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Denji didn’t own a winter coat. Not only that, but he seemed to not care in the slightest. This fact seemed inconceivable to Aki- a person at such a high paying job not owning a winter jacket. Furthermore, it seemed to flick some paternal switch on in his head. He was getting Denji that coat.
So he got out of bed at 6 that Saturday. The sun wasn’t even up, but there Aki was, slinking into the dark. There was a sort of sensual stillness he felt, walking the block or two to the train station, watching the little snowflakes glow amber under the streetlights like fireworks- like embers. Little sparks of life, There couldn’t have been a sound for miles, save for the soft sound of snow crunching underfoot. It was quiet. He smiled.
But when Aki arrived at the Department store, he discovered a problem. Since Denji wasn’t there , not only did Aki not know what size jacket to get him, he didn’t know what kind he’d want.
When he was a kid, Aki was no stranger to freezing in the winter. Sure, he had hand me downs, but when the person whose clothes you're getting didn’t spend that much money on them in the first place, they weren’t the best quality. Aki would have to layer them all to hell to keep his teeth from chattering in the winter, and he was still cold . It sucked.
He knew that, growing up, Denji had even less than him. He could just see him, 10 year old Denji, laying on his box spring mattress, shivering in the cold and the dark. It must’ve been hell for a kid like him.
So he had to guesstimate . Aki’s thought process followed as such. Given that Denji was a teenage boy, he was reasonably skinnier than Aki (who was not only a grown man, but relatively muscular), so he decided to get his coat size one size smaller than his. When it came to the kind of jacket, the decision was much easier. Aki picked out a very nice waterproof, fur lined parka in Ruby Red (though it was more of a maroon than a ruby in his eyes).
And the whole time he was doing the math and pondering Denji’s tastes in outerwear and talking to the cashier lady, Aki was having a ball . He simply enjoyed the whole process of it all. Yep, he had totally become a father.
And that night, when Aki snuck back into the apartment, he was all but giggling like a schoolgirl. Trying his best to be quiet, he covertly stashed the bags away in his bedroom, a stupid smile plastered all over his face. He couldn’t wait till tomorrow.
The Hayakawa family loved breakfast, especially on the weekends. It was one of the things that made them really feel like a family.
So that morning, when Aki sat at the breakfast table with an excited smile on his face before having even a sip of his coffee, Denji and Power were on high alert. They glanced back and forth, before Power gulped and finally got the guts to speak up,
“Denji, I think Aki’s really lost it.”
“We did it! We drove him crazy!”
Aki laughed, putting the two at even more unease. “I’m- im not crazy! I promise! I’ve just got something special, ok? Here, gimme a sec.” Aki made his way down the hall and Denji and Power thought to themselves, ‘This is it. He’s gonna kill the both of us.’
“Tadaa!” Aki revealed the surprise from behind his back with a flourish, the red coat unfurling from his hands like a Persian rug. Denji stared at it for a second in confusion. What was he going to do with this? Aki sensed this and, in his best fatherly tone, gave him a good, “Go on, try it on!”
Aki made him zip it up and do a little fashion show, complete with a little twirl at the end. He smiled and clapped, while Power honestly couldn’t care less. Through the whole ordeal, Denji didn’t know what to make of it. This took Aki by surprise, so he (albeit somewhat nervously) asked, “So!! What do you think, Denji? Do you like it?”
After a beat, Denji chuckled, “Yeah!!” His face lit up like a Christmas tree. “This thing’s pretty cool! I had no clue you had such a sense of style , Aki!” Aki let out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding, and Denji tried to convince Power of how awesome his new coat was- she still didn’t care. Everything was well in the Hayakawa household, and Denji wouldn't be cold again.