Chapter Text
Gakushū Asano and Karma Akabane had spent the day before their first year anniversary like any other, with them waking up in bed, then rushing to get to Kunugigaoka High School. The two had begun living together almost half a year ago, and they had kept it a secret for all that time. In fact their whole relationship was kept a secret. They liked it that way.
“Shu,” Karma asked, not looking up from his Nintendo DS, “where are we going tomorrow night?” It was always Asano’s job to procure the dinner reservation.
“What makes you think I’ll start telling you?” Though, he never told Karma where they were going; to keep the element of surprise.
“Does our year together mean nothing to you,” he frowned, finally looking up to pout at Asano.
“Karma,” Gakushū rolled his eyes and pet the red head’s hair, moving it to cover his face.
“Yeah okay okay. Tomorrow is a school day,” it was Sunday that day and they had decided to stay at home. That was where they were most comfortable.
“Let’s watch a case study,” Asano offered, although the way he reached for the remote showed Karma that he couldn’t have said no.
“Always with murder on your mind,” Karma laughed a bit, setting his DS down so he could focus on the movie.
“Guilty,” Asano smiled just a bit as he picked the episode. Then they spent the rest of the day huddled up on Karma’s couch, watching trials, confessions and crimes. It was a lovely day with nothing much happening, so when Karma knocked over an old vase his parent’s had brought home a bit over three years ago, Asano decided not to scold him. The day would’ve been too slow if he hadn’t broken anything. But little did they know that this calm day would be something like the calm before the storm. (ew words)
Karma and Asano crawled into bed that night quite early, and they fell asleep no later than 12 in the morning, both eager to celebrate their year anniversary the next day. Though the way they ended up celebrating it wasn’t at all what either of them expected.
Gakushū woke up to the sound of crying, coming from beside him where Karma had been just a few hours ago. He groaned, covering his ears with his pillow, thinking that this was another prank of Karma’s to get him up on his feet.
“Karma,” he groaned once the crying noises wouldn’t stop. He knew how Karma actually sounded when he cried, and this wasn’t him, he was sure. So when the crying didn’t stop, he picked up the pillow from under his head and turned around to hit the phone that was probably making the noise.
If it hadn’t been for his reflexes, Gakushū’s day might’ve gone a whole lot worse. But when he saw the baby lying down beside him, he halted. He set the pillow down gently and quietly began to panic.
Who the fuck was this baby?
“Karma?” Gakushū asked the room after collecting himself, but he realized that Karma was nowhere to be found. He sighed, this was not how he wanted to spend their anniversary, or his Monday morning- that being said, he was bound to arrive at school late. He jumped off of the bed, the sobs became a background noise to make way for his loud thoughts.
“I will kill you Akabane,” he said finally, getting some of his clothes from the closet. He would get dressed, then would address the elephant in the room. He went to the washroom to wear his clothes, and when he looked as neat as he could, he went back into the master bedroom.
While Gakushū didn’t notice anything different in himself after moving in with Karma, the others at school noticed how the 17 year old would sometimes come to school with an unironed tie, or how he would smell like strawberries in the morning. The entire school knew something was up, but couldn’t quite guess what.
When Gakushū got back to the room, the baby was quiet. He wondered if he was dead, and mentally scolded himself for wishing it was true.
“Are you alive?” He asked the baby who was wrapped in- clothes, how had he not noticed this? Actually, it seemed Asano had failed to notice a lot of things about this baby, from the red colour of his hair to the fact that he was bundled up in Karma’s clothes from last night. He felt dizzy. “Um,” he sat down beside the baby whose eyes were wide open, and looked exactly like his boyfriend’s, “Karma?” He half expected the baby to answer with Karma’s usual voice, but he supposed that the baby’s head nod was a more reasonable response. “You’re lying,” was all he could say, and it was the last thing he said before deciding to get him ready. He picked the baby up, cleaned him to the best of his ability.
