Chapter Text
It was a warm and sunny summer day. Fulgur was out on his usual daily walk with Dog when on the neighbourhood's notice sign he noticed a new flyer. Deciding to check out the new flyer, Fulgur was shocked to see that it was from an orphanage that was located about a 2-hour drive away. Still having decided to continue reading he learned that the orphanage was looking for volunteers that would be able to help with entertaining and taking care of the kids there.
Having grown up in an orphanage until he was adopted by his parents, he knew the loneliness that these children feel. The longing for a family is something you cannot describe and can be understood only by those who were orphans at one point in their lives. Fulgur was brought out of his thoughts and back to reality by Dog who had started pushing against Fulgur’s cybernetic legs and whining. “Sorry boy, c'mon let’s go home,” Fulgur said to Dog who got the memo that they were now going home. While lost in his thoughts Fulgur had decided that he was going to go to this orphanage, even if it was a 2-hour drive from his home. He made a point in his mind to ask the employees there if he could bring Dog along as well, to cheer up the kids just a little more.
Once Fulgur had returned home with Dog, he headed towards the kitchen to grab a glass of water and plan what he needed for tomorrow. He went to his room upstairs to look for a decent bag where he could put everything. Fulgur found a decent-sized black backpack where to put everything. He grabbed some water bottles and snacks at home, making a point that he should stop by a store to pick up some more snacks to give to the kids at the orphanage and some other things he needed for himself. It was starting to get late and knowing the long journey he has ahead of him tomorrow, Fulgur quickly went to shower and went to sleep with Dog sleeping on the floor right next to his owner.
The next morning Fulgur woke up to his alarm at 6 am. Fulgur got out of bed and started heading downstairs to the kitchen to give Dog his breakfast before making and eating his own. After Fulgur was done with breakfast he went to change before bringing Dog out on his morning walk. On the way back home Fulgur stopped by his brother's place, which was a few houses away from Fulgurs, to drop Dog off and made his way home to get the things he needed. Once Fulgur had everything he needed, he headed to his car and started his journey to the orphanage.
It took Fulgur a total of 2 and a half hours to get to the orphanage, but that was due to him stopping at a store along the way to pick up some snacks and treats for the kids as he had wanted. Walking into the orphanage he was greeted by a reception and a waiting room that was painted in bright colours. Fulgur approached the first worker he saw and introduced himself, “Hello there, excuse me, I’m Fulgur Ovid. I saw your flyers about volunteering yesterday and decided to come down here and spend the day with the kids.” Hearing this the employee cheered up and welcomed Fulgur to the orphanage and showed him the way to where the kids were, explaining that they were looking for volunteers so that the kids would see some new faces around here and would be able to socialise more.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I brought some snacks and treats for the kids, is that okay?” Fulgur asked to make sure, to which he got a positive answer from the employee whose name he learned was Lorene, “yes, that’s alright, just don’t give them too much, otherwise, they’ll get a sugar rush.”
Walking into the children's area Fulgur saw many different children and how everyone was doing something of their own. The first kid who noticed the employee and Fulgur had fluffy looking and a mix of purple-pink and magenta-coloured hair, his eyes were also each a different colour. The boy approached them both and quietly introduced himself before asking, “Hello, I’m Uki Violeta, who are you?” Fulgur introduced himself to Uki and as the both of them were talking Lorene knew that they were going to get along well.
For Fulgur the day went by very fast and by the time Fulgur had to leave and start heading home, it had felt like only an hour went by while playing with all of those kids. Fulgur only could hope that this brightened some of the kids' day and gave them more hope for the future.
As time went on Fulgur kept visiting the orphanage once a week due to the distance he had to travel, but every time seeing those kids' smiles made Fulgur feel like the time spent there was worth it. He couldn’t help but be happy whenever one of the employees informed him that one of the kids had been adopted. Every time he became closer and closer to the purplish-pink and magenta-haired boy. Fulgur always told many stories to the kids and the boy was always there keenly listening. Each time Fulgur visited the orphanage the boy was the first one to notice and run up to him. The boy even picked up on what day and time Fulgur always visited and every week like clockwork the boy was out and waiting for Fulgur in the waiting room.
