they’re lounging on the park while waiting for Kamei and Yumoto to join them for lunch. It was Kamei’s idea, to have lunch together as an effort to strengthen the teamwork. While Daisuke and Haru already waiting for fifteen minutes after their work, Kamei and Yumoto are late. Haru’s already crossing his arms and muttering under his breath, Daisuke is slightly worried Haru’s face will get stuck in the same expression for the rest of his life if Kamei and Yumoto didn’t come in five minutes.
That is, until Haru spots a confused old lady crouching near the thick, thorny bushes. She keeps calling a name, either a dog or a cat’s name, looking all worried. Daisuke starts counting in his head, how many seconds would pass until Haru decided to help the old lady.
It takes exactly five seconds for Haru to stand from the bench and approach the old lady.
Turns out, the old lady’s cat went inside the bushes after a dog barked and scared her. Now she won’t come out from the thorny bushes, and the old lady couldn’t get her out. Haru pats her shoulder, assuring her she’ll get the cat out from the bushes. He takes his jacket off and throws it at Daisuke (who decided to observe too, out of curiosity). Then without any hint of fear or hesitation (he’s going to go inside the thorny bushes, after all), Haru crawls on all four to a small gap between the bushes, all while calling the cat’s name (Momo).
In the next few moments, all Daisuke can hear are Momo’s hissing and growling and meowing, followed by Haru’s pained gasps and groans and more name-calling (“Momo! Momo, good girl! Come here—ouch!! Come here, Momo—oww! No, don’t do that—ouch! Ouch!”). He doesn’t need to see to know what happened to the brunet.
Haru then emerges from the bushes holding Momo, who still struggled in his hold, to no avail. He looks bad, really. His white shirt is slightly dirty, there are leaves stuck to his body, and he’s scratched in some places, both from Momo’s claws and from the bushes. Despite that, he looks oddly satisfied as he hands Momo back to her owner.
The old lady cradles Momo close and kisses the cat's head and face (Momo doesn't look pleased with being kissed), and bows at Haru.
“Thank you so much for saving Momo, young man. I’m glad there are kind young people like you nowadays.”
A smile emerges on Haru’s lips. A wide smile that he always gives to those he helps. It’s not the first time Daisuke sees that smile, but it doesn’t mean he’s used to that smile. If any, the more he sees that smile, the more breathtaking it seems. As if it lit up the place around him. Daisuke masks his astonishment by handling Haru his jacket back. Again, he tucks the weird stir on his stomach deep inside. Haru doesn’t need to know how strange he feels when Haru smiles like that to everyone except him.
Well, at least he’s having a little fun later when he tends to Haru’s scratches by dabbing them with alcohol.
2. July 27th
It’s hot. It’s too hot and too humid. Which usually is understandable, since it’s almost noon in July. But this is too much.
Daisuke pats away the sweat on his forehead, not liking the feeling of almost being suffocated from heat. Haru tells him that he wears too many layers for summer, and Daisuke really wants to retort the same to Haru, who has sweat sliding down his neck, if not for the fact that even talking is making him tired.
Like usual, Daisuke ‘sticks to Haru’s ass’, following the brunet who’s helping the First Division guard a summer parade or something. Hoshino and his partner don’t seem too happy with Haru’s presence around them. Hoshino’s partner says something a bit too rude to Haru for Daisuke’s liking, and Daisuke’s feeling strangely protective towards Haru. But Haru lets the rude comments go, which prompts Daisuke to stop sending what others could describe as 'murderous look' and just follows Haru’s lead.
They've been toge—no, sex partner for two months, but Daisuke can admit that his fondness towards Haru starts to grow slowly. While Haru is still his usual shy and tsundere self (according to Kamei), Daisuke is not that embarrassed in showing his fondness. That should explain enough why when Hoshino’s partner is being slightly too rude to Haru, Daisuke is almost ready to confront him.
“You know,” Haru starts, matching his pace with Daisuke’s so now they’re side by side. “That was unnecessary. What you did to Hoshino’s partner.”
“I don’t understand what you mean, Inspector Katou,” Daisuke still calls Haru formally when they’re out at work. He feigns innocence, fully aware of what Haru meant and of Haru’s slight flush on his cheeks, that's not from the heat.
However, it seems like Haru is not taking Daisuke’s ‘shit’, if he were to use Haru’s own choice of word.
“That—that look you send him? It’s almost like you’re going to devour him whole, and I don’t mean that in a sexy way—” He stumbles a little around his words, flushing even redder. “Anyway! Don’t do that again, understand? It’s unnecessary, and I don’t need that.” With that, he quickens his pace again, walking ahead of Daisuke, probably in an attempt to cover his embarrassment.