Then he wrapped the little boy in a spare blanket that Karma had in his closet from a plane trip. Once he was wrapped, Asano looked at the time on his phone and realized that he was late. This was the first time in his whole life that he had been late to school, but he didn’t have time to wallow on about that. He decided that if he was late, he might as well skip- he realized he sounded more like Akabane than he wanted to. He would take the day off to buy Karma clothes, then find a witch doctor to change him back.
That’s when he realized that he didn’t have anywhere to put Karma. He sighed and went to watch a youtube video on how to make a good strap for babies. He made a mental note to clear his search history after all this. He managed to make a decent strap and put Karma against his chest. He baby smiled. He snuggled into Gakushū’s uniform and let out a content sigh.
Then, going against his dignity, which Gakushū prided himself in always having, he took a mirror selfie with the baby snuggled up against him. He justified that it would be there as proof that Karma did in fact become a baby, for when Karma came back and decided to tell him that he had imagined all this up.
On the road, he barely got a glance from other pedestrians, but the people who did spare him a quick glance wondered what he was doing carrying a baby like that.
“Can you understand me Karma?” He asked, not looking down at the baby who was drooling on his uniform. The baby shook his head and managed to put a smile onto his face. “You son of a bitch,” Asano shook his head after feeling the movement. He walked into the mall.
“Hello sir! Would you like to try our,” a store employee asked him, but he cut her off with a tired look.
“Do you know where I can find baby clothes?” He asked, skipping all formalities. The woman kept her smile but there was a hint of confusion in her eyes as she pointed towards the right wing of the mall and asked a question.
“Shopping for your little brother?” Asano couldn’t tell why she would ask such a question. He found it ridiculous, did this boy look like his brother? He shook his head without thinking much about it.
“No, but thank you,” he said dismissively, leaving for the right wing; he thankfully didn’t see the disapproving look on the lady’s face. He didn’t look a day over 18, one might argue he even looked younger, so why did he have a son?
Gakushū made it to the baby store and was greeted by a young man at the door.
“Hey, did you want to buy something for your little one?” The way that was phrased made him shift awkwardly; he had heard people call Karma his date, his lover, boyfriend, all that, but little one? This was odd. He was only snapped out of his thoughts when Karma nudged him.
“Oh, yes please. He needs proper clothing,” he explained to the compassionate looking man.
“You’ve come to the right place! You’ve got some drool on your school uniform sir,” he commented as they made their way through the store.
“Oh, yes he does that,” Asano almost flicked Karma.
“Hm, well, how old is the little one then?” Gakushū realized he needed a story, something he could stick to for the time being. He looked down at the baby and decided he looked about ten months old.
“Ten,” he said before Karma kicked him, though he didn’t feel the need to specify that he meant months, “months.”
“A nice big and healthy baby then,” then man smiled and lead them to the section of the store with the clothes for ten month old boys, “I’ll be at the cash if you need me.”
This left Asano alone with a baby and too many clothes to choose from.
“What do you want to wear then?” He ended up asking Karma, and the redhead turned a bit, looking at the large amount of blue onesies. Some lady in the store smiled at him, finding it awfully cute that he was asking the baby. Though she wasn’t laughing when Karma pointed at the red suit at the top, clarifying with his fingers which row the shirt he wanted was a part of.
“That one? I hardly think that’s appropriate baby attire,” Asano shook his head, and Karma stuck his tongue out, “yes alright, you’re the one wearing it, not me,” he reached up to get the red suit. Once he got it down and checked the size, the woman approached him.
“Your brother’s a genius,” she started the conversation like that, looking at Karma who was now smiling brightly.
“He’s not my brother,” Asano stated plainly, slightly glaring at Karma.
“Oh,” she looked up at him, then at the baby, and finally at the school uniform. She decided not to comment.
