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It all started when one of Kouichi’s classmates had boasted about his recent family vacation. The young Kozume never really cared about it when people showed off. He never had the reason to when he had a Switch Lite to play on during recess. But of course, they had decided to tick him off – just because he was the shy and quiet kid.
“Bet you Kozume never went on a family vacation like that!” Kouichi glanced up at the three boys in front of him. How Kouichi was tempted to throw something at their smug faces.
“I don’t need my parents to spend some money to bring me somewhere fancy, just to show me they love me.” He murmured calmly, turning back to his console. “And if you think I’m jealous, think again.”
Before the kid had a say or a comeback, the school bell rung and he had to scurry back to his seat before the teacher would walk in.
“Wise words, Kozume. Wise words.” Hitoshi, Kouichi’s childhood friend snickered from the table next to him.
“Shut up.” Kouichi sighed, turning to the board as the teacher walked in. But Kouichi would be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous.
He did. But just not a lot.
Kouichi stopped at the intersection, turning to the path that would lead up to his house before turning around, waving at the editor and Hitoshi behind him.
“I’ll be fine walking home from here, Keiji-san.” He reassured the father and son behind him.
“Are you sure?”
“You had to take a detour to bring me home. I can walk home from here.” He bowed down, saying goodbye to the two Bokuto before making his way home. It was one of those rare days where Keiji managed to finish work early and get to pick up his son. He had offered to walk Kouichi home as well but this was as far as Kouichi would let him.
He was grateful for Keiji, he really was. But right now, Kouichi would really like some peace and quiet to gather his thoughts – without the editor or his son commenting on how the 7-year-old was thinking a lot.
Kouichi slid the door open, announcing his arrival before taking off his shoes by the genkan.
“Welcome home!” There was an additional voice Kouichi wasn’t expecting. He gave the genkan a quick glance, his eyes widen slightly when he spotted Tetsurou’s shoes. He sped walk down the hall, hearing voices in the living room and peeked his head in to see both of his fathers were sitting by the kotatsu, discussing something but they stopped, turning to look at him.
“T-Tou-chan, you’re home early…” He was pleasantly surprised to see Tetsurou home before him for once. It was nearing the volleyball season so he knew his work had become more hectic and Kenma had been taking the role of cooking for a few days now.
“Yeah. I need to go home to discuss to our lovely sponsor here.” Tetsurou grinned, pointing at the frowning Kenma.
Kouichi gave the kotatsu a scan, aware of the papers scattering about. “I see… I’ll leave you two to it then.” Kouichi turned his heels and made his way upstairs instead. Completely unaware at the concerned looks on his parents’ face.
“He’s definitely hiding something.”
“Just give him time.” Kenma turned back to his tablet. “The kid will admit eventually.”
“Bet you he won’t.”
“Kuro, we’re not betting anything on our son.”
Tetsurou and Kenma didn’t really need Kouichi to tell them something when they happen to stumble upon Kouichi digging through Tetsurou’s office for some photo albums. Tetsurou was the one who spotted his son flipping through the albums while sitting on the giant office chair. He gave the cover a quick scan before making a mental note to give the album a look later.
“Feeling old or what?” Kenma eyed the album in Tetsurou’s hands when he walked into their room after a stream. He was surprised to see his husband sitting on the bed, flipping through the photo album.
“I saw Kou looking for something in this album. But I can’t pinpoint what.” He murmured, taking off his glasses and rubbed his bridge, grumbling. How was it that his eyes felt so strain already? Maybe he was truly getting old. “This album only has photos of us after we graduated High School and before we had him.”
“Maybe he just wanted to look at how he might grow up. With a hair like that, I’m sure he’s concerned if he’ll stuck with the rooster hair for life.”
Tetsurou let out a loud squawk, “my hair is my pride and joy! Besides,” he pointed at him accusingly, “you said you like my hair.”
“I will not deny nor confirm that.” Kenma crawled under the covers, “turn off the light and sleep or I’ll make you sleep under the kotatsu.”
“Don’t kick your husband out like that.” Tetsurou set the album to his nightstand and turned off the lamp.
One thing Kouichi could notice right off the bat was that, his parents have been surprisingly working overtime a lot lately. It was normal for them to work overtime, but Kouichi had never seen them working to the point of exhaustion that he would find Tetsurou passed out on the genkan one night while he was out to get some water. He knew Kenma was still streaming but knew he had to disturb his father – they need to bring Tetsurou to his bed or he’d catch a cold.
Kenma wasn’t any different. Kouichi would find Kenma working in his office more than usual too. He knew both of his parents are workaholic. But this was to the point that he was sent to Hitoshi’s house or even to his grandparents’ house for a few days because they were overworking and needed some quiet time.
“Maybe work has been piling up. Isn’t Kenma-san the owner of Bouncing Ball?” Hitoshi commented one day.
That was true. And he did remember hearing Tetsurou saying something about sponsorship so maybe that was why they’ve been overworking themselves.
“Kou!” Kouichi groaned, burying his face deeper onto the pillow at the loud voice. He was seriously craving sleep and didn’t need to hear his father being so loud first thing in the morning. It was finally summer vacation too. He deserved to sleep in.
