Work Text:
Kirishima Zen was running like the devil was on his tail, except that he was rushing toward much worse than that: a very pissed little girl who was probably going to murder him.
Kirishima knew it would only be fair, he was nearly an hour late after all. He should have known better, it was not his first end of the cycle nor the first time he had to pick Hiyori up from some after-school activities that he had previously agreed to let her take and then completely forgot about. Hiyori had to quit multiple times because of that, even so she always said she was getting bored of it anyway. Kirishima felt really bad about that. Hell, was it his fault if his daughter was so resourceful?
Well, yes, probably.
The rink finally appeared before his eyes as he slowed down to take his breath right before the set of stairs. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the buildings of the city when he started to run up the steps, and the shadow allowed his mind to wander. Although Hiyori was always excited to try something new, this time she had seemed even more motivated than usual. She had not stopped talking about the rink and the ice-skating competitions and the new ice-skating class she had heard about from her friend Yuki -that was coincidently held by her now-retired favorite ice-skater- FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH. And of course, Kirishima being a doting -and desperate to give his hyperactive daughter something to unload her energy on- father, had accepted to let her try it out, even though the rink was nearly an hour away from their apartment. Needless to say he had some regrets at the moment.
Kirishima entered the building with ruffled hair and his jacket wrinkled, but his appearance was not really his main source of worry as he finally saw the very object of his thoughts. The little brown ponytail was bouncing around as Hiyori was speaking energetically with a tall man next to the counter, and she was so caught up in the conversation that she did not notice him. The man, however, saw him as soon as he stepped in.
Kirishima felt a shiver cross his entire body when their eyes met and the man frowned deeply. His gaze did not shift as he moved forward to place himself between Kirishima and the girl, crossing his arms over his chest in a clearly menacing posture. Kirishima was caught off guard and nearly backed down; it was like facing an angry mama bear trying to hide her cub -and the image was honestly kind of adorable-, except the cub was HIS, so there was no way he would let anyone get between them.
Kirishima was one step away from the other man, ready for the confrontation that was sure to come if he believed the irritated twitch on his opponent’s face. The man had just opened his mouth when...
“Daddy, you’re late!”
Hiyori got around the stranger and jumped into her dad’s arms, then immediately proceeded to scold him. The tension in Kirishima’s body vanished. Despite the late hour and the tiring exercises he was sure she had had to do, his daughter seemed as energetic as when he had left her this morning. He smiled as she took a step back to look him up and down.
“And what happened to you? You look like you’ve been caught in a storm!”
At the comment, something clicked in Kirishima’s brain and he looked up. As he had thought, the other man’s behaviour had changed: his arms had left his chest to hang on each side of his hips, his once stiff shoulders were more relaxed now and his frown had softened, but his face had also reddened and he was slowly shifting from one foot to the other, avoiding the father’s gaze.
Was it embarrassment that Kirishima perceived here?
“Daddy?”
Kirishima was brought down to earth by Hiyori’s worried voice and he felt a light blush invade his cheeks. He redirected his attention back to the little girl, but it was too late: Hiyori had caught him red-handed. Her smile was almost threatening.
“I totally forgot, but you two have never met before, right?” She took his hand in hers as she was speaking and pulled him forward. “I’ll make the introductions!”
When Kirishima looked up; he was directly facing the stranger, who still refused to meet his eyes. With her free hand, Hiyori gently grabbed the man's wrist as if to prevent him from running -Kirishima wondered if his daughter had noticed the discomfort that the poor guy was emanating- and smiled at them successively.
“Yokozawa-sensei, this is my dad! Daddy, this is Yokozawa-sensei, the ice-skating teacher!” She squealed happily.
The stranger -Yokozaw-san- finally turned his gaze in his direction and the two men stood there, facing each other in silence for a moment. The name sounded familiar to Kirishima, and he had a brief flash-back of countless evenings spent listening to Hiyori's unstoppable flow of compliments and praising words about some guy she was a big fan of, named Yokoz-.
Oh! The ex-ice-skater-now-teacher thing!
He felt his usual grin make its way to his mouth and he bowed slightly.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Yokozawa-san. My Hiyori can’t stop talking about you all the time recently, so it feels like I already know you, you’re almost part of the family.”
“Daddy!” Came the indignant cry of his daughter, red as a beet.
“Come on, my little rasberry, no need to be shy now!” Kirishima’s tone was teasing as he gently pinched her cheek.
The cheek in question was soon blown out, “You’re so embarrassing!”
A repressed laugh rang in the room and both of the Kirishimas nearly snapped their neck as they looked up towards its origin, but when the two pairs of eyes found Yokozawa’s face, the man had already gone back to the stern expression he seemed to always wear. Kirishima was surprised when he realized he regretted missing Yokozawa’s laughing face.
“Nice to meet you too, Kirishima-san.”
The man’s bow was far more professional than his. Kirishima could not help but take the chance to observe his counterpart: dark black hair, tall although still one or two inches shorter than himself, broad shoulders, strong arms, narrow hips and wow, those were some impressive thighs right here, maybe he should watch the championships with Hiyo next time. As Yokozawa straightened up, Kirishima looked up -not the time to be caught checking out his daughter’s teacher.
“I’m sorry Yokozawa-san but we should go now or we’ll miss the train.” He heard himself say.
“Oh, yes, of course. I didn’t mean to retain you.”
But despite those words, neither of them made any move to leave, both waiting for the other to go first. That was until Hiyori, who had opened her bag and was going through her stuff, breathed a displeased sigh.
Both men turned their attention to the little girl. “Is there a problem, Hiyo?”
“I forgot Yuki-chan’s bracelet in my locker, the one she gave me for my birthday…” The little girl pouted.
