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With him being his own boss and preferred to work from home most of the time, Kenma and Tetsurou never really needed to send their son to the daycare. Back before Kouichi could walk or even crawl around, Kenma would usually have an extra crib in his office or just have his son on a baby sling when he was feeling fussy. Working dad Kodzuken was the talk of the internet for weeks.
When Kouichi started moving around, Kenma would have him play in his playroom or on occasion, let him play in the corner of Kenma’s office – though on those days, Kenma had to make sure he stayed PG. But nonetheless, his fans still adored it and Kouichi would become the hot topic of the stream whenever he would just walk in and demanded Kenma’s attention.
“Papa…” A small tuff of hair appeared in the corner of the video. He huffed, seeing how Kenma was very much emersed in whatever flashy stuff that was going on in his other screen. The toddler reached up, grabbing onto his sleeve. “Papa!” He raised his voice again, yanking a bit harder.
It worked and Kenma had misclick, watching in slow motion as the main character die. Usually, he’d get mad or annoyed that he lost, but he knew he had bigger priorities now and turned to the side.
“May I help you?” He took off his headphones and paused the game, turning his gaming chair so he could face his son.
“Play with me.”
“Is that a question or a demand?”
“Uh…” Kenma watched in amusement at how Kouichi was taking his time to answer. “A request?”
Kenma chuckled, nodding and extended his arms to pick the boy up. He then settled his son onto his laps and shifted back to the screens where he could see the chat was busy saying their greetings to the new guest.
“Don’t bother saying your greetings. He can’t even read.” He hummed, grabbing his controller to quit the game. “Would you like to play some games, Kou?”
“Mario Party!”
“Good choice.”
Kenma had intentionally played bad so he could give his poor son a chance at winning. He wouldn’t admit it out loud but watching how happy his son would get whenever he managed to win the pro-gamer would make Kenma weak. He really would do anything to make sure his son was happy and bubbly like this.
On rare occasions where Kenma had a business trip and Tetsurou would get busy with work at the JVA, the Kozume do often asked their friends to look after their son. But choosing a babysitter was a whole different story – Kouichi would not stay still if he was with someone he was not comfortable with. And that narrowed down their options by a whole lot.
“I’m not going!” Kouichi shook his head, clutching onto Kenma’s shirt tightly as he buried his head onto his chest. “I want to be with papa!”
“Show me some love too, please~” Tetsurou pouted beside them, poking his son’s side and earning a whimper and a light slap. “But Kou, you know your father can’t take you.” He watched Kouichi tightening his grip on Kenma, his eyes shut tight and lips pursed. They both knew Kouichi understood that, but he was just simply too weary of the potential strangers he had to live with while both of his fathers were away on business trips.
“B-But I don’t want to stay with Daishou-san.”
“Then who do you want?”
“Bokuto-san…”
“Kotarou is in Osaka right now.” Tetsurou sighed, scratching his head. “And seems like Keiji is simply too busy with some deadlines, another kid in the mix would stresses him out even more.”
“Then Yaku-san.”
“He’s still in Russia.” Kenma hummed, making his husband sighed louder. He ran his hand through his hair, messing the somewhat-tamed hair to be even messier. He gave Kenma a scan and at his whining son.
“I’ll take him with me then.”
Kenma looked up, furrowing his brows. “Are you sure?”
“He obviously can’t attend cons; he’ll freak out at all the strangers and just the sheer amount of people.” Tetsurou murmured, “I’ll bring him with me. We are only going to Miyagi for a bit. I think I can keep an eye on him.”
It seemed like his proposal was approved when Kouichi turned to glance at Tetsurou, a little spark of hope in his eyes.
It was his first time ever riding the bullet train and Tetsurou was truly amused and did not expect how excited his son would actually get. Watching the way he would squish those chubby cheeks against the glass, watching the scenery change and just how fast they were going, Kouichi was amazed.
Tetsurou made sure to take plenty of pictures to send it to Kenma, as well as the forgotten Switch Lite on the seat. Maybe he didn’t need to be so worried about bringing his son to work with him. And maybe a reunion with some particular old rivals wouldn’t be so bad.
