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“It’s almost five o’clock. Where have you two been?” Kakuzu asked when he heard the kitchen door slide open. He caught sight of a flash of blue hair and was greeted with a running hug that would’ve knocked the wind out of him had he not been ready. Damn, Fuu was getting strong.
“Hidan took me out for ice cream on the way home from school!” Fuu chirped.
“You know that you’re not supposed to have any snacks after school. It spoils your dinner.”
“Oh, let the kid live a little, Kuzu.” Kakuzu looked up to find Hidan stepping through the doorway, two half-melted ice cream cones in his hands. “Besides, she earned it. She had a rough day at school today, so I decided to buy her a treat.”
Kakuzu grimaced at the nickname that Hidan insisted on calling him but didn’t comment on it. There were more important matters to focus on right now. His attention switched back to Fuu, who had stopped hugging him and was now wiping her ice cream stained mouth on the sleeve of his shirt — gross, and he’d just bought this shirt recently too.
“What happened at school today?” he asked. He tried to ask it calmly — Hidan always said that he asked questions like a police interrogator and it probably “stressed the kid the fuck out” — but he couldn’t stop the worry from etching its way into his tone.
“I got into a fight with a boy at recess,” she said, “but I won!”
“Fuu, that’s —” Kakuzu could hear himself getting louder and took a deep breath. “Why did you get into a fight?” he tried again.
“Well —” she glanced back apprehensively at Hidan who gave her a nod to keep going, “— there’s this boy in my class who’s really annoying. He always says things to make me mad, and today at recess he said that I couldn’t play kickball because he was team captain and he wasn’t letting any girls play, especially me, because girls aren’t strong enough to play kickball.”
“Okay…” Kakuzu could already tell where this was going.
“So I challenged him to a fight and said that if I win, I get to be team captain instead of him. That way me and the other girls can play. So me and him went over to the dirt field and fought, and I wrestled him to the ground, but then a teacher saw what we were doing and took both of us up to the principal’s office. We had to stay there for the rest of recess, and we have to go there tomorrow too.”
“If you didn’t want the consequences, you never should have fought him in the first place,” Kakuzu said simply.
“But the worst part is that he says that I didn’t win because we weren’t able to finish the fight, which means that I might not even get to be team captain next time we play. But I did win — because I was able to wrestle him to the ground. Hidan said so.”
“Yes, well, Hidan shouldn’t be encouraging this type of behavior,” he said with a pointed glance towards the man leaning against the doorframe. Hidan only smiled back with a big toothy grin. “The good news is that you don’t seem hurt, but promise me that you won’t get into any more fights. The last thing I need is to get called down to your school to be told that my daughter is a delinquent.”
Fuu fixed her gaze on her feet. “I’m sorry,” she muttered.
Kakuzu sighed. He knew it was an act, but he hated seeing her so dejected. He thought that perhaps he was a little harsh with her, but another part of him thought that maybe he’d just gone too soft since taking her in.
“Go hurry and wash up,” he said, patting her shoulder. “I made your favorite tonight, and I don’t want it to get cold.”
Fuu immediately perked up at that and gave him an okay! before racing out of the kitchen and down the hallway. Kakuzu couldn’t suppress the warm smile that spread across his lips as he watched her leave. Yeah, he’d definitely gone too soft.
“You’re a bad influence on her,” he said to Hidan as soon as he believed her to be out of earshot.
“Hey don’t act like you’re not proud of her. I can see it on your face,” Hidan said. He shut the sliding door with his hip and dropped the ice cream cones in the trash. “Besides, third grade is rougher now than when we went to school. You need to get your hands dirty sometimes. You know, ‘desperate times’ and all that.”
“I’m surprised you even made it to the third grade,” Kakuzu scoffed.
“Is that a joke, old man? Didn’t know you knew how to make those.” Hidan grinned and licked the melted ice cream from his fingers.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“I know.” Hidan’s tone was suddenly muted, and his smile faded into something softer, almost bittersweet. “Sometimes I wish I did know more about you, but I get it. Opening up to people…it’s hard, and I don’t blame you for being scared.”