Daisuke knows perfectly well. He knows Haru doesn’t need his protection, he’s fully capable of defending himself from anything. But Daisuke can’t help it. He admits that sometimes, he talks and condescendingly teases Haru. But after he knew Haru better, he reduced the frequency of the condescending talk, sticking to harmless teasing which he knows would make Haru flushes in embarrassment and/or annoyance instead of pure anger.
If Haru realized Daisuke’s sudden quietness, he doesn’t comment about it. Only telling Daisuke about some important things needed to be paid attention to.
At noon, the temperature becomes too hot for them. It's a miracle neither of them hadn't passed out from heatstroke. Since the parade has just ended, Haru suggests they rest for a while in the park nearby before returning to the HQ, where there are many street vendors selling snacks and cold drinks. Daisuke accepts, too tired to suggest otherwise (there is a cooler place, like that fancy restaurant they passed a while ago). Haru leads him to a bench under a thick tree, and they both plop down on it, letting out tired sighs simultaneously.
While the temperature hasn't gone down yet, at least they're shaded from the blazing sun. Daisuke is glad he made them both wear sunscreens before going out. The UV rays will be too harsh on their skin otherwise. Haru stretches and stands up, announcing to Daisuke that he’s going to buy some snacks and cold drinks. Daisuke opens his eyes, staring at the tree above him. He should’ve offered Haru to eat lunch at that restaurant. Snacks probably won’t be enough to fill his grumbling tummy.
He sees Haru buying a box of Takoyaki not far from where he is. As he waits for the Takoyaki, Haru buys himself a soft-serve ice cream cone. The brunet is licking on his vanilla ice cream when a boy, who has been standing there ever since Haru buys his ice cream, stares at the ice cream longingly. Haru tilts his head confusedly but still bends down slightly to see the boy eye-to-eye.
“Do you want ice cream too?” Haru asks amiably.
There it is. Haru’s change in posture and facial expression every time he faces a kid. Daisuke has long discovered that Haru has a soft spot towards children, which the latter denied every time with adorable blushes on his face. And for some weird reasons, children tend to gravitate towards Haru more than Daisuke.
The boy shakes his head. “I already spent the money Daddy gave me on Choco Banana over there. Daddy will get mad if I bought too many snacks.” He points to the vendor selling Choco Banana, and Haru hums.
“Alright!” He stands, clapping on his thighs. “I’ll buy you one, but you must not tell your Daddy, okay?”
“Really? Thank you!”
Then Haru smiles at the boy. The same, wide smile Daisuke saw before to the lost little girl. A wide smile that makes his eyes crinkle, showing his top row of teeth, and makes the world around Daisuke seems brighter. Oh, curse his suddenly love-struck mind. As if Cupid himself has gone down and shoots Daisuke's heart with a dozen arrows. Daisuke presses a palm over his left chest, and he can feel it beats faster.
As they share the Takoyaki later, shoulders and thighs pressed together, Daisuke nudges Haru with his shoulder.
“You’re going to make a wonderful Papa.” He leans to Haru. “Shall I show you if you could be a wonderful Mama too tonight?”
Haru chokes on his lemonade.
1. October 3rd
An hour and a half ago, they're walking back to Haru’s car to get back after a crime risk assessment conference. And now, they’re sitting in the hospital’s waiting room. Waiting for the woman Haru brought to the hospital to give birth to her baby. How did this happen, Daisuke asks himself for the nth times. They're supposed to be already at the restaurant right now, eating their dinner together. But no, Haru decided to wait for the woman to make sure she’s safe. Just the usual Haru.
An hour and a half ago, a heavily pregnant woman suddenly went into labor right in front of their eyes. Haru’s quick instinct spurred him to run to the woman. Without too much thinking nor hesitation, Haru helped the woman to his car (which coincidentally, parked just right there) and told her they’re going to drive her to the hospital. Of course, Haru could just call an ambulance, but the brunet reasoned, due to their location, an ambulance will take too long to arrive. Haru didn’t want to risk anything.
Of course, Daisuke could just call HEUSC and asked for a special ambulance. However, Haru was already strapping in his seatbelt. Daisuke didn’t have the heart to tell him anything. So he complied with Haru and drove the woman to the hospital.
Now, here they are. Daisuke checks in on Haru sitting beside him, looking somewhat pale and nervous despite him not being the woman’s husband. The nurse did thought Haru to be the woman’s husband, with how nervous he looked. His look of horror, though, was priceless. Daisuke had to stifle his snickers and Haru smacked him on the back.