“We’re going to a museum?”
“I thought since we have some spare time, we could go see the museum. You like samurais, don’t you?”
“Not in particular…” He stared at the building that was slowly coming into view. He wouldn’t show it much on his face, but Kouichi was actually excited to be able to spend some time with Tetsurou. Out of the two parents, he definitely spent the least amount of time with the former blocker; mainly because Kenma was a stay-at-home dad most of the time. So getting to tag along with him to Sendai was like a wish came true.
Kouichi tightened his hold on his father’s hand as he spotted more and more people around them. He was walking closer to Tetsurou as well as they bought the tickets and entered the museum. But before they could go tour the museum, Tetsurou had decided to stop by the information desk.
“Who are we waiting for?”
“A special tour guide.” He saw the grin growing on his father’s face. That was definitely an evil smirk. Kouichi decided to wander around the lobby to see what the museum was offering. “Oya, there he is.” Tetsurou’s smirk widen at the approaching blond.
The said blond immediately spotted him and immediately scrunched up his nose as he approached him. “Tetsurou-san, what are you doing here?”
“That’s not a nice way to greet your customer, Tsukki.”
“You’re a special case.” Tsukishima sighed, “were you the one who requested me?”
“I want to have a pro to show my son around the museum.”
“You brought your son…” He watched Tetsurou calling for Kouichi. Tsukishima followed his direction and saw a small boy running over.
“What is it tou-“ Kouichi spotted Tsukishima, flinching and immediately ran to hide behind Tetsurou’s legs. His gold eyes blown wide and shaky as he gave the giant a scan from head to toe.
“Kou, do you remember him?”
A very vigorous shake.
“The last time I saw him, he was only 2 or 3…” Tsukishima hummed, “so I’m not surprised he doesn’t remember me. But he sure is tall for his age…” He could see the discomfort in Kouichi’s eyes. For some reason, the blocker could sense that Kouichi was starting to fear him.
“Anyway, I don’t have much time left, can you show us around, Tsukki.”
“Please stop calling me that.”
“Nope.” Tetsurou cackled, following Tsukishima around. For the tour, Kouichi was very much weary of Tsukishima and the blocker could tell he was being analyzed by the grade schooler. He had gotten warning from Tetsurou that the boy would be very hard to open up to but Tsukishima should have known how similar he was to Kenma.
Tsukishima knew he was truly getting old when he would try to catch a conversation with the young Kozume but instead, would just get the cold shoulder. Though in this case, it was more of a nervous glance and just the silent treatment. No matter how much he tried to show him the cool and interesting stuff that the museum had to offer, Kouichi would just hide behind Tetsurou. He’s definitely way harder to deal with than his twins.
“Here.” Tsukishima knelt down and gave Kouichi a small katana keychain. “This is a katana from the Date Clan. This usually sells out pretty quickly.”
Kouichi stared at the keychain and towards Tsukishima. He hesitated before looking up at his father.
“If you want it then take it. Remember to say thank you.” He gave his head a soft rustled.
Kouichi turned back to Tsukishima and walked up slowly. He still had his head down low but reached his hand out to grab the keychain.
“T-Thank you.” He whispered and Tsukishima could truly see the change in Kouichi’s eyes when he had the keychain in his hand. He wondered if he had gotten his trust yet.
“Do you mind if we go see him again in the future, Kou?”
“N-No…” Kouichi shook his head, a small smile on his face. “H-He’s interesting…”
With Tetsurou’s work in Miyagi for the next few days, Kouichi often got to hang out with Tsukishima and in turn, slowly opening up to the blocker. And with him opening up, he was more outgoing and let his filters off when around the blond.
“Tsukki-san!” Kouichi beamed, waving his hands as Tsukishima walked up to the information desk, scrunching up his nose.
“What are you doing here?”
“It is very nice to see you too, Tsukki-san. You’re doing well today.” Kouichi grinned and Tsukishima gave the lobby a quick scan. “No, my father is not here with me today. I am in your care until you meet up with him for dinner.”
“Stop reading my mind.”