Kirishima opened his mouth but Yokozawa was faster, “I haven’t closed the locker room yet so you can go get it if you want.” Then the young man must have taken Kirishima's surprised face for consternation because he stuttered, “I mean, if it’s okay with your father of course.”
Kirishima’s gaze went from Yokozawa to Hiyori to Yokozawa again, and finally settled on Hiyori -who was looking at him with the biggest pleading eyes he had ever seen- and he smiled at her, “Of course, we’re not late yet so one or two short minutes are no big deal!”
The little girl immediately bolted from the room -probably to the locker room- as she thanked her father loudly. She disappeared behind a door.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Kirishima turned his attention back to Yokozawa, and he felt his heart skip a beat at the view: the strict looking man was smiling to where Hiyori had just left, and his smile was sweet and his eyes soft and for the first time since forever, Kirishima found himself out of words.
But not for long.
“So… You took me for some creep, huh?”
The smile was gone in a second, replaced by an annoyed pout as Yokozawa blushed and frowned once again -Kirishima was starting to think that the frown was part of his resting face- and turned towards him.
“You can talk! What kind of parent arrives an hour late looking like some weird guy?!” Yokozawa spat.
Then anger gave way to panic on the teacher’s face, and Kirishima assumed he had realized what he had just said to one of his students’ parent. His hands clenching and unclenching as he tried to find something to say were just too much for Kirishima and despite his best efforts, he could not hold it in any longer.
Kirishima bursted out laughing.
“Oh my god!” Kirishima managed to say between two fits of laughter, “ You should see your face right now, it’s priceless!”
Anger was instantly back. Yokozawa was clearly outraged now.
“YOU-”
“I’m back!”
Hiyori hummed happily as she closed the door behind her but she soon stopped in the middle of the room, her eyes going back and forth between her chuckling father and her very red teacher.
“What were you doing, you two?” She asked, then turned a severe face towards Kirishima, “You weren’t annoying Yokozawa-sensei, right Dad ?”
Ouch, being called ‘Dad’ meant he was in trouble.
“We were simply talking, Kirishima-kun, don’t worry.” Yokozawa interrupted, and Kirishima heaved a sigh of relief. “Your father was apologizing for being so late.”
The bastard!
Hiyori frowned in his direction, “I completely forgot but it’s true! I told you several times that practice ends at 7!”
“Sorry, sorry, I got caught up with work.” Kirishima said as his eyes were throwing daggers at the other man.
Yokozawa was good at pretending not to notice.
Hiyori sighed, “It’s okay, it’s not your fault after all…”
Kirishima knew what was going through Hiyori’s head at the moment and he did not like it. He was very aware of how much it meant for Hiyori to take this class and he hated the idea that she might have to give up yet another activity she loved only because of him.
“It won’t happen again, Hiyo, I promise.” He said softly.
“But you can’t be sure you won’t be stuck at work again, Daddy…”
A heavy silence took place as Kirishima tried to find some reassuring words to cheer her up, but nothing came.
“Hum, I’m sorry to interrupt but…” Yokozawa’s voice made Kirishima remember where they were.
“Sorry, Yokozawa-san, we won’t bother you any longer. Come on, Hiyori.”
“No! I mean, wait!”
Kirishima really hoped Yokozawa was not going to give him a lecture again, because he was already pretty upset and he did not think he would be able to stay polite much longer. He turned towards the man as he was looking at Hiyori, his eyebrows frowned, but Kirishima perceived no anger in his expression. Yokozawa faced him once more.
“If it’s okay with you, Kirishima-san, Hiyori can stay here with us after practice. I mean, when you can’t get out of work in time.”
For a second, Kirishima wondered if the man was joking, but Yokozawa did not seem like the type of person to make that kind of cruel jokes -or to make jokes at all, to be honest. His expression was serious, almost solemn, and Kirishima would have totally teased him if he was not busy considering the proposition. It would be perfect for him: he could finish his work without worrying about Hiyori’s whereabouts and well-being and Hiyori could pass the time doing something she loved under the supervision of a reliable adult.
“But, Yokozawa-sensei, I don’t want to bother you! You must have other things to do than look after me!”
Yokozawa offered her a reassuring smile, “Aikawa-san and I are used to staying here until late. I practice all evening and we clean up afterwards, so there’s no reason to worry, I assure you.”
Hiyori let out a little hopeful gasp as she turned her face towards her dad. Kirishima pretended to think about it, but Yokozawa’s gravity and his daughter's big brown eyes had already convinced him.
“Well, if Yokozawa-san proposes it himself, I see no reason to reject his offer.”
Hiyori danced for joy and hugged her father -as well as Yokozawa-san, who jumped at the sudden attack- with all the strength she had in her little arms before running out of the rink to scream her happiness to the world. Both watched her jump around behind the glass-doors and they shared a chuckle. Then Kirishima turned to face Yokozawa.
“Thank you,” he said, and this time his grin was not teasing, “you’re really getting me out of a hard situation.”
Yokozawa put his hands up in front of him. “It’s okay, no need to thank me. Work is work, it can’t be helped.” And despite his visible efforts to act like it was nothing, Kirishima had seen the slight blush on his face.
The two men exchanged their phone numbers -Kirishima had to remind himself that it was only in order to arrange Hiyori’s schedule when necessary- and said their goodbyes, then Yokozawa turned on his heels -oh my, the thighs are not the only impressive part- and left through the same door Hiyori had disappeared behind earlier. Kirishima stepped out of the rink and joined his daughter down the stairs. She grabbed his hand, the little bracelet tingling around her wrist as they made their way in direction of the station.
However, something was still bothering Kirishima.
“Say, Hiyo…”
“Hm?”
Kirishima grinned.
“Is Yokozawa-sensei single?”