Chapter Text
5.
The long-haired man lays in his bed debating whether he should continue laying down in his bed or get up and have a cup of coffee quietly before it gets noisy. Jakurai sighs as he gets up from his bed, he listens to any noises outside, finding none he walks towards his bedroom window and opens it to allow the fresh air to enter both his room and fill his lungs, a small smile tugs his lips as a gentle breeze hits his face and goes to the bathroom to get ready.
He emerges from the bathroom ten minutes later freshly showered with a hair towel around his head, wearing a cream knitted turtleneck pullover long sleeve sweater, black trousers, and his faithful purple llama slippers that Jiro thought were cute and refused to leave the store without getting them for Jakurai. He walks towards the kitchen and starts the coffee machine as he listens to the weather report- the day will be a warm sunny one with a small chance of a light shower in the afternoon.
Jakurai pours himself a cup of coffee and hums quietly to himself as he starts taking some ingredients out of the fridge to start breakfast, Yotsutsuji and the kids would wake up in the next 20 minutes and its always a treat when Jakurai makes breakfast but with work being hectic latterly he hadn’t been able to see them much less cook for them as he would be the first one to wake up and the last to return home.
Since today was his day off he decides to spoil them and made pancakes, as he flips the pancakes in the pan, Yotsutsuji is the first one to enter the kitchen followed by a yawning Saburo who blinks a few times before he runs to Jakurai and greet him with a sleepy smile causing Jakurai to stop and bend to the younger boy’s height to ruffle his hair.
Yotsutsuji smiles and greets him good morning before he takes over the pancake flipping when Ichiro enters the kitchen, Ichiro mumbles a quick ‘good morning’ to them as he makes a beeline towards the fridge to get an apple as he starts talking with Yotsutsuji about recent events in school. Saburo is content to sit next to Jakurai as he reads an article in the medical magazine, only asking the elder about the meaning of some words.
The sounds that were being heard right now were Ichiro’s chatter and the soft sizzling of the pancakes. Jiro should be awake right now or he would ruin his sleep schedule, Jakurai frowns a bit before turning to the boy glued by his side,
“Saburo-kun shall we go check on Jiro-kun? It seems that he would need help to get up today”
Saburo nods his head and leads the way to Jiro’s room, when they reach the room Jakurai frowns again because it’s too quiet, normally his second youngest would be running around the house as he teases his youngest or would be making a ruckus in his room because he lost his jumper or was looking for his socks. Saburo knocks the door three times and when he doesn’t get a response from his brother, so he decided to just enter.
Jiro’s bedroom was messy as usual, socks were scattered everywhere and there are some football players cards around Jiro’s desk, the curtains were left closed and Jakurai notices the cocoon of blankets on the floor near Jiro’s bed. Saburo goes to wake his older brother while Jakurai opens the curtains and window.
“Jiro-nii, wake up! Are you trying to prank me because I don’t think Papa will appreciate it right now” Saburo says as he tries to uncover the cocoon his brother lies in, Jakurai motions for Saburo to allow him to do that, the boy cheeks turn into a pink colour before he moves away and glares at Jiro’s cocoon with a pout.
“Jiro-kun, it’s 7:30. I made pancakes and both Yotsutsuji-kun and Ichiro-kun are waiting for us in the kitchen, you don’t want to miss breakfast right? You have asked me to make breakfast earlier this week so I did and don’t forget about our trip today, Amemura-kun had sent a list of things we should do at the amusement park today” Jakurai says as he gently pulls the covers off Jiro who groans with pain and tries to open his eyes but fails to do so “Papa, I feel cold and my throat hurts”
Jakurai asks Saburo to bring him his medical bag quickly, he touches Jiro’s burning forehead and frowns. Saburo passes him the bag and he take the thermometer and sticks in Jiro’s mouth to confirm his suspicions, his frown deepens when his eyes meet the 37.8 C0 he starts wondering how his son could have gotten fever as yesterday was quite warm.
“It seems like Jiro-kun will need to stay in bed today because he has fever, Saburo-kun do you mind asking Ichiro-kun or Yotsutsuji-kun to make a bowl of porridge for Jiro-kun here while I finish his examination”
“Ok!”
Few minutes later Ichiro brings the porridge and frowns when he sees his younger brother laying down, he places the tray down and begins to clean his brother’s room while the older man wakes Jiro to feed him, Jiro whines that ‘he is ok and doesn’t need to be babied because he is not Saburo’ but eventually opens his mouth to be fed by Jakurai.
After giving Jiro his medications, Ichiro and Jakurai leave the Jiro to rest and head towards the living room. A yellow note in placed neatly on the fridge written in Saburo’s bubbly but neat hand-writing that said that he’s out with Yotsutsuji to get some groceries. Out of all of them Saburo’s handwriting is the neatest-and cutest-, Jiro follows closely, Ichiro’s look kind of semi-cursive while Yotsutsuji and Jakurai’s Sousho handwriting is getting more and more unreadable by day, but he guesses that come with their job, perhaps he should join a calligraphy group sometime soon or ask Hitoya to help out because even after suffering in both medical and law school his handwriting still held on to its elegance.
