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If Kei weren’t 195(.3, as his coach liked to remind him) centimeters tall and a semi-professional athlete, the impact to his lower legs might have sent him to the ground. Which, in retrospect, might have been better for his health and sanity since someone else would probably come and handle his juvenile assailant while he was fretted over by the new girl at the front desk.
But that didn’t happen, so Kei looked down into eyes an impossible shade of blue and his life was probably changed forever. Probably, he thought, because the idiot he was about to meet was probably stubborn enough to find his way to Kei in any alternative timeline.
A young boy was rubbing his nose while looking up at Kei, face scrunched in irritation.
“Ouch!” he said.
Kei blinked at him.
“You ran in to me, you know,” he answered. He looked around for any adult who could be responsible for the small menace, but nobody nearby looked either related enough, panicked enough or a combination of the two to make Kei think they were his guardian.
“S’not my fault you’re so big,” the kid mumbled, now looking away petulantly.
“And it’s not my fault you’re so small,” Kei shot back. “Too small to be going around the museum on your own — where are your parents?”
“Tobio-ji says they’re gone.”
Well that was no good. Did he mean like gone home already or gone gone? If the kid hadn’t run into him headlong and then acted like a brat about it, he’d crouch down, get on this kid's level and maybe give him some comfort. But that wasn’t the case, so he remained towering over him.
“Well, is your Tobio-ji around?”
The kid pointed over his shoulder. “Yeah, he’s back that way.”
“So what were you running towards then?” Kei asked. He’d admit he was curious — they were deep in the museum, without an exit, vending machine or water feature (the usual suspects for children on the loose) in sight.
“Dunno,” he said, shrugging. Oh. He was one of those kids. “Just kinda felt like running.”
“And you thought a crowded museum was the place to do it? You didn’t want to go outside?”
“Well there are dinosaurs here,” the kid argued. He wasn’t wrong — it was a natural history museum. “And if I went outside, Tobio-ji wouldn’t know where I was.”
Kei looked around once more for any men who seemed like they might be missing a child, and once again failed to identify one. “Do you think he knows where you are now?”
The kid mumbled something under his breath.
“Eh?” Kei asked again.
“He fell asleep,” the kid ground out from behind clenched teeth.
“Some uncle he is,” Kei commented.
The boy’s face immediately contorted into childish rage. “He’s the BEST uncle! Don’t you say that about him!”
Kei’s eyebrows rose, surprised at the defense of an uncle the child seemed decently eager to be away from.
“Well then, let’s go find this ‘best uncle’ of yours.” Kei held out a hand that the kid reluctantly reached up to grab. “Lead the way.”
They walked through the large hall with the Woolly Mammoth, past the exhibits showcasing ancient creatures of the deep water and towards the Cretaceous hall.
On one of the benches lining the walls of the hall was a man who looked strikingly similar to the boy pulling him along. Dark-haired, similar skin-tone, handsome features with an even younger child on his chest — both of them fast asleep.
“Tobio-ji,” the kid announced once they were standing in front of the pair. Closer inspection of ‘Tobio-ji’ revealed a spot of drool at the corner of his open mouth, wrinkled clothes and a hint of under-eye bags. The man, ostensibly around Kei’s own age, was clearly tired. What he was doing with 2 young kids was less obvious.
Kei kicked the sole of his shoe.
‘Tobio-ji’ startled awake, clutching the back of the baby’s head as he sat upright and looked around.
“Does this belong to you?” Kei asked, gesturing towards the kid still holding his hand.
“Kazuya!” the other man gasped. With his eyes open, Kei saw that they were the same deep blue as his nephew. His gaze landed on Kei, still blinking away his previous slumber. “I’m so sorry —”
“He was just exploring one of the exhibits by himself,” Kei interjected. “No harm done.”
‘Tobio-ji’ visibly relaxed with the affirmation that his nephew had not gotten into trouble, running a hand through the ink-black mop on top of the boys head. The baby he cradled, though young, had hair the color of caramel, and remained fast asleep.