“Yes, but I’m sure your baby is equally as intelligent as,” if he was going to come up with a story, he couldn’t use Karma’s name, so he used the first one he thought of, “Goichi,” and Karma kicked him. What kind of name was that?
“Oh, hardly,” the woman laughed, “so where’s his mother?” Asano tensed, where was his mother? His real mother was spending the month in Moldova, but he couldn’t say that. So the next thing that came to mind was what came out of his mouth.
“She’s dead,” he said a bit too seriously, and Karma looked like he was about to cry. Luckily for Asano, the girl who had been taking a video of their encounter had left to get to second period before he slipped up that way.
“Oh! I’m so sorry,” the look the woman gave him was one of sympathy and pity. Karma hated pity. He kicked Gakushū’s stomach again.
“I’m kidding,” he told her, “I’m sorry, my sense of humour is beyond me,” Karma could’ve laughed at that, “she’s at school,” he explained. The woman looked almost too relieved. In her mind, a talented baby like this would have his potential wasted without a mother figure.
Then after another brief period of small talk and baby clothing advice, Gakushū was paying for five baby suits, two shirts, a bib, and five pairs of sweat pants. The man at the cash had given him a discount.
When he walked out of the store, he remembered that neither of them had eaten, so he turned to walk to the food court.
“You won’t be able to drink strawberry milk in that body of yours,” he taunted, grinning at the frowning baby. Karma had an unimpressed look in his eyes, as if to express his feelings towards Gakushū teasing a baby.
“You can’t even eat,” he thought out loud, “my reservations will be wasted Karm- Chi,” he corrected himself, just in case someone was listening in. Karma didn’t quite like the name, so he began to wail. It was payback for being patronized and teased. He flailed his little arms and kicked his legs, crying out. Now all eyes were on him, and not in the discreet way that store workers had been staring at him all day, this time all their eyes really were glued onto the 17 year old with a screaming baby.
“Shut up,” he told the infant, but he didn’t stop, “you’re causing a scene.” A few people looked like they wanted to teach him how to talk to a baby, but no one moved. “I’m going to cancel our reservations if you don’t stop that,” that was his last card to play, and surprisingly it worked. Karma stopped fussing and put the most innocent face he could on, which was a very cute one. Asano rolled his eyes and adjusted the baby on his chest and walked over to a shop to get food.
“You’re insufferable Karma, truly.” If Karma could speak in that moment, he would’ve said something along the lines of, ‘but you love it.’
He bought himself a plate of sushi and a carton of strawberry milk. He would drink it to taunt Karma. He set Karma down in a high chair and wondered what babies ate. That’s when he made the mistake of calling his father.
“Where are you?” No formalities, always straight to the point with Gakuhou Asano.
“What are you supposed to feed babies?”
“Why do you ask?” He hadn’t seen his son for a few months at home, but he had reason to believe that he was staying with Ren.
“Gaaaa,” Karma’s voice sounded through the phone, since Gakushū had no plan to explain the situation to his father.
“Don’t tell me you kidnapped a baby,” Gakuhou sighed, hoping that was the case; though he couldn’t afford to ever be straight forward, could he.
“That’s ridiculous. How what do I feed him.” Gakuhou paused to take a breath before answering.
“How old is he?”
“A few months old, he can’t walk yet,” this was the longest conversation they had that wasn’t about school in years.
“They’re normally breastfed,” he explained.
“Do you think I have breasts?” He rolled his eyes and Karma laughed.
“Does his mother?” He was hoping this question would give him answers to his unspoken questions.
“Yes but do you think I’d be asking you if she was here?” He was referring to Karma’s mom, the one who had actually breastfed Karma, but Gakuho didn’t take it that way.
“Hm,” he took a moment to take his information in.
“BAAAAAAAAABAAAAAAA,” Karma yelled into the phone.
“Stop being a nuisance Chi,” Gakushū scolded him, pulling the phone away so he couldn’t scream into the speaker. The way Gakushū spoke to his apparent kid was enough to make Gakuho shiver, there weren’t many things in the world that could do that.