Ichiro then offers to help Jakurai blow dry his hair and the two head to his room, while the warm air hits his hair Jakurai notices that there seems to be something on his second eldest’s mind.
“Ichiro-kun is there something you want to tell me?” he says carefully “You usually like talking about Harai-kun’s mishaps for the week but you have been quiet today”
Ichiro’s mismatched eyes widen in shock as he stares at Jakurai’s reflection before regret fills his features “It’s my fault…” Jakurai frowns at the answer but waits for Ichiro to continue
“I-I was hanging out with Kuko yesterday in the arcade and have lost my sense of time until it started raining and I remembered that I have forgotten to pick Jiro from his football practice. I also forgot my umbrella so we had to run in the rain and when we arrived home, Jiro refused to change his wet clothes in favour of watching a football match that was on TV and he said he will shower in a bit, so I didn’t pressure him enough and went to take one myself. When I got out of my room it seemed like he did the same but didn’t dry his hair well and the AC was on too…” Ichiro chokes out and looks away to blink the unshed tears “I swore to not let them down and yet I have once again failed them and now Jiro is sick because I was too caught up with my life, my younger brothers should be my top priority”
Jakurai bites his lips in thought, he shouldn’t have taken that extra three hours shift yesterday, had he done that he could have picked Jiro up and allowed Ichiro to continue hanging out with his not-so-secret boyfriend, it’s rare that Ichiro gets to act his own age as he had always been burdened with responsibility since he was young, Hitoya had been quite concerned when he first met Ichiro during the adoption process. Kuko had once told him that Ichiro had always been putting off his own happiness for his brothers and had been emotionless because he feels like that his strong façade would break if he allowed his emotions to show but ever since getting adopted by Jakurai, Ichiro had been smiling more brightly and allowing people to help him--it’s still a rare occurrence but that it should be counted since he always refused back then --.
Jakurai had promised to make sure Ichiro lives comfortably and get to enjoy the same life his peer group get to live, but it seemed like he had failed to do that.
“It’s not your fault Ichiro-kun, its mine, I finished early yesterday but decided to see if anyone from hospital staff needed extra help, its my duty as your guardian and yet… I have failed you once again, Ichiro-kun is still young and should be able to enjoy his youth”
“But-”
“Yotsutsuji-kun had wanted to see Jiro-kun play football yesterday but I took an extra three hours shift so he had to stay too. I’m such a bad father to you three, I have once again prioritised work above our family, I rarely spend time with you and don’t eat meals with you, I come home late and only pass by your room to wish goodnight after you sleep”
Ichiro turns off the hair dryer and stands in front of Jakurai, frustrated, tears spilling from his eyes
“Sensei… y-you are already the best out there…you didn’t refuse my request when I came to you and asked you to help me take my brothers out of the system, you provided for us a warm and comfortable life that I have only dreamed of whilst in the orphanage, you always attend Saburo’s orchestra performances and also attended my choir competitions and helped me pass high school. You and Yu-nii try to attend Jiro’s matches as much as possible and even go with him to practice matches on the weekends, you are already the best dad out there and if you call cooking and taking care of my sibling and the house while you are at work a burden you are wrong because it’s the least I can do to repay you for all you did for us”
Jakurai could only smile at the boy in front of him before pulling him down to embrace him.
A weak knock on the door followed by a set of mismatched yellow and green eyes pokes through the door, there Jiro stands in his Captain Tsubasa’s pyjama
“Oh, Jiro-kun! Are you feeling better already?” Jakurai says smiling at the youngest as he runs into his chest causing Ichiro to laugh and pull him closer, Jiro complains about his nii-chan’s snot ruining his pjs but doesn’t move away from the hug
“Papa! I’m feeling better, my throat only hurts a little bit and when I went to get water, the house was quiet and thought everyone left!”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah! I even thought that everyone went to the amusement park already!” Jiro pouts and Ichiro snorts while Jakurai does his best to hold his laugh
“And why would we do that Jiro? You know Saburo would cry if you don’t come with us”
“You know we can’t leave Jiro-kun behind after all, it is his idea to go to the amusement park today, but it seems like our trip will be rescheduled to tomorrow” Jiro whines “Instead we will spend today here at home and do a movie marathon”
“Can Hitoya-san come?!”
“You mean bring Jyushi-kun?” Ichiro teases “I don’t think Hitoya-san is free today, so I guess it’ll be a family bonding tonight”
“Can we cuddle?! And make popcorn Papa?!” Jiro starts jumping with excitement and Jakurai can’t help but smile wide at his son’s reactions “We can do that Jiro-kun, we can even try to build a fort tonight”
“YAAAYYYY!!” Jiro screams in excitement but coughs “Sorry for worrying you and nii-chan this morning”
Jakurai smile and ruffles Jiro’s hair, Jiro grins happily and jumps into Jakurai’s lap while Ichiro picks the hair dryer to continue his previously neglected task.
Half an hour later a gasp is heard from the door and Saburo walks in exclaiming that ‘Jiro-nii is taking papa’s attention!’ and how it’s ‘Saburo’s turn!’
Yotsutsuji chuckles as he films the entire exchange and then decides to calm everyone by saying that it’s a whole family hug. Jakurai had never felt more content in his life than he is right now.
Truly, the sky is still the same no matter what.