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Satoru knows that he’s at a large disadvantage when it comes to parenting. For starters, most of the parents he’s familiar with don’t have to do their homework during nap time or stop to buy diapers on the way to class, but not all of his struggles are so dramatic.
It’s actually pretty mundane compared to a lot of the hardships they’ve been through thus far, but Utahime’s really, miserably sick.
She came down with it earlier this morning, managing to get through about half of her day before she called Satoru to come get Akiko. Satoru had quietly excused himself from class, and after bringing Utahime some medicine and water and packing Akiko’s bag, the two of them returned to his lecture, which dissolved into playtime the second Akiko saw Suguru and started screaming and chanting, “Sugu! Sugu! Down, Papa, down! Sugu!”
With a sigh, Yaga let them all go early for the day. Shoko went to attempt to nurse Utahime back to health, while Suguru decided to hang out with Satoru.
The two of them walk shoulder-to-shoulder back to the dorm rooms, and Akiko is happily perched on Suguru’s hip. The little traitor.
“Do you get sick?” Suguru asks Satoru suddenly. “I’ve never seen you get sick.”
“Not really,” Satoru explains. “It’s my infinity. I have it up in a lot of public places so I don’t really get exposed to germs.”
Suguru narrows his eyes at him. “Didn’t you spend the night at Utahime’s apartment two days ago? Did you have your infinity up the whole time then?”
Satoru thinks on it, flushing red at the memory of his head between Utahime’s thighs, both of them trying to be quiet as Akiko slept peacefully in her room.
“There were times when it was down,” Satoru admits.
Suguru snickers. Then says, “Back up, dude. You’re gonna get me sick.”
“Well so is she,” Satoru retorts, pointing to his daughter. She looks rather cozy, her thumb shoved into her mouth as she rests her head on Suguru’s shoulder, one of her tiny baby hands playing with a strand of hair that she’s managed to pull out of his bun. “I don’t see you putting her down.”
Suguru considers that for a moment, probably noticing the puddle of drool expanding on the shoulder of his jacket. Then, he turns back to Satoru with a shrug. “She’s cuter than you.”
“Hey!”
X
Shoko comes to his dorm about an hour later to both collect Suguru and tell Satoru that Utahime should be feeling better in the morning thanks to a little healing and some warm soup. Satoru thanks her, and is incredibly impressed when Akiko only cries for about ten minutes after Suguru leaves.
Eventually, Satoru gets her to calm down, and the two of them play with some of her toys, and when Satoru thinks he deserves a bit of screen time, he pulls out one of his many toddler-friendly DVDs and pops it into his laptop for Akiko to watch. Utahime hates when he lets her zone out to TV shows, but Satoru at least needs to get his reading done on the most powerful cursed techniques of the early 19th century.
Yeah, it’s riveting.
He decides that the TV show about the fuzzy little rabbit is much more interesting after about twenty minutes, so he tosses his textbooks to the floor and plops Akiko on his chest so they can watch together. Akiko’s completely zoned out, her big, blue eyes focused fully on the laptop screen. Satoru rubs her soft tummy with his hand, and in turn, she holds onto his thumb. It’s really damn cute. He even manages to get his phone out without disturbing her to take a selfie. He sends it to basically everyone, receiving an enthusiastic “Aww!” from Suguru, a “Cool” from Shoko and absolutely nothing from the probably-sleeping Utahime.
Akiko pops her head up after the show ends and says, “Papa, I hungry.” So off they go to eat.
The lovely food service workers at the tech school normally make one or two choices for all of the teachers and students, but as soon as they see Akiko, they’re practically tripping over themselves to make something more child friendly. Akiko is presented with chicken nuggets and rice and someone even manages to find her an ice cream bar.
Satoru’s only a little jealous, but he knows there’s no way Akiko’s going to finish all of that food, and he’s happy to help!
After, the two of them walk around campus, “sharing” (okay, Satoru does eat most of it) the ice cream. Akiko does a lot of running around, and Satoru keeps up with her, following behind her with large steps that make her giggle.