Just like every week Fulgur arrived at the same time on the same day and walking in as habit he looked to the usual spot where the boy sat and couldn’t help but smile and chuckle at seeing the sleepy boy sitting there. Fulgur quietly greeted the employee at the reception who greeted him back and quietly walked over to the half-asleep boy who hadn’t noticed Fulgur’s arrival. “Hey there, Uki, good morning sleepyhead, you know you could have stayed in the play area or the bedroom quarters to sleep longer if you were tired,” Fulgur started speaking to the boy softly, as soon as he heard Fulgurs voice perked up awake, and Fulgur couldn’t help but ask, “What were you doing that made you so tired bud? You’re usually fully awake and energised at this time.” Hearing the question Uki quickly grabbed something out from his pocket and presented it to Fulgur, “Here! I made this for you, Fufu! I made you a bracelet so that you would always remember me!” Hearing this Fulgur couldn’t help but smile, “Thank you Uki, it’s gorgeous, would you do me the honours and put it on my wrist then as well?” Uki was happy to hear that Fulgur liked his gift and put the bracelet on Fulgur’s wrist and smiled. Fulgur remembered that he also had a little gift for Uki in his bag, took it off his shoulder and opened it. Uki was curious as to what Fulgur was doing, but soon enough Fulgur brought out a little treat shaped like a jellyfish and presented it to Uki, “Here’s a little gift from me, I saw this at the store and immediately thought of you, since you mentioned that you like jellyfishes.” Uki was ecstatic to receive this gift from Fulgur and as he held it in his small hands and adored it in his mind, Fulgur couldn’t help but smile even more from how wide Uki’s eyes had become, just like an ocean where jellyfish swim, or the sky that’s full of stars. Fulgur got Uki’s attention and mentioned that they should probably head to the playroom to join the rest of the kids.
Recently Fulgur had been thinking about how close he and Uki had become. How Uki always tried to get his attention to show him something. Fulgur knew how he always looked forward to seeing Uki in the waiting area whenever he arrived at the orphanage. Fulgur was thinking about adopting Uki, it had already been on his mind for a while. He thought about whether he could do it and honestly there wasn’t any reason not to do it. He had a house, so he had a room that he could give to Uki, he had a stable job and income, he didn’t live too far away from the nearest school, he lived in a nice neighbourhood, and his group of friends and brother would get along with Uki well, he knew them good enough to know that, and most importantly he loved Uki. Fulgur loved the little boy and all of his antics to get his attention. And so Fulgur had decided and his decision was set in stone. He was going to adopt Uki today.
Once again the day was nearing an end and again Fulgur had to leave for a week. Uki hugged Fulgurs leg and asked sadly “Do you have to leave Fufu?”, “Yes, I’m sorry bud, I have to go some, but I promise I will come next week again alright?” And reluctantly with a lot of coaxing Uki let go of Fulgur’s leg. Fulgur said bye to all of the kids and started making his way out and as usual, stopped by the reception, but this time with a different goal compared to the typical goal of saying goodbye to the employee there. “Hey, I was wondering if I could adopt Uki, would that be okay?” hearing this, the receptionist perked up, “Finally, I was wondering how much longer it would take you before you crack and adopt Uki. Don’t think we don’t see how close you both are.” Fulgur couldn’t help but chuckle knowing that it was the truth. “The process is quite long, it can take up to 2 years to finish the entire process, but if the home check and your background check the legal department does on you is good, you can sign the first documents and bring him home next week” Lorene, the receptionist for the day, informed Fulgur. “Sounds great, do I need to prepare anything special in my house for the check or not?” Fulgur asked. After a while, Fulgur walked out of the orphanage and started the car ride home with the information that nothing much needed to be done, just have to check that all dangerous items are put in places where Uki wouldn’t be able to reach. Fulgur happy with how everything turned out arrived home and spent the rest of the evening playing around with Dog in the backyard before going to sleep.
The week dragged on for so long yet it also flew by in no time due to all of the people coming and going from his house for all the house checks. Although this week was gruelling and nerve-racking his house was deemed perfectly safe and the adoption process could continue.