Daisuke would like to see Haru relaxes a bit. It’s just he doesn’t know what to say to Haru to make the brunet less tense. So he settles on buying Haru a canned juice, which Haru accepted with relief and gulped down like a parched man.
However, as soon as they hear a baby crying from the delivery room, Haru’s composure relaxes almost immediately. He sighs and leans back on the wall, looking all happy and glad knowing the baby has been delivered safely. The nurse then comes out from the room to announce that the baby is fully healthy. She also tells Haru and Daisuke to come in. Haru blushes slightly and refuses, but the woman insists. Haru bounces a little on his heels for a moment, then enters the delivery room, biting down on his lower lip. Daisuke follows closely behind him.
The woman cradles the baby close to her chest, relief, and pure happiness all over her face.
“Thank you,” She whispers to Haru, tears pooling on her eyes. “If it was not because of you, I—”
Haru holds up his hand. “It’s okay. Glad to be able to help.”
“Would you like to hold him?” She offers, giggling.
“Wha—” Haru’s blush deepens. “But I’m not his father—”
“Please. I insist.”
The brunet gulps, carefully taking the bundled baby from the woman's arms and cradle it. He’s so tense that Daisuke is afraid he’ll drop the baby or something. Daisuke hovers slightly behind Haru, ready to take a step if Haru did drop the baby. However, after the baby lets out a soft noise, perfectly content in Haru’s hold, gone all the tension from Haru’s body. He coos at the baby’s expression and starts rocking him.
It’s quite scary to Daisuke to see how natural Haru seems in handling the baby.
"Hey there, little one," Haru whispers in a soft voice. “Grow up strong and healthy, okay?”
And he smiles. That smile. The special smile of Haru which lightens up everything around him, like a sun. The special smile that never fails to make Daisuke’s attention shifts to Haru and Haru only. The special smile that makes Daisuke falls in love with Haru again. He even barely registers the “aww” the nurses make seeing Haru rocking and whispering encouragements to the baby.
It makes Daisuke think, if Haru was this happy with other people’s baby, how happy would he be if he were to have a baby of his own. Of course, not his own baby like that. But a baby he and a woman conceived together. He just knows Haru would be ecstatic. Despite everything Haru said about not being good with children, Haru surprisingly is good with children. He just didn’t admit it out loud.
Would Haru like to have a child too one day? Daisuke knows neither of them can get pregnant. If they were to have a child, they would have to adopt or opt for surrogacy. Then again, who says they’re going to stay together forever as a couple? They’re still friends with benefits, nothing more. Even with Daisuke’s love towards Haru, their relationship will stay as it is if neither of them said something.
A feeling of worry and anxiety settle deep on his stomach, making Daisuke feels a bit nauseous. What if one day, Haru realized that he’d never be able to have a child with Daisuke and thus decided to leave Daisuke for a woman? A woman who will be able to bear Haru’s child and create a family for him? A woman Daisuke will never be able to become?
Daisuke’s fists are clenched down so hard to prevent himself from throwing up.
+1. December 4th
“I can hear gears turning inside your head.”
Daisuke is brought back to the real world by Haru’s voice, who is comfortably perched on Daisuke’s chest. Daisuke is half-leaning and half-lying down on the pillows behind him, and he wiggles a little to make himself more comfortable. They just finished two rounds of sex, and now they’re just cuddling together until either of them fall asleep, or until either of them ready for another round. Smirking, Daisuke blows a puff of breath to Haru, who shrieks in surprise.
“Stop that! Your breath smells like cum!” He pinches his nose and smacks Daisuke’s side. Daisuke chuckles.
“Well, it is your cum, Haru.” He is rewarded by a painful jab to his ribs from Haru’s bony elbow. Daisuke retaliates by trying to tickle Haru’s armpit, and the latter pins Daisuke’s wandering fingers with his other hand.
They wrestle for a little while until they’re both breathless again and Haru screaming and giving up. Haru then rests his head back on Daisuke’s chest, throwing one leg over Daisuke’s bare thigh while his left hand draws patterns on the still flushed skin. Daisuke runs his fingers up and down Haru’s back, making him purr contently.
“Seriously, what is inside that pretty head of yours?” Haru asks, drawing an invisible cat and a mouse. “It’s not like you to get lost in your thoughts.”
“Nothing important.”
“C’mon, you can tell me. I promise I won’t laugh.”
Daisuke raises one eyebrow, pressing his nose to Haru’s messy hair. “Why would you promise that?”
“In case you’re going to tell me something stupid. Which you probably will, I just know.”