Kakuzu wanted to shoot back that he wasn’t scared, but when he really thought about it, that’s exactly what he was. His past was a touchy subject, to put it lightly, and the only things Hidan knew of it were things he could piece together himself from what precious little Kakuzu shared with him, usually in vague comments, usually when he was drunk. But Hidan never pushed. Kakuzu could tell that he wanted to, but he always held back, which was odd for a man known for his lack of inhibition. It made him wonder what kind of past of his own Hidan was holding inside.
“The good thing is — ” Hidan said, interrupting Kakuzu’s thoughts. He had at some point crossed the kitchen and was now standing in front of him “— I have all the time in the world to learn.”
Kakuzu studied the magenta eyes that were gazing up at him, and in them he found only patience and warmth. Kakuzu wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve such things from a man that could have given them to anyone else, but Kakuzu was a greedy man, and he wasn’t about to question it. He felt Hidan’s hands trace up his arms, chest, and shoulders until they came together to rest around the back of his neck. He pulled the hair tie holding Kakuzu’s ponytail out in one swift motion and ran his fingers through the long brown locks. Kakuzu sighed into the touch.
Hidan took the opportunity to guide Kakuzu’s head down and capture his lips in a chaste kiss. He pulled away quickly before that beautiful mouth was able to suck him in, and he littered pecks across Kakuzu’s cheeks, jawline, and neck.
“Fuu could come out any minute. This is highly inappropriate,” Kakuzu said.
“I know, I know.” Hidan’s words tickled against his neck. “It’s just you looked so irresistible in your chocolate stained shirt, I couldn’t help myself.”
Kakuzu swatted Hidan’s arm, and Hidan disentangled himself from him, but not before giving him one last kiss on the cheek.
“I’m gonna go wash up. Call me when the kid’s out,” he said and disappeared down the hall.
Kakuzu went about plating dinner until he heard Fuu’s light footsteps as she entered the room.
“I’m sorry for fighting,” she said as soon as Kakuzu fixed his attention on her. “And for getting ice cream.”
Kakuzu huffed out a laugh. “It’s okay. I’m not mad at you for fighting, and if anyone should apologize for getting ice cream, it’s Hidan.”
“I like Hidan,” she said, and then she hit him with the biggest, saddest eight year old eyes he’d ever seen. “Please don’t be mad at him!”
It took all of Kakuzu’s self control to keep a straight face. “I’ll try my best.” He then bent down and cupped his mouth like he was going to tell her a secret and said, “I like him too.”
“Can we keep him? Please?”
“If he wants to stay.”
“Do you think he does?”
Kakuzu thought about the first time he brought Hidan home to meet Fuu. Hidan had said before that he didn’t care that Kakuzu had a child, but Kakuzu feared that when he actually saw her, when Fuu was no longer just a name attached to funny stories but a real human being, Hidan would realize that this was more than he’d signed up for and tell him that as nice as things had been, it just wasn’t going to work out between them. Instead, Hidan had taken the three of them to the park to play frisbee, and Fuu had come back looking the happiest Kakuzu had seen her all week. The last thing Hidan had said to him that day was, “Next time I’ll take you and the kid out for some dinner. She’s a blast.”
He thought about the first time he ever cried in front of Hidan, delirious and piss drunk. He hadn’t even realized he’d been crying until Hidan had quietly sat down next to him with a tissue and wiped his cheeks. Kakuzu didn't say a word. He only sat in the dark bedroom, hunched over, rubbing the tattoos on his forearms until they turned raw. Hidan knew that you only got those kind of tats if you did time, but he didn’t ask for details. Kakuzu has still not been able to bring himself to tell him about them.
He thought about how, despite everything, Hidan had stayed. Despite everything, he had picked Fuu up from school today and bought her ice cream. He had looked at Kakuzu, with his work hair and exhaustion lines and stained shirt, and called him irresistible. He had kissed him and told him he would still be here whenever Kakuzu was finally ready.
Despite everything, he loved him.
“I think he does,” Kakuzu said, and his heart felt warm.