“Get him some formula, put it in a bottle of warm water and shake. Check that it isn’t too hot, then feed him. Make sure you don’t choke him,” he explained.
“Is there a faster option?”
“Do you not know how old he is exactly?” Then Gakushū picked a birthday, if anything it was to stop his father from patronizing him.
“Yes of course I do,” he lied, “he’s ten months old in three days.”
“I see,” Gakuho mentally calculated how old Gakushū had to have been when this Chi fellow was conceived.
“So?”
“You could feed him apple sauce, that would be enough for a meal,” Gakushū nodded and thanked his father. Then a long pause came between the two.
“I should get going-“
“Will I be able to meet him?” More silence. Even Karma didn’t interrupt with his baby noises.
“Some other time,” Gakushū wasn’t that heartless. Gakuhou released a breath he didn’t know he was holding, “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” He hung up after hearing his father give him an affirmative grunt.
After the call, Asano ate his food in silence as Karma played a game on his phone.
“If you keep winning, people will get suspicious,” Asano told the little boy who was now finally shorter than him. Karma stuck his tongue out.
“We don’t need the press on our tails. Next thing you know, they take you away from me,” that sounded more emotional than he had intended it to sound, but it earned an ‘aw,’ from the lady sitting behind him. It looked like she was also skipping school. She didn’t realize who it was until he turned around, “Asano?”
“Ah,” he smiled sweetly, “yes. Hello, Meg right?”
“Yeah, I never knew you had a kid,” she smiled sheepishly.
“No body did,” he explained, and then smiled a bit more genuinely when he added, “not even me.” Although that didn’t sound very good.
“Oh,” she stopped herself from telling him that he didn’t seem like the type.
“But it’s all good now,” he assured her, though he mentally cursed at himself afterwards, because he knew that damage control on this situation would be hard work.
“Do you want me to keep it a secret?” She asked, and he nodded, hoping that no one else had to learn about his mystery child Karma Akabane.
“Then your secret’s safe with me,” she smiled and went back to her food. And Asano did the same before picking his things back up and strapping Karma back in. He decided that if Karma was still a baby tomorrow, he’d buy a stroller. He was way too heavy to carry around all day.
The two of them made it into the grocery store inside the mall and Gakushū bought a small stock of baby food, everything from sauces, and mashes of random ingredients, to powdered food and formula. He ended up spending more than his weekly allowance, but he was sure his father would understand the importance of the things he bought.
After getting all of this, he sat Karma down at a bench and tried to feed him the salmon and pea mashed food. Only Karma grabbed the spoon and flicked the mush onto Asano’s face with a smile.
“Son of a bitch,” Gakushū said, though his smile showed that he was more amused than annoyed. He took a small scoop of the mush and smeared it on Karma’s forehead. They were even, until of course, Karma dipped his entire palm into the jar and shoved his hand into Gakushū’s mouth. Asano could’ve bitten the hand off if he wanted to, but even with a baby’s hand gagging him, he found this hilarious; so much so that he laughed. It was rare to hear a genuine laugh from Gakushū out in public, but that’s exactly what Karma’s actions did. Any onlookers from Kunugigaoka would’ve gaped at the scene; it was the stern and disciplined, and rather fake class president, having fun.
“Baba,” Karma laughed along before taking his hand back and wiping it on his shirt.
“Are you going to eat properly now?” Asano asked after finishing his laughing fit.
“Buba,” Karma nodded and took the spoon in his hand, along with another unopened jar. He gestured for Gakushū to open it, and he happily complied.
“Don’t eat it too fast,” he told him, sitting down beside his new ‘son,’ and letting him eat. He was glad that Karma wasn’t actually fully a baby, since he had no idea how to feed a baby. It was helpful indeed that Karma didn’t know how to eat like a baby either. He was eating with his hand holding the jar and the other hand holding a spoon which was scooping up the food inside; in fact if it weren’t for the smudged of mush on his face, he wouldn’t have looked like a baby at all.