Soon, the day Fulgur would be able to bring Uki home would arrive. That day walking into the orphanage he was awaited as usual by Uki in the waiting room. They chatted for a little while and headed towards the playroom. The day went about as usual, with stories upon stories, game after game, yet for Fulgur, the evening couldn’t arrive soon enough. As Fulgur impatiently waited the evening arrived eventually. Like always Uki sadly clung to Fulgur’s cybernetic leg and Fulgur couldn’t help but chuckle as he slowly started making his way to the bedroom area to get Uki’s belongings. Entering the bedroom area Fulgur immediately could tell which bed is Uki’s, the big pastel purple jellyfish plush was a big clue. “Do you have a bag, bud?” Fulgur asked Uki, who shook his head in answer, still clinging to Fulgur. “Alright, here’s my bag, put your things in there ok? Though the plush won’t fit, I’ll carry it though,” Fulgur told the confused boy with a smile. Uki, confused, still did as Fulgur told him, yet he couldn’t think of why. Once everything was packed and Uki insisted that he can carry his plush by himself, they started walking to the waiting area. In the reception area, like usual, Fulgur waved bye to Lorene and started his way out, but Uki stopped in his tracks. Fulgur noticed Uki’s absence and turning around he called out to Uki, “Uki! C’mon, what are you waiting for? Let’s go home.” At this moment Uki understood what was happening. Uki realised that Fulgur was adopting him. Uki’s eyes dilated before he started crying, to which Fulgur panicked, “Hey, bud, calm down, everything is okay. You’re coming with me to our home. I have a big dog as well, he will be extremely excited to meet you.” Fulgur attempted to calm Uki and ended up pulling him into a hug. Soon enough Fulgur managed to calm down Uki and they started their journey home.
During the entire journey, Uki couldn’t help but watch everything outside the car window, every once in a while pointing out some things that were confirmed by Fulgur. By the time they arrived at Fulgur’s house, the sun had already set, yet Uki had been fully energised by the excitement. “We’re here, bud, when we walk inside don’t get scared, I have a big dog, his name is Dog, he will run at us and try to jump on us, give him a few moments because he will sniff you all over, he is friendly so everything will be okay,” getting a quick nod from Uki, Fulgur got out of his car, took his and Uki’s things from the backseat and went around the car to get Uki. Once Uki was out of the car and the car was locked, they made their way to the house and as soon as Fulgur unlocked the door Dog pounced on top of him. Barely being able to keep o both of his feet Fulgur pet Dog “Hey Dog, I missed you too boy, look, Dog, this is Uki, he will be living with us from now on, so you better protect him ok?” Uki carefully approached Dog before sticking out his hand for Dog to sniff him, so that he would learn his scent, before petting him, “His fur is very soft!” Uki said in awe. “Yeah, it is, now let’s go inside where it’s warm, I’ll go make us something small to eat and then let’s go to bed ok? We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
Once they went inside and ate the next question arose, which room should Uki have? Fulgur brought Uki up to the second floor and showed him the 2 empty guest bedrooms he had, “Uki, choose which room you want and it will be yours. Your room. If you want you can stay in my room tonight. We’ll go get stuff to decorate the room you choose as yours tomorrow.” “...I want to stay with Fufu today and can I choose the room tomorrow?” Uki asked hesitantly, to which he got a confirmation and they both headed to Fulgur’s room to sleep the night away.
The next morning, when Fulgur woke up, he found Uki clinging to his arm still deep in sleep. Fulgur usually would have started getting ready for the day already, but this time he decided to stay in bed until Uki woke up to make sure he didn’t scare him by not being there when he woke up. While waiting for Uki to wake up he decided that he should probably text his brother to inform him that he was able to bring Uki home yesterday. After texting his brother he received an excited reply almost immediately. Since Uki was still asleep, Fulgur decided to order a few things for Uki’s room online. Fulgur wanted to surprise Uki. Fulgur knew how Uki liked stargazing and jellyfish. By the time Fulgur found and ordered everything he needed Uki had slowly started to wake. “Good morning, Uki, did you sleep well?” Fulgur asked Uki in a whisper to not startle the half-asleep boy, and all he got was a sleepy hum and a shallow nod. While Fulgur softly urged Uki to wake up with the idea of breakfast Dog, who was sleeping by Fulgur’s bed, had also woken up with a big and loud yawn, which neither Fulgur and Uki couldn't help, but laugh at it earning a whine from Dog.