Haru can feel the vibrations on Daisuke’s chest as the latter hums. “Well, maybe it is going to be a little stupid.”
“Ha! I knew it!” Haru laughs and smacks Daisuke’s chest lightly before settling down again. “So? What is this stupid thing?”
“Remember that time when we brought a woman in labor to the hospital?” A hum is Daisuke’s answer. “It made me thinking, what is your opinion about having a child of your own?” That’s not exactly the right question Daisuke wanted to ask. He wanted to ask Haru along the line of "Would you like to have a child with a woman and leave me alone?". Of course, he couldn’t exactly phrase it like that. They’re not even together, after all.
Well, that was unexpected. Haru thought Daisuke would tell him something stupid, like an embarrassing experience or something. He didn't expect Daisuke to ask something like that out of the blue.
“Why did you suddenly ask that?” Haru stops drawing patterns on Daisuke’s skin and settles his hand on the latter’s shoulder.
“Just wondering. You looked so… natural when you hold that baby.”
The brunet snorts. “Pfft—you didn’t know how nervous I was that entire time. Babies are super delicate, I didn’t want to accidentally drop them or something.”
But Daisuke isn’t laughing, and Haru realizes how important Haru’s answer is for Daisuke. Haru doesn’t exactly understand what makes Daisuke worried nor what gets his head all muddled up from him carrying a baby. However, he’ll answer Daisuke, if it would make Daisuke felt better.
“Having a child, huh… I think it’s a wonderful thing. Though I’m not really good with children, you know that. So I guess I’ll need a lot of studying and training if I were to have a child.”
Come to think of it, Haru never thought about it before. Sure, some of his acquaintances already told him to start thinking about his ‘future’, but Haru never thinks too much about it. Finding a woman, marrying her, making a family, having a child from said woman… those thoughts never crossed Haru’s mind before. Besides, he doesn’t really consider himself as a family man or a father. If any, he’s sure he would be suck as a father.
“I see,” is Daisuke’s only reply. Wonderful thing? Does this mean Haru wants a child? Or is it just Haru’s general opinion? Even if Haru needed to prepare lots of things to have a child, it’s not really impossible, right?
Daisuke feels like he’d pop a blood vessel if he continued to think.
Haru props himself up, resting his chin on his arms to get a good look at Daisuke’s expression. He still has his usually calm face, but there is something unreadable on it. Like a mixture of frowning and pouting and thinking at the same time. Haru tilts his head and then it finally clicks to him. Is this what worries Daisuke so much? That he’d get married to a woman and have a child?
He sighs and shakes his head in exasperation. Daisuke can be really dense sometimes. Although Haru can’t exactly blame him since Haru is never too forward with his advances. He’s not exactly sending mixed signals, but he’s not fully truthful to Daisuke too. Fortunately for them both, Haru is not yet mentally prepared to admit everything to Daisuke’s face. Not yet. Not yet. He’s not yet ready.
Yet, there should be a limit to being dense.
“Ouch—”
Daisuke is startled from the sudden pain on his forehead, which Haru just flicked. Hard.
“You’re such an idiot, aren’t you, rich boy?”
Haru has this annoyed look on his face and flicks Daisuke's forehead. Over and over again. Daisuke struggles both to defend himself from Haru’s attack and to prevent Haru from flicking his forehead. He’ll bleed if Haru continued with his assault! Seriously!
“What—Haru, hey! Ouch! Stop it! Ow!”
He does stop after that, and Daisuke prepares himself to launch a revenge attack.
Until Haru smiles at him. That smile. Haru’s special smile. Haru smiles his special, bright smile at Daisuke. Only Daisuke. Not anyone else. Only Daisuke.
Daisuke suddenly finds himself unable to breathe. Literally.
Haru then finds himself upside down as Daisuke proceeds to smother him with his embrace. He’s startled at first, but he chuckles and pats Daisuke’s back. Haru comments on how Daisuke is clinging to him like a child, though he makes no move to dislodge Daisuke away, letting the latter cuddles him to his heart’s content.
‘I love him…’ Daisuke thinks, burying his face to Haru’s sweaty neck.
‘I love him so much…’
‘My one and only sun…’
His one and only sun.
.
.
.
.
.
+2 BONUS
“…and I vow, to protect your smile…”
A chuckle.
“…my one and only sun…”
A smile, as bright as the sun in the sky.
“…forever and ever…”
Two pairs of hands joined together.
“I do.”
Two rings.
“I do.”
Forever and ever.
“My sun.”
“My surprisingly-cheesy-husband.”
“I love you. Forever and ever.”
“Love you too, you old romantic. Forever and ever.”