“I spent a lot of money on you,” Asano sighed as the two of them walked out of the bathroom after cleaning up. Karma had used the washroom too. Asano just had to hold him up and close his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to see what was going on down there.
“Bas,” he was trying to say ‘yes.’
“And now I need a baby bag,” he sighed, he was now carrying three large shooing bags and one mini sized Karma.
They made their way back to the baby store and bought a baby bag, and a baby bottle. Asano had to whisper to Karma that it wasn’t normal to see a ten month old drinking out of a normal cup.
“If I leave you at home for a minute, you won’t kill yourself, right?” He asked his boyfriend as they walked back to Karma’s house. He was going to see if Gakuho kept his old stroller, so he wouldn’t spend so much money on things he might not even need the next day, “you should nap. Your body isn’t what it used to be,” he told Karma who had yawned. Despite himself, started smoothing Karma’s hair down and humming a bit. It was a tune that his father and mother would take turns humming to him when he was a child. In mere seconds, Karma was asleep. Then at home, Asano tucked him in and locked the doors. It was 2pm and too much had happened, but the day wasn’t over yet. He still had his father to face. He knew he was working home that day thanks to the memorization of his working schedule.
He hadn’t been in front of that house in months, and going back wasn’t the best feeling. He had left for multiple reasons, because of his father’s cold attitude, his temper, and the fact that his house just didn’t feel like a home. When Asano had spent his first night at Karma’s place, he felt that even there, a house where strangers and a school mate lived felt more like home than where he was raised; and that’s when he decided he would move out.
“Gakushū!” the maid opened the door, taking Gakushū out of his thoughts. He had forgotten that Mondays were cleaning days. The presence of the house maids had decreased with his increasing age.
“Hello miss Tanaka,” he smiled as he was pulled into a hug. He hadn’t been hugged by her in a good seven years. He supposed that his disappearance made some of the staff that had grown fond of him grow sappy.
“Your father wants to see you,” she explained after letting go and looking at him fondly, “you’re all grown up.” Asano was starting to think that there was another reason why she was being all mushy.
“Hardly,” he smiled, “but I’ll go up to see my father now,” he said, and she nodded, letting him into the house. He walked up the marble staircase and into his father’s office unannounced.
“Take a seat,” Gakuho gestured towards the chairs in front of his desk as he finished typing something in his black laptop.
“I need to ask you for a favour,” Gakushū started, no beating around the bush.
“Is this about Chi?” He asked, and Gakushū caught himself before he could ask who that was.
“Yes,” he said, looking his father in the eye, “strollers are expensive,” he started off, “I don’t suppose you have my old one.”
Gakuho’s expression was unreadable, and Gakushū was starting to think that Gakuho had thrown all his baby things away after Ikeda died.
“Yes I do. You didn’t bring him,” he frowned.
“Who, oh,” so that was what it was about.
“Never mind that. Come,” he stood up and walked around the old wooden desk, “your things are in the attic.” Gakushū followed his father up to the highest floor of the house.
Up there were the remains of a life Gakushū could barely remember. He saw stuffed toys, colourful books, skip ropes, toy balls, and so much more. He would’ve cried if he hadn’t taught himself to control his tear ducts. Instead of crying, he watched his father take the old stroller wrapped in plastic down from the shelf. Then all of a sudden the stroller was in his hands. It was odd. Felt like a ceremonious moment, but it also felt wrong. Though he decided against telling his father that his new son was actually his boyfriend.
“You have something on your uniform,” Gakuho mentioned as they walked down the stairs back to the second floor of the manor.
“I was feeding Chi,” he explained as he picked at the stain on his school uniform.
“You were a messy eater.”