Once they both finally got out of bed and changed out of their pyjamas and into their clothes for the day they started making their way downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast while being led by Dog, who was excited about his breakfast. “What would you like for breakfast, Uki?” “Uhh… can we have pancakes?” “Of course, we can…” their conversation slowly continued while Fulgur started preparing the pancake batter before they were interrupted by Dog’s whines for his breakfast. “Uki, do you want to try feeding Dog?” “Mhm! I do! Can I?” “Yea, in the last floor cabinet on that end there is a box with Dog’s food, inside it is also a special measuring cup. Fill that cup and then pour it in the silver bowl over there, one is enough by the way.” Once Fulgur explained that to Uki quickly got to work still being supervised by Fulgur in case something happened, but seeing that Uki easily was able to do it Fulgur started cooking the pancakes and secretly adding some blueberries and chocolate chips in a few. A few minutes passed in silence between Uki and Fulgur, in the background there played a song that Fulgur put on while waiting for the pan to heat up, and the sounds of Dog eating his breakfast went through the kitchen. While waiting for Fulgur to finish making the pancakes Uki sat on one of the bar stools by the kitchen island, which Fulgur helped Uki get on since Uki was too short to get up there by himself. Soon enough Fulgur finished making the pancakes and served them up in front of Uki, before grabbing plates for them both as well as forks and a knife for Fulgur to cut up Uki’s pancakes a little bit if needed, even if Fulgur did make them small, but some ended up spreading out too much. “Thank you for the food, Fufu!” Uki said cheerfully as he took the fork that Fulgur was handing him and grabbed a pancake, one that had blueberries in them and started eating. “You’re very welcome, bud. Now be careful while eating, you don’t want to choke on the pancake now do you?” Earning a quick shake of the head from Uki, Fulgur stabbed his pancake with his fork and started eating. Both of them ate quite quickly, Fulgur eating mostly the plain pancakes and letting Uki have the ones with blueberries and chocolate chips.
By the time they had eaten all of the pancakes, Dog was starting to get restless waiting for his daily morning walk. “I’m going to go and take Dog on his morning walk around the neighbourhood, do you want to come as well or would you rather stay here at home?” Fulgur asked Uki as he started getting dressed to go outside. Fulgur took Uki running to put on his shoes as a sign that he also wanted to come with them. Fulgur fondly watched Uki try to tie his shoes by himself before he kneeled and helped him do it, afterwards handing Uki his jacket. While Uki was putting on his jacket Fulgur went to grab Dog’s leash and clipped it on the collar that was around Dog’s neck. Once that was done Fulgur quickly checked that everything in the house was turned off and that Uki was dressed appropriately for the current weather before they made their way outside and started the walk and tour for Uki around the neighbourhood. While walking around Fulgur showed Uki some houses of the people he knew, including Fulgur’s brothers and his friends' houses, explaining that those were his uncles' houses. Uki was really happy to hear that he had an uncle. Even multiple! Uki had never expected that he would ever become a part of such a big family. Once Fulgur had shown Uki the most important houses, they started their way back to their home.
When Fulgur and Uki returned home Fulgur unclipped Dog’s leash before Dog ran off somewhere, probably to take a nap, thought Fulgur. While they were walking home, Fulgur told Uki that they were going on a small trip to the store today, since they needed to pick up some groceries and some stuff to decorate Uki’s new room. Uki, was a little hesitant when agreeing since he’s never exactly been to a place like that. A place that has a lot of people that aren’t children, but are adults. Uki’s worries were somewhat calmed by Fulgur who promised that they won’t go to any big shops today, just 2 small stores and since it was still quite early in the morning, not many would be there if it wasn’t empty. Once Fulgur put away Dog’s leash and grabbed both his car keys and wallet, they both headed out the door once again, this time getting in Fulgur’s car and starting their way to the shops. During the drive Uki kept getting lost in his thoughts, noticing this Fulgur started a small conversation with Uki. “What’s got you in such deep thoughts, bud?” “Hm? Oh, I was just thinking about a few things.” “Maybe I can help you get the answers to those things?” “Uhm… are my uncles… nice?” Uki hesitantly asked after a while of silence. “Yes, they are nice. They like to joke around a lot, sometimes even causing trouble. But they’re very nice, they love helping others and always give their support when it is needed.” Fulgur fondly answered both from thinking about how his friends and his brother were truly the best people he knew and the fact that Uki was asking about his uncles already. Hearing this Uki smiled, but soon that smile disappeared and worry replaced it once again. “Do you think that they will like me?” Fulgur was taken aback by the sudden question of that nature, but the shock was quickly replaced once again by fondness, “They will love you Uki, I’m pretty sure they already do love you, even without meeting you yet. I had told them that I was adopting you, I didn’t say a lot about you since I wanted you all to get to know each other naturally. Not by them knowing so much about you while you know nothing about them except where they live.” Once again, hearing Fulgur’s answer Uki smiled, and this time the smile stayed. “Will I meet them soon?” came Uki’s last question, “Yes you will, one of them is currently away due to work, but I promise that once they all are home I will invite them over, that is if they don’t decide to barge into our home before I manage to do that. Oh, yeah, that happens every once in a while, but you’ll get used to it.” Fulgur gave one last answer before continuing, “We’re here Uki, see it’s not a big shop, plus there’s only one other car here, that might be one of the shop workers car’s, so no need for worry alright?” Uki nodded and they got out of the car, Fulgur locked the car and they made their way inside.