“Go away, tou-chan.”
“You’re too much like Kenma.” He cackled, poking at the tiny body under the covers. “But wake up. I’ve already let you oversleep today.”
“Then five more minutes won’t hurt.”
“Nope!” Kouichi let out a yelp when Tetsurou had picked him up. He was trapped under the covers as well so he couldn’t even struggle as his father carried him downstairs.
“Tou-chan! Let me go!” He shot his father a glare but was ignored completely. He turned his head, noticing they were entering the dining room with a feast already prepared on the table. Kenma was already there as well, busy with a phone in his hand but looked up when he heard the two entering.
He could see the annoyed and pleading look his son was sending him. “Kuro, that’s not a nice way to wake your son up.”
“But birthday boy gets a special wakeup call!” He cackled, setting Kouichi down onto the chair. “Besides, if I didn’t do this, we’d be late.”
“Late for what?” He glanced at his father, scrunching up his nose when Tetsurou ruffled his hair with a small chuckle. “Besides…” He noticed a nicely wrapped box on the table. “You two never really…”
“How about open it?”
Kouichi eyed the both of them before glancing back at the box. He unwrapped himself from the blanket and reached for the box. Kouichi scanned it carefully, weighing it in his hands before settling it down to unwrap the ribbons.
“It feels like an empty box.” He murmured, lifting the cover up and stared at the piece of paper in front of him. Confusion immediately appeared on his face as he stared at slips of papers?
He reached for the slips, raising it up for better inspection and that’s when it caught his eyes.
Inside were tickets. Not just one, but three plane tickets. Kouichi blinked once, then twice as he read through them again. They were plane tickets for the entire family, due to fly in a few hours.
“E-Eh?” Kouichi read through it again to make sure he wasn’t dreaming before looking back up at his parents. “W-We’re going on a vacation?”
“It’s a family vacation!” Tetsurou confirmed, “we realized we’ve been quite busy and never really had some family bonding time.”
“B-But, how long will we be going?”
“A whole week.”
“A week!?” He stood up, “aren’t you two busy? You can’t just skip work like tha-“ He hissed when Kenma had reached over and flicked onto his forehead. He blinked through the tears, looking up at the unimpressed look on his face. “How are you so strong for a gamer…”
“You should seriously stop trying to act so grown up, you take too much after Kuro.” The streamer sighed, “I know we’ve been busy. But it’s our fault that we haven’t really spend more time with you.”
“But those Sundays I get with you two are enough…” The young boy was still trying to rub the sting on his forehead away. “Besides… Isn’t summer when you two are the busiest?”
“That’s why we’ve been working our butts off for the past few weeks.” Tetsurou chuckled lightly. “We planned ahead on what to do during the summer while we were gone. Those days where we sent you to Kotarou’s? We just wanted to plan everything without you accidentally walking in on us.”
Kouichi was honestly speechless as he glanced at the tickets in his hand again. He then looked up at his parents before jumping off the chair to run to the other side, tackling onto them both for a tight hug.
“Thank you, papa, tou-chan.”
Tetsurou hummed, rubbing his back with a smile. “Kenma is right. Don’t try to grow up too quickly. You’re still a kid so just stay being a kid a bit longer. Let us take care of you. You deserve to be selfish once in a while. We’re willing to make those sacrifices.”
“I know…”
“You can repay us once you’re older, though.” Kenma murmured and Tetsurou laughed. “Now start packing. We’re leaving for the airport in an hour.”
“Yessir!” Kouichi saluted, immediately dashing up towards his room.
Later when Tetsurou drove the family to the airport, what was when Kouichi had realized; he had never been on a plane before. So he was staring in amazement at the huge flying object in front of them while sitting in the waiting room.
“You looked like you just regressed back 5 years.”
“Don’t be mean to your son.”
On the plane was no different. Of course his parents were wealthy enough to book first class and gave him a very big and comfortable seat throughout the whole flight. For the whole trip, he would stare at the window, watching everything that was going by while both Kenma and Tetsurou took the leisure to catch up on some sleep. Even though the scene was still the same after 5 minutes.
“So?” Tetsurou carried their luggage into the villa, turning to see Kouichi standing by the terrace, taking in the sight before him. He smiled fondly, really reminded of how he had surprised Kenma all those years ago. The mesmerizing look both the father and son worn after reaching the villa was something Tetsurou will cherish dearly for many, many years.
“It’s a good view, right?” Kenma walked up, “there’s also that water slide if you want to splash into the pool.”
“There’s a water slide?!” Kouichi turned his gaze, staring at the huge water slide that connected to their own private pool. This time, Tetsurou had booked a different villa with their own private pool that had a water slide attached to it. They didn’t get the beach to themselves, but this will do. Public beaches will be fine when Kouichi would like to go and play with some sands and waves.
“Alright little man, let’s get change and we’ll jump in the pool!” Tetsurou hollered, earning a loud cheer from his son. The two bed-head quickly went to change into their swimsuit before Tetsurou watched his son climb up the stairs to the top of the waterslide.
“Y-You sure you won’t g-go with me?” Kouichi was instantly regretting all of his life choices, watching his father waddling into the pool, standing right in front of the slide.