“But you were going to ask anyway.” He pointed. “Saves me the trouble of hearing your questions if I just answer it right away.”
“I miss the times when you used to be so shy and reserved.”
“Now, now, Tsukki-san, no need to dwell so much on the past.” Kouichi followed Tsukishima away, “I’m looking forward to your teaching again for today.”
“I’m pretty sure you already have the whole history in this museum memorized.”
“Debatable.”
Tsukishima let out a huge groan, “You’re annoying just like your father.”
“I shall pass on that compliment.” Kouichi snickered, making the museum worker groan even louder. How Tsukshima really missed it when Kouichi was just too shy to even make eye contact with him just 3 years ago. Though, he didn’t really mind if he was Kouichi’s go to babysitter. His twins very much enjoyed his presence and enjoyed having someone to geek out too sometimes.
After doing some paper work, with Kouichi mainly reading on some other history books about the artifacts in the museum, Tsukishima brought Kouichi with him to the gym where the Sendai Frogs were currently practicing.
“Say Tsukki-san, did tou-chan really taught you how to block?” Kouichi watched the ball flying towards him carefully before getting in stance and dig the ball up. He shifted his glance over to the blocker, watching him passing the ball back and the two went on a comfortable passing drill.
Tsukishima gave himself time to think for a moment before answering, “in a way, yeah. He was the one who taught me how to block better. So I do owe him for helping me to get where I am now.”
“Kotarou-san too, right?”
Tsukishima nodded, “In a way him too. But Tetsurou-san was my main teacher.”
“So are you enjoying volleyball right now?” Tsukishima caught onto the ball and looked at the young boy in front of him. He wasn’t really expecting that question. Was he really enjoying volleyball? He should be right? If he’s still doing it right now, playing for a professional team.
“I guess…”
“That’s not a really nice answer, Tsukki-san.” Kouichi huffed, crossing his arms. “Be more honest with yourself.”
“Are you implying I actually enjoy the sport?”
“Well, I have been watching your matches a lot – you do seem to enjoy it.” Kouichi murmured, “and from tou-chan’s stories, I know he’s proud of how far you’ve gotten ever since the day he met you. You used to treat volleyball as just a club. But look at you now.”
“I mean, doesn’t mean I truly enjoy it…”
“If you don’t enjoy it, then why are you still playing now?” Kouichi looked at him, “if you don’t enjoy it, why did you decide to master the float serve that Tadashi-san used to specialized in back in High School? That was his signature move for your server and block tactic, right?”
Tsukishima narrowed his eyes, “why do you know so much?”
“I’ve been watching your match against my fathers a lot. I want to learn from watching you all play.”
“Then, let me ask you. Do you like volleyball? Do you enjoy it?” Tsukishima straightened up to wait for his answer. Being only 10, Kouichi shouldn’t really be in a club yet. Sure he has volleyball blood in him and considering how close to volleyball his parents’ jobs are, Kouichi was introduced to the sport since a very young age. But just because his parents both played the sport and have jobs that are somewhat related to it, doesn’t mean Kouichi was obligated to do the sport itself.
“Of course I do.” Kouichi seemed confident in his answer, “Tou-chan taught me that volleyball connects people together in one way or another. It brings so many benefits to so many people.”
“You sound like a true conman in the making…”
“But because of volleyball, you met my dad, right?” Kouichi’s mouth grew to a grin, “because of Kotarou-san and tou-chan, you learnt to enjoy volleyball. To finally have that moment where it got you hooked!” His fists tightened, raising it up as his eyes sparkled. “And then you used what tou-chan taught you against him! If that isn’t a satisfying boss battle, I don’t know what is!”
“And you just had to ruin that with your gaming metaphor…” Tsukishima sighed. “But you sure know a lot.”
“When your father works in the JVA, you don’t know how much access to the past matches archives you have.” Kouichi’s eyes glint up with a sinister smirk. “I have your whole High School volleyball history in my hand.”
“Now you sound like an evil overlord.” Tsukishima then tossed the ball up, swinging his hand back. “Come on, let’s warm up a bit more if you want me to teach you how to block.”