Once inside Fulgur grabbed a shopping trolley, so he wouldn’t have to worry about having to carry anything, and they started making their way down the first aisle. “Uki, if you see anything that you like you can grab it okay? If you can’t reach it or can’t properly see something that you noticed, ask me and I’ll hand it to you, okay?” “Okay…” Uki gave Fulgur a quiet answer, and Fulgur couldn’t help but chuckle at Uki’s shyness. By the time they reached the snack aisle, Fulgur had found most of the things he had on the list, that were food items, except a few things that the shop didn’t have in stock. Uki had asked about a few things he didn’t know about, getting more confident about it knowing that it’s not bad to ask questions and that Fulgur will gladly answer them all as best as he can. Uki hadn’t asked anything much. Uki had asked for one thing that had been on Fulgur’s grocery list anyway. Uki had asked for strawberries, so Fulgur grabbed an extra case of strawberries. One case for what Fulgur wanted to make and one for Uki to snack on, well one and some extra, since Fulgur didn’t need a whole case of strawberries for the recipe. While looking around in the snack aisle Fulgur noticed something, “Hey, Uki? Did you like the big lollipop I got you that one time? The one that looked like a jellyfish?” “Mhm! I did, it was really tasty!” he got an excited answer from Uki. After hearing Uki’s answer, Fulgur reached out to grab something, leaving Uki confused by the sudden question, before Fulgur showed what he had taken. It is another one of the jellyfish lollipops. “Look at what I found,” Fulgur smiled when he saw Uki go from confused to excited “Can I get that, Fufu?” “Of course, bud,” and so, the jellyfish lollipop found itself in Fulgur’s shopping trolley as the second thing Uki had asked for. “We should get some extra snacks for when your uncles come over, they tend to raid my pantry whenever they’re over…” Fulgur murmured to himself. Walking around the aisle Fulgur couldn’t decide on what to get for them, “Hey, Uki, what do you think we should get for your uncles?” while Uki was thinking over he remembered that he should go back and grab some more negi for Sonny, who usually raids and eats all of his supply. As Fulgur and Uki kept walking around the aisle they decided on a few things to grab for everyone, once everything was in the cart Fulgur quickly made his way back to the vegetable and fruits area to stock up on some more negi.
Finally, they reached the cash register and Fulgur paid for all of the items they got. While bringing everything to the car the time went quickly and once they were in the car, Fulgur checked the time and was shocked to see that 2 hours had passed by already. “So, what do you say Uki, was this scary for you?” “A little bit at first, but since Fufu was there I felt safe.” “I’m glad to hear that. Well, we have another store to go to and then we can go home, okay?” In the end, all Fulgur got was a hum, but that was good enough anyway. Fulgur was afraid that Uki would be more nervous in the next store since it was a little bit bigger and more popular than the one they just left, but he hoped that everything would be alright.
After about a 10-minute drive Fulgur pulled into the parking lot of the other store, managing to find a parking spot quite close to the entrance of the shop. “Uki, it seems like there are more people here, I promise everything will be alright, but if you start to feel anxious you can hold on to me, okay?” Fulgur told Uki with concern seeing how anxious Uki seemed already, but after a moment he heard a soft “okay…” from Uki, and so they got out of the car and after locking it they made their way inside. Just like at the previous store they went to Fulgur, took a shopping trolley and made their way to one side of the store starting with the last aisle and slowly making their way to the other side of the store. Every once in a while Fulgur felt Uki grab his pants leg, it was usually when more people appeared in the aisle they were in, but Uki calmed down quickly and let go of Fulgur’s pants. The store they were at carried a lot of stationary, household items as well as accessories and decorations. Here Fulgur wanted to get some more snacks, a few household items, decor for Uki’s room and something that Uki wanted. The last aisle they went through was the accessory aisle. Here Fulgur picked up some stuff for Uki, like a new hair brush, some small hair ties if Uki ever wanted to tie his middle-length hair up and a few other things. While Fulgur was looking for the items he needed, he kept checking up on where Uki was. Suddenly Fulgur saw Uki running up to him excitedly and Fulgur couldn’t help but wonder about what got Uki so excited, “Fufu! Can you please help me, I can’t reach something,” “Alright, let’s go, where is it, buddy?” Once they were at the spot where Uki had seen the thing he pointed to the exact thing he wanted to see, so Fulgur would be able to guess better about what he was talking about. Fulgur looked around the area Uki was pointing at and finally, he saw what Uki was probably pointing at, “This?” Fulgur asked Uki to make sure, earning an eager nod. Fulgur handed the item he was holding to Uki and started to look around again before noticing something similar. “Here, I just saw these too,” Fulgur passed Uki the other item he found. Fulgur couldn’t help but smile as he saw Uki’s face light up in a mix of excitement and joy even more. “Can I get these, Fufu? Please?” Uki quickly asked Fulgur, “Of course, you can, c’mon bring and put them in the trolley, alright?” “Okay! Thank you, Fufu!” Uki quickly ran off to the trolley and put the items in. Fulgur couldn’t contain the feelings inside of him when he saw how excited Uki was from finding a pack of hair clips with stars on them and a pack of hair clips with little jellyfish on them.