“Then there’s still hope for him,” Gakushū joked, not meeting his father’s eyes, “um, I’m going to head back. I left Chi sleeping,” he said awkwardly after this remark. He needed to get out of there.
“You shouldn’t leave a baby unattended,” Gakuho told him but nodded, dismissing him.
“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for this Gakushū bowed then walked out the office doors, and soon enough the front doors. He unwrapped the stroller and began to push it to Karma’s house to get the feel of it. Tonight was going to be a long night, but mostly because he refused to cancel his reservations.
When he got into the Akabane household with the key that he had been given when he moved, the house was almost too quiet. He didn’t know how long he was gone, but he crossed his fingers that Karma was still fast asleep.
“Karma?” He called out into the master bedroom before looking at the bed. When he did look at the bed, he was nowhere to be found, and Asano felt like ripping his hair out, “KARMA AKABANE COME BACK THIS INSTANT.” There was a giggling noise, “I’m going to count to five,” he sighed, angrily glaring at the bed where Karma was supposed to be.
“BABA!” Karma yelled before the sound of his hands and feet crawling across the wooden floor could be heard, he was running away.
“We have dinner in two hours Karma,” he called out, trying to follow the sound, “wouldn’t you like to see where I was going to take you? It’s a shame you can’t walk or bike in this form,” he added.
“HABABA,” the baby sounded angry.
“I can’t take you there unless I find you Goichi,” he smiled at the use of the first name he had picked. Though that smile quickly disappeared after he heard a grunt and a large thud. He ran towards the noise. “KARMA?” Then there was a loud screech.
“GASHUUU!” The baby’s voice yelled over and over until Asano found baby Karma lying down and throwing a tantrum on the floor next to the coffee table.
“What did you do Goichi?” He asked, picking the baby up and inspecting his head, “did you bump into something?” Karma shook his head.
“Bababa mik,” he pouted, wiping some tears from his eyes. For a moment, Gakushū forgot entirely that this was Karma.
“Strawberry milk? What about it?” He asked, rubbing the boy’s back.
“Mik had,” he pointed towards the strawberry milk that was on the floor next to where he was lying. He then pointed at his head, “booboo.”
“Oh my gosh,” Asano’s eyes widened. The milk carton had fallen on his head. He set the baby down on the couch and went to get an ice pack. It was funny how if Karma was fully grown, he would’ve chucked a much bigger bottle at his head and he’d be fine. “I leave you for an hour and this is what you do?” He was starting to sound like a mom. Karma frowned and looked down apologetically. Gakushū handed him the ice pack and sat beside him.
“I wish I could talk to you,” Asano said after taking a picture of baby Karma holding an ice pack against his forehead with a dragon onesie on, “you aren’t nearly as snarky as a baby.” Karma stuck his tongue out and Asano snapped another picture, “oh but you’re so much cuter this way.”
“Bababa,” Karma rolled his eyes.
Gakushū’s phone rung before he could scold Karma for the attitude.
“Hello,” he put on his fake business voice.
“Where were you at school today?” It was Ren.
“Ah, right,” he sighed and set the phone down after putting the call on speaker.
“Ba-“ Asano shot Karma with a death glare before he could make any more noise. He didn’t need more people knowing about this.
“So where are you?”
“At home,” he lied, and Ren would’ve believed that if he wasn’t at Gakushū’s house.
“Haha, no, where are you?”
“Um,” he thought about where else he could be, “I’m somewhere.”
“I heard you were with a baby? Babysitting a cousin?” So that was what the call was about.
“No, Asanos make sure to only have one child per generation. Can you imagine two of my father?” This joke went over Ren’s head, but Karma found it hilarious, “shut up Chi.”
“Oh,” Gakushū could hear Ren thinking and frankly it was annoying. What if he did have a kid? Would that be such a big deal? He was Gakushū Asano, he could raise a child if he wanted to.
“Is that all?”
“How old is he?” He was glad that he picked a birthday earlier.