The sun’s just setting when Akiko sits herself down in the middle of the sidewalk, looks up at Satoru, and then starts to cry.
Satoru is completely and utterly confused. He leans down immediately to scoop up his daughter, checking her everywhere for bumps or bruises as he tries to settle her.
“Baby, you have to tell me what’s wrong. I can’t fix it if I don’t know,” Satoru tells her, and this seems to work. Akiko’s cries stutter and start to slow.
After a moment, she manages, “I want mommy!”
Satoru’s heart does a funny thing in his chest, mostly out of how precious and heartbroken Akiko looks, but a little out of jealousy… just a little.
“Mommy’s sick, Kiki,” Satoru tells her, and then he realizes that shit, he wants her mommy too. “But maybe we could go say hi.”
Akiko lets out a delighted squeal, and Satoru starts off toward Utahime’s on-campus apartment.
Satoru lets himself in, signaling to Akiko to be quiet as he turns on a light and sets her down.
Of course, she takes off running and screaming, “Mommy! I’m back! Mommy! Papa here!”
Satoru sighs, and quickly follows her.
He doesn’t know how she manages it, but Utahime looks beautiful, even though she’s still sick. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes heavily shadowed, but even as she visibly drags herself out of sleep, Satoru can see her natural gracefulness, the way she automatically starts to smile when she sees Akiko. She’s gorgeous, and she’s all Satoru’s.
The thought makes him happy, overly-excited, antsy. He climbs into the other side of the bed, caging Utahime in from the other side with his arm. “Gojo, you were supposed to take her so that I could sleep,” Utahime tells him, but Satoru can tell that she’s not really mad.
He presses his face into the crook of her neck, smelling her sweaty skin. He kisses there, just a soft touch of his lips. “We missed you,” he admits, because it’s easier to mumble the words into her skin than it is to look her in the eyes and admit it.
“You’re both terribly needy,” Utahime says, sighing.
Akiko giggles, bouncing up and down on the bed. “Mommy here! Mommy here!”
“What did you feed her for dinner?” Utahime asks, laughing a little at Akiko’s antics. “Ice cream?”
“Um,” Satoru starts, and Utahime turns in his grip to look at him. She raises an eyebrow, and Satoru decides that the painting on the wall behind her head looks pretty interesting. “Yeah, actually.”
“Oh, really?” Utahime questions.
“I ate most of it!” Satoru tries, and Utahime just snorts a laugh.
Satoru cups her cheek with his hand, turning Utahime to face him. “Hi,” he says, grinning down at her.
Utahime frowns. “What’s gotten into you?”
Satoru rolls his eyes, leaning down to place a soft kiss to Utahime’s mouth. “Am I not allowed to miss you?”
Utahime huffs. “Fine. But if you’re going to stay here, you should at least put up your infinity. I really don’t want you to get sick.”
Satoru quickly leans in to kiss Utahime again, this time adding a bit more oomph to it, getting Utahime to part her lips so he can slide his tongue inside. When he pulls back, her cheeks are stained pink. Satoru is incredibly proud of himself.
“Too late, Uta!” he says. He wraps his arms around her body, snuggling into her. She settles into him, making room for them to be comfortable in the bed without knocking Akiko off the other side, and it may be quiet, but Satoru hears her sigh happily.
The feeling of rightness swirling through Satoru’s body is so strong it’s almost overwhelming. He puts on the TV for Akiko, getting her snuggled up between them, and it’s so good that Utahime doesn’t have a single complaint about screen time. Eventually, Utahime’s sick body betrays her again, lulling her back into sleep. Satoru yawns. He’ll just close his eyes for five minutes…
At first, Satoru thinks he’s so uncomfortable because there’s a baby foot pressing against his cheek, but as he moves around and sits up, he realizes something horrible.
“Utahime!” He whines, shaking her awake. “Now I’m sick too!”
Utahime peeks one eye open at him, and then closes them again, laughing softly to herself. “Serves you right.”
“Hey! This isn’t funny! Utahime!”
Akiko giggles in her sleep.