It didn’t take them long after that to find the rest of the items they needed. Fulgur also picked up a few things in his room. While they were walking to the cash register Fulgur suddenly received a notification, checking it he found out that the things he ordered online that morning had already been delivered to his house. At the cash register, they ended up having to wait in the queue, but that was alright they weren’t in a hurry anyway. While waiting in the queue he felt Uki suddenly start clinging to his leg again, he was wondering why, but then he heard the people who were standing behind them talking, “Look at that little boy, he looks so adorable!” “His hair looks so fluffy, and his eyes match his hair so well, I wish I could have a kid like that one day.” Looking back Fulgur noticed that the people behind them were some students who were admiring Uki, but not minding them Fulgur leaned down to check on Uki, “You okay Uki? You’re holding on to my leg quite tightly, I would think that that would hurt since my legs are metal.” “I’m okay, I promise…” “All right, I’ll believe you” He heard the students start cooing about how fitting Uki’s voice was to his looks and as they spoke he felt Uki start gripping his leg even tighter, but as this was happening their turn to check out arrived. “Go in front of me Uki, alright?” Fulgur asked as he started putting the things from his cart onto the conveyor belt. Uki nodded softly and walked a little ahead of where Fulgur was before he stopped. After Fulgur had paid and quickly bagged everything he and Uki started walking to the car. As they were walking they suddenly stopped and turning around he saw that it was the students from before, “Excuse me, sir! Ah, I was wondering if you didn’t mind if we gave a lollipop to the little boy? We promise nothing had been done to it, we just bought it at the store and I have the receipt if you want the proof!” “I’ll trust you guys, and yes you can give it to Uki, Uki c’mon, don’t be shy and don’t forget to say thank you.” As one of the students held out the lollipop, Uki reached for it and after taking it he said a soft “Thank you…” “You’re welcome Uki, we will be going now, goodbye, have a great day!” After saying their goodbyes they continued their way to the car. Once everything was in the car, they started the drive home. “Are you hungry, Uki?” “A little bit,” “Do you want to go eat somewhere or eat at home?” “I don’t know, I’m good with eating at home,” “Hmm… ah! I forgot! Sorry, Uki, we’ll have to go to another store, I forgot that I needed to get some food for Dog since there’s not too much left.” “Alright” “Let’s stop somewhere for lunch first…”
They stopped at a cafe that’s on the way to the store where Fulgur get’s Dog’s food. They both had a nice, warm and filling lunch. After they finished, Fulgur paid their bill and continued on their way to the store. As they were walking through the store Fulgur couldn’t stop the smile on his face as Uki got distracted by all the animals that they were walking by. They stopped by most of the animals, with Fulgur picking up and lifting Uki in the air so that he could see the animals whose cases were on higher shelves. After admiring all the animals, they finally made their way to the dog food aisle where they found the correct bag of food. Fulgur easily picked up the bag and they made their way back to the front of the store to pay and then back out to the car.
As they were driving back home Uki suddenly asked Fulgur while pointing at something “Fufu, what happened there?” “Hm? That’s a car crash. Those 2 cars drove into each other and now they’re broken.” “Ohhhh, okay, have you ever been in one?” “Mhm, I was in one when I was about your age, that’s why I have both metal arms and legs” “...I’m sorry…” “Don’t be sorry, Uki, you were curious and I answered you, I’m used to it anyway.” The rest of the ride home they spent talking and singing to songs that played on the radio.