“He’s ten months old in three days.”
“Oh shit, did you know?” He was about to ask him why he wouldn’t know, but then he remembered what he told Meg. He sighed and shook his head.
“No, I did not.” Ren laughed.
“And I thought all you did was study,” that hurt his pride. Had Karma been in his usual form, he would’ve added, ‘all he does is me.’
“I’m hurt. Is that all?”
“We want to meet him,” that was when the other three of his friends grunted in agreement and Gakushū realized he made a mistake in telling them anything.
“Why?”
“We want to figure out who he looks like,” he replied honestly.
“Like me?” Well that was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that.
“The other half,” Asano face palmed. If they saw this baby, they’d comment on how he was the spitting image of Karma.
“Karma,” Asano whispered and stared at the baby, “I mean, yes it was no one you knew. But very well, you can meet him tomorrow.”
“Awesome, so what’s his name?”
“Goichi,” everyone on the other line had to stop themselves from laughing.
“That,” he paused to take a breath, “that’s a nice name,” he lied and Karma laughed again, almost falling out of his seat.
“Chi, shut up,” Asano snarled.
“You should talk to him nicely Asano-kun,” another voice told him, “what does his name mean?”
“It means he’s noisy,” Asano sighed after a moment of silence. He had to admit he found it funny at the time but now it wasn’t so laughable.
“Did you pick that name?” They laughed a bit, but it was more out of awkwardness.
“Yes, he couldn’t pick a name for himself, he can’t speak.” No one was laughing at that, except for Karma who found the whole situation hilarious, “Chi please shut up.”
“Baba, bo,” he argued back.
“Don’t give me that language Chi,” he told Karma.
“Baba mik ba hed,” he stuck his tongue out.
“It’s not my fault you hit your head. Stop being insufferable.”
“So what colour’s his hair?”
“Red,” Asano said quickly, slapping Karma’s hand to stop him from sucking on his fingers, “your hands are dirty Chi, are you brain dead?”
“Red?” Ren laughed, “like Karma?” Asano tensed.
“Mama,” Karma yelled, trying to say his own name.
“Shut up Chi,” he groaned, glaring at the baby.
“MAMA,” Karma yelled, looking all too smug.
“Is he alright? Does he want his mom?” Akari asked.
“MAMA MAMA MAMA MAMA,” Karma yelled again.
“SHUT UP CHI, YOUR MOM’S NOT HERE, DO I LOOK LIKE YOUR MOTHER?” He asked, which made Karma stop to smirk. His friends were more than a little concerned.
“Papa,” Karma frowned after winking, “papa bas,” he meant sad.
“Yes I am sad because you’re being incompetent.”
Everyone was just listening, worried about what kind of dad Asano proved to be- but maybe it ran in the family.
“Baba ba,” he sniffled.
“The ice pack is melting on the couch Chi,” Gakushū said as he picked the pack off of the leather couch.
“BAbababa, ba no, shu,” that was his feeble attempt at telling Gakushū off. It was his couch anyway.
“We wouldn’t have needed the pack if you didn’t reach for the strawberry milk,” that caught his friend’s ears. Strawberry milk?
“Bababa mik.”
“You know you can’t drink that. Frankly it tastes like chemicals. Do you want to ruin your developing brain? If this doesn’t work out I could advertise you as a genius baby.”
“Hey Asano, we have to go,” they felt like they were intruding.
“Very well. I’ll be in class tomorrow, oh,” he decided that asking this question might help with his relationship secret keeping, “was Akabane at school?”
‘What a strange question for Gakushū to ask,’ was what all his friends were thinking, but they’d never admit that to him.
“No, he was probably skipping again. Good luck with Chi!” They hung up.
Karma burst out laughing.
“Very funny,” Asano grumbled and let himself lie down on the couch, “I don’t want to do this anymore Karma.”