“Don’t be scared! I’ll catch you!” Tetsurou reassured him, opening his arms. “Just slide down!”
Kouichi glanced to the poolside, seeing Kenma was comfortably lying on the pool chair, changing to an outfit suitable for swimming as well. The streamer gave him a short nod, pulling out his phone in the process. Welp, another traitor had been marked in this family.
“Come on, Kou!”
Kouichi took a deep breath as he settled down. He let the water run through him before pushing himself off, letting himself slide down. It was a lot quicker than he had thought but after seeing nothing but white plastic, he slid off and into his father’s waiting arms, causing a huge splash around them. It was scary but he had fun at the same time, letting out a huge laugh as soon as both of them emerged up from under the water.
“Again?”
“Again!” Kouichi cheered. Tetsurou help him out of the pool so he could run up to the slide again.
Kouichi truly can’t remember when was the last time he had so much fun, laughing so freely with both of his fathers with him. Well, more with Tetsurou than Kenma but seeing him smiling from the sideline was enough. Those weekends where they had tried to dedicate their times to be with him would never stand a chance. They still had work looming over them and wouldn’t be surprised when one of them had to leave because of an urgent work.
But here.
Kouichi was having fun with his parents. With nothing to stop him from this. No one or no stupid work can take his parents away from him. He had them all to himself.
“Kenma! Come join us in the water!” Kouichi waddled over with the two floatation devices on his arms, looking up the streamer with Tetsurou following him from behind.
“No.”
“Eh, join us, papa.” Kouichi pouted as Kenma walked over, kneeling down by the edge to push the damp hair away from his son’s eye.
“I like to be dry for once. But I’m fine watching you two.”
“No one ever says no to the great Kozume Tetsurou!” Tetsurou suddenly swam up, grabbing onto Kenma’s hand.
“Kuro, NO!” Kenma was pulled down into the pool, causing a huge splash with Kouichi being a poor victim. Kouichi wiped the waters away from his eyes and stared in surprise, blinking at the bubbles foaming up to the top. His parents then emerged up, Kenma completely soaked with his short-sleeved hoodie sticking to his body. “Kuro!” He smacked his husband but Tetsurou laughed instead.
“It’s no fun without you, World-Famous Kodzuken.” He leaned in, trying to get a kiss but Kenma had used his hand to cover his mouth.
“There is a kid here.”
“Kou won’t mind.” Tetsurou hummed, turning to his son. “Right Kou? We got your father to-“ He froze when he saw tears were streaming down the young boy’s cheeks. Concerns immediately etched onto both of their faces, quickly going over to him.
“Kou? Why are you crying?”
“I-I am?” He reached up to feel the tears. No wonder his eyes were a bit blurry and his cheeks felt hot. He struggleed to wipe his tears away, trying to stop but they kept flowing. “I-I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Tetsurou frowned, pulling him in while Kenma checked to see if they had accidentally hurt their son. Kouichi wasn’t a kid who cried often, even as an infant. So seeing him cry now really scared both of them.
“Kou, speak to us.” Kenma murmured softly, deciding to pick him up so they could get out of the pool. Kouichi immediately wrapped his arms around Kenma’s neck, burying his face onto the streamer’s shoulder. “Did we hurt you?”
A small shake.
“Did we scare you?”
Another shake.
Tetsurou and Kenma exchanged a look before turning back to their son. Kenma set the boy down onto the pool chair, grabbing some towels to dry him off after taking out his floatation device.
“Can you tell us why you’re crying?”
They could see Kouichi was thinking, trying to find the right words. “Earlier this year… A-A kid in my class showed off…” He started through the hiccups, trying to regain his breathing. “He showed off that his parents brought him to somewhere amazing for their Golden Week holiday.”
Both men stayed silence, Tetsurou’s hand continuously giving the young boy reassurance back rubs while Kenma was holding onto his hands.
“He then teased me… Saying how we never went out somewhere like that… I was mad. Not at you two but at him.” He murmured, “you two are two very busy people. I could never blame you for being busy. I already treasure those weekends we spend together a lot.” He let out a big sigh. “So when you two gave me a family vacation as my birthday present this morning, I was really happy.”
“Kou… You hid this from us?” Tetsurou frowned, “why didn’t you say anything?”
“I-I didn’t want to be selfish. And I saw how busy you two were so I didn’t want to say something so selfish.” He shook his head, a small smile then grow on his face. “I know it’s only the first day and we just got here. But I already am overwhelmed with happiness, that I get to spend time with you two.”
“You really are a handful, you know that?” Kenma tapped onto his chest. “I told you before, you’re allowed to be selfish. We’re willing to make sacrifices. No matter how busy we’d get, you’re still our number one priority.”
Kouichi nodded, looking up at Kenma with a smile. “Thank you for today. I really had fun.”
“We’ll have more fun in the next few days too.” Tetsurou gave his shoulder a squeeze and Kouichi nodded.
“I’ll look forward to it!” He then hugged onto the both of them, the biggest smile they’d ever seen on his face appeared. “I love you two so much.”
“We love you too, Kou.”