It was around 2 pm when they arrived home, Fulgur gave Uki the house keys to go unlock the front door while he started grabbing a few of the bags out of the car. As soon as Uki unlocked and opened the door, Dog came running out happily wagging his tail. Dog was so excited to see Uki that he couldn't help but keep circling him and letting out a few barks. Uki went into the house leading Dog in so that he wouldn’t get in the way of Fulgur, who was carrying the bag from the car.
The first thing Fulgur did was to put the bags he was carrying in the kitchen and then he went back to the car to get the rest of the bags. Uki, on the other hand, after taking off his shoes and jacket, went straight to the living room to play with Dog, so Fulgur could easily get into the house and not trip over Dog. He was so happy to be reunited with his best friend that he couldn't help but laugh and smile. After a few minutes of playing, Uki went to the kitchen wanting to help Fulgur unpack the groceries. Fulgur gave Uki the stuff that was kept in the bottom cabinets, so it would be easier for him to put away the items. Once they were done unpacking, Fulgur and Uki went to the living room to relax. They sat on the couch with Dog laying on the floor and started planning out the rough idea for Uki’s room.
With the rough idea of the room down, they went up to the room Uki chose, which was the further room and had more space than the other room. Fulgur started clearing out the room, getting the heavy things out first. Once the room was cleared out they started cleaning the floors. The room wasn’t dirty per se, but the previously hard-to-reach areas were visible and if the room was empty might as well give it a deep clean. It took them about 30 minutes to clean everything, but at least now the room was spotless. Fulgur started by bringing back the bed and deciding on its location.
It took them an hour to bring everything else in and decorate the room, but in the end, it was all worth it, the room looked stunning, breathtaking even, yet Fulgur had a trick up his sleeve, but he couldn’t act on it while Uki was there since Fulgur wanted it to be a surprise. Sometime within the decorating process, Uki stopped Fulgur, “Fufu, can you please lean down?” Fulgur was a bit confused but was surprised when Uki clipped the hair that was in front of his face to the side using one of his hair clips. “Why, thank you Uki, that’s very nice of you,” Fulgur thanked Uki and saw him do a huge yawn before suggesting, “Would you like to take a nap, Uki? You can stay in my room since the bedsheets for your bed are in the dryer currently,”, “Mhm, okay, thank you…” Uki sleepily walked out of his new room and headed for Fulgur’s room, not noticing that Dog was following him.
Using his chance now, Fulgur immediately went to get the items he ordered online for Uki’s room, to start working on his surprise. Fulgur had ordered a huge piece of fabric that was dyed dark blue with a mix of purples, pinks, magentas and light blues, as well as some long but small fairy lights. Since Uki relishes and gets extremely excited when watching the stars, Fulgur had come up with the idea to try and recreate the night sky on the ceiling of Uki’s room. Fulgur started securing the fabric to the ceiling with some hooks in the corners of the room that he put up as well, before taking the fairy lights and scattering them around the fabric letting the end where the controls for them were. Since Fulgur scattered them around instead of strategically placing everything helps give it a more natural effect of some stars being closer and some further away. Once he had set all the light on the fabric, Fulgur attached the last part of the fabric to the last hook. Fulgur closed the curtains and turned off the lights before turning on the fairy lights to see if his idea worked and was delighted to see that it did give the desired effect.
Fulgur heard the faint sound of the dryer notifying that it was finished with drying everything, so he turned off the fairy lights and opened the curtains before going to the laundry room to get the now freshly cleaned and dried bedsheets for Uki’s bed. He returned to Uki’s room with the clean bedsheets and started putting them on the bedding. Fulgur managed to do everything fairly easily and quickly, he struggled with the blanket a little bit, but he did get the cover on properly in the end. Seeing the time Fulgur realised he should wake Uki up from his nap so that he can sleep through the night. Walking into his room he saw Uki sleeping soundly in his bed and Dog sleeping on the floor right next to the bed. Carefully, Fulgur shook Uki until he woke up. “Hey bud, it’s time to wake up, do you want to come and help me with dinner?” “Mhm… I want to help Fufu…” Fulgur couldn’t help but chuckle about how sleepy Uki sounded, Fulgur picked up Uki and started walking down to the kitchen, “I was thinking about making some pasta with meatballs, how does that sound?” “Sounds good, I’ve never had that before,” “Well, now you will be able to try it,” When they arrive in the kitchen Fulgur puts Uki down and starts looking for the ingredients.