“Pon,” he poked Asano, “pon,” Gakushū complied and gave him his phone. Karma realized he could type. He was very happy about this.
He typed it out and pressed the microphone.
“Gakushu, this is crazy, you look so hug.” Asano raised an eyebrow and sat up, looking at Karma.
“You could do that?” He sounded defeated, “THIS WHOLE TIME?” He groaned.
“Sorry Gakushi, my fingers are smal.”
“How did this happen? Are you some kind of witch?” He asked after sighing another few times. Then Karma began to type his response.
“I woke up hungy, so I cried. I dont remembr shrinking.”
“Did everything shrink?” He found himself asking, aloud too. Karma laughed.
“Unfortunately for you, yes.”
“I didn’t mean-“ he rubbed his temples, “at least your brain is in tact,” he said, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you didn’t understand me.”
“Yeah, but why Goichi?” In the silence between Asano’s answers and Karma’s typed up responses, Asano took a moment to examine his boyfriend. He was very cute.
Karma had the same red locks, they came down on his forehead just enough to give him bangs but keep his eyes in full view. His eyes were as clear as ever, shining in a colour he had only ever seen in Karma’s eyes. Sure, others shared the golden hue he had, but there was something sharp about them that always made Gakushū very fascinated.
“First name I could think of that wasn’t stealing from a classmate,” he explained, “I had a toy bear named Goichi growing up.”
Karma was typing again, and as his small fingers tapped across the screen, his tongue stuck out in concentration. It must’ve been very hard to type with such chubby hands.
“Did the principle get that for you?” Asano nodded his head in response.
He could remember back when his dad would carry him around and push him in the stroller that was now inside the Akabane household. He could remember running up the hill with Goichi and Gakuhou. It was a simpler time. Asano hoped that his father didn’t notice how he named his ‘son’ after a stuffed bear that was probably locked away up in the attic. He wished he could remember more of that than he did.
“He’ll notice I look like Karma.”
“Maybe I had a kid with you,” he said and before he could take it back, Karma smiled at him.
“They will probably think that your girlfriend cheated on you with me,” that was much more reasonable, and with the minds that his classmates had, it was probably going to be that way.
“I could hide your hair,” Gakushū offered.
“My eyes are a bit too much,” even Karma new the effect they had on some people.
“Can babies wear contacts?”
“I’m technically not a baby,” so it was settled, Gakushū would buy him violet contacts.
“Your facial structure isn’t the same as before, so you don’t look too much like yourself other than your, hm,” he inspected his boyfriend, “could I dye your hair?”
Karma scooted backwards.
“Over my dead body,” was what the look on his eyes said, and Gakushuu smiled.
“Temporary dye. A lighter shade of red,” he begged.
“It better wash out,” Karma typed in after a moment.
“I promise. If not, I’ll shave my head.” It was settled. Gakushū took Karma and put him in a stroller before they left the house for their reservations.
“You’ll look stupid, having dinner with a baby,” was the last thing Karma could type before Gakushū took his phone away.
“No phones at the dinner table, I hope you behave.” Gakushū had changed into a dress shirt and had put a tux on Karma, “and that you don’t spill anything on your tux, I spent more than I had to.” They walked in silence and Gakushū could hear Karma telling him that he didn’t have to go all out.
“Well I thought it would look cute, if you don’t like it you can take it off.” It was another twenty minutes to the restaurant with a rooftop view of Tokyo. It wasn’t cheap, and Gakushū had reserved one of the best tables for this day. It was unfortunate that he wasn’t spending it with a full sized Karma. “If I see anyone I know,” he said to himself, “I’ll jump.” He heard Karma laughing. “You sound adorable by the way,” he added.
“You’ll like the restaurant, it provides a view of your mountain,” he explained, “let’s just hope they don’t question why I don exactly have a date.” He realized that no matter how weird and undesirable it was to spend their first year anniversary this way, it was an interesting one, and one unlike any other.