“I’m sorry,” Tobio told him. “Thank you for bringing him back.” He bowed as best he was able while still holding the younger child to his chest. “Kazuya, you can’t just run off like that!”
“But,” the boy started, fingers clenching around Kei’s, “but you were asleep with Yuzuki and I wanted to see the stegosaurus!”
So he had had a destination in mind.
Tobio sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Did you see it already? Let’s go there now.”
Kei prided himself on being aloof, on being removed from the people around him. An ‘emotionally distant asshole,' his friends had called him. But something in him softened and bent with the way the man in front of him looked at his nephew.
He didn’t need to ask — the kid’s parents were gone gone and this was an uncle trying his best to keep his family together, to keep his nephew afloat in what must be a tumultuous time. Tired enough from taking care of two young kids that he fell asleep in public, on a bench in a museum. Tired enough to take advantage of any time the youngest was napping to take a short nap himself.
Tobio stood, leaning back to support the child in his arms the whole time, and Kei was surprised to see that he was only slightly shorter than himself. He reached a hand out towards his nephew, who grasped the much larger palm with his unoccupied hand.
Kazuya, as Kei now knew his name to be, did not let go of Kei.
“He works here,” Kazuya explained, facing his uncle, and how the kid had sussed that out Kei would wonder in unvoiced curiosity. “He can show us where to go!”
Twin pairs of blue eyes settled on him, both hopeful, both looking for guidance.
“Fine,” he rolled his eyes. “It’s this way.” He tugged on little Kazuya’s hand, getting the group walking. “You like the stegosaurus, kid?”
Through the happy chatter of the young boy, recounting every fact about every dinosaur he could remember, Kei looked at the uncle. He was happy enough to be pulled along, happy enough to remain silent with the occasional nod towards his nephew. Happy enough to occasionally bounce the baby sleeping against what appeared to be a well built chest, if the breadth of his shoulders was any indication.
He dropped the family off in front of the mount of the spiny-plated dinosaur and resumed the trek he was making back to his office — the one that was interrupted by a wayward nephew. He passed the front desk and paused.
The brochure holder stared back at him, full of museum maps in multiple languages, community events, and nearby attractions. Down in the lower right corner, though, was the one that had caught his eye. He closed his eyes, sighed and picked it up before turning around.
“The museum has an after school program twice a week,” he explained as he held it out for ‘Tobio-ji’. The small family was standing in front of the informational placard, Tobio reading out what was written while Kazuya interrupted every few words to ask a question. “I figure the kid might like it.” Kei glanced down at the boy, basically dancing on tip-toes to see over the guard rail that separated him from the castings of dinosaur bones. “Figure you might like having the kid out of the house for a bit.”
The fingers that clenched the pamphlet were tense, white-knuckled, but his eyes only spoke gratitude.
“Thank you,” he spoke, choking the words out. “Thank you so much — for this, for finding him. I’m…I’m really grateful.”
“It’s my job,” Kei demurred, but he felt himself blushing nonetheless.
“Even still.” The other man swung the backpack Kei hadn’t previously noticed from over his shoulder, tucking the pamphlet carefully into the one of the zippered pockets. He glanced away hurriedly when those blue eyes found his again, instead landing on the baby, now awake and sucking on a thumb, free arm wrapped around her uncle’s neck. Those same massive blue eyes were locked on him — on his hair, most likely, since kids always seemed to find the blond curls fascinating — as her guardian readjusted everything.
“Even still,” he continued. “I appreciate it. I’m Kageyama Tobio.” He held out a hand for Kei to shake.
He toyed with a few different replies. ‘Your nephew told me,’ or ‘oh, it’s not Tobio-ji?’ or even an ‘ah’. But there was a reason he gave Kageyama-kun (as he now knew him) the information for the extracurricular program he was spearheading.
Kei reached out and grabbed the hand held aloft in front of him.
“Tsukishima Kei.”