“Uki, can you please get me a small onion and 2 cloves of garlic from the pantry? They’re on the bottom shelf” as soon as Fulgur asked, Uki quickly ran off to look for the 2 ingredients he had asked for. While Uki was getting the onion and garlic, Fulgur went to look for the olive oil and tomato sauce. While Fulgur was putting the saucepan to start warming with olive oil, he quickly chopped up the onion and crushed the 2 cloves of garlic that Uki brought back. Fulgur put the onions and garlic in the pan to fry for a few minutes before he added the tomato sauce and let everything simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes. “Could you get another 2 cloves of garlic, bread crumbs and parsley, Uki?” Once again Uki ran off to find the items, getting the garlic first since he now knew where it was. Fulgur grabbed some minced beef, parmesan and an egg. Fulgur started grating the parmesan and while doing that Uki returned with everything Fulgur asked for. Fulgur took the ingredients from Uki and put them on the counter with a quick “thank you,” to Uki. Fulgur quickly chopped up the garlic and added it to a bowl with the minced beef and the grated parmesan. At this point, about 15 minutes had passed and Fulgur took the sauce off the heat and put it aside to cool. Fulgur returned to making the meatballs and noticed how intensely Uki was observing him. Fulgur continued by separating the egg yolk from the egg white and adding the yolk to the meat, adding a handful of breadcrumbs and adding a little bit of parsley that he chopped finely, in the end mixing everything. Fulgur put another pan on the stove and added some olive oil, forming the meatballs while waiting for the pan to heat up. Once Fulgur deemed the pan hot enough he put in the meatballs and let them cook, shaking the pan every few minutes. He put the sauce back on the heat to warm up before he added the now-cooked meatballs and let that simmer for another 15 minutes while the meatballs cooked through and the sauce thickened. While the sauce was simmering, Fulgur put a pot on the stove with salt water and waited for it to start boiling before adding the pasta and letting it boil for a few minutes. Once about 5 minutes had passed Fulgur drained the pasta and plated it adding the tomato and meatball sauce on top. He took some utensils and the plates and brought them to the dining room, with Uki following closely behind. “Thank you for the food, Fufu!” “You’re welcome, I’m sure it tastes twice as good since I had a very diligent little helper,” with everything said they both started eating. Fulgur saw how Uki’s eyes lit up when he took the first bite and knew that Uki did like this dish. After the long day they ate quickly and once both of them were finished Fulgur took the plates and utensils and went back to the kitchen to wash all the dishes he used and put everything away in their respective places. While they ate Dog had woken up and came running down looking for them. While Fulgur was putting everything away, Dog kept whining, asking for his dinner, but before Fulgur got to go and give Dog food Uki beat him and was already filling up his bowl. Hearing his bowl being filled, Dog immediately turned around and ran to his bowl giving Uki a bark as a “Thank you!” before eating his food. Both Uki and Fulgur started laughing and Uki petted Dog before they went to the living room.
“I saw that there are a lot of books here, do you like to read, Fufu?” “Yes, I do like to read books, it would make sense that I like to read since I’m a writer myself,” “You write books? That’s so cool!” “Yes, I do write books and thank you for thinking that it’s cool, I appreciate it a lot.” They kept chatting for a little while, mostly Fulgur answering Uki’s questions. At one point Fulgur turned on the TV and they watched a movie together, Uki being more interested in the movie about the history of stars than the conversation that was previously happening.
Since the movie was already at the halfway point when Fulgur turned on the TV it wasn’t too long before it ended, yet an hour and a half had already passed. In the end, they watched some series online, before they turned the TV off and headed upstairs to their rooms. When Uki had showered and changed into his pyjamas Fulgur tucked him into bed when he remembered about the surprise. “Uki, I have one more thing to show to you,” Fulgur turned off the bedside lamp that Ukinhad and went to the fairy lights controller and turned them on. Fulgur heard Uki gasp “Woah, that’s so cool! They look like stars! Like a starry sky!” “Mhm, that was the idea, I’m going to say that saying that you like it is a good guess, huh?” “I love it, Fufu, thank you!” “You’re welcome buddy, now it’s time to sleep, I’ll leave these on for you, good night” “Thank you, good night Fufu!” They exchanged their good nights and Fulgur left Uki’s room before heading to his room where Dog was already laying on the floor in his usual spot asleep. Yawning, Fulgur went to take a quick shower before putting on his pyjamas and heading to bed as well. He marked this day as a success.