Work Text:
Tabito Karasu wouldn’t say he had fallen in love. He had just fallen down a very steep flight of stairs that happened to leave him at the feet of a very, beautiful boy who looked like he had come from the heavens themselves. The angel was gorgeous, show-stopping, something no one had ever seen before, and Karasu couldn’t look away. Even so when the beautiful angel just threw a disgruntled look at his fallen form and continued to cling to some big dumb German guy.
Despite Alexis Ness’s other interests, Karasu had been determined to win the male's affection. Who needed a guy like Kaiser anyway? That asshole wasn’t worth his beloved’s time of day, he deserved a strong caring partner, like Karasu. He had worked tirelessly at trying to prove this, read: looked like a bumbling fool swooning over the boy, and surprisingly it actually worked. Rin had told him it was only because Kaiser was tired of watching Karasu make him out as some evil boyfriend when they were just friends and told Ness straight up that Karasu was flirting. Shidou told him it was because Kaiser finally got together with Lorenzo and Ness didn't have to make the gold-teeth creep jealous anymore. He walks away from those conversations confirming his Kaiser evil now-ex-boyfriend theory.
Either way, it comes to the conclusion that Alexis Ness is Karasu’s boyfriend, and they kiss and hold hands, but this also means Karasu gets the privilege to drag Alexis along on strange whims of energy.
Such strange whims of energy have brought them to their hotel room with their coach’s 3-year-old son, Seishirou. The job of being makeshift babysitters was thrust upon the couple, reluctantly by Chris and Marc who had a late evening meeting to attend, and unfortunately, they weren’t able to bring the toddler. Karasu had heard from Isagi that the two fathers were told it was unprofessional the last time, with certain scathing comments about their lifestyle being said, and Chris nearly started a physical fight with the offending businessman, not even mentioning the words he’d hurled his way. Marc, ever the calm and collected counterpart to his husband had even blown up and caused a scene.
Chris knocked on their hotel room door, their match against a team in Miyagi left the students staying overnight for the game, holding a timid child in his arms. He looked tired, though he was dressed impressively well, and thrown over his shoulder was a small child’s Cars-themed backpack.
“Oh thank god someone answered, “ Chris sighed in relief, hiking Seishirou further up. “I was starting to think everyone went out to get a drink or handsy.” Karasu pointedly does not mention that Alexis is over on the bed shirtless, with a litter of bruises on his neck. “Marc and I have an unexpected meeting we need to get to. Could you watch Sei for a few hours? Just ‘till we get back, promise.”
Karasu blinks, looking between his coach, god he looks tired, and the child who’s sleepily blinking right back at him. The kid’s kinda adorable he has to admit, he sees him a lot during evening practice, usually running around with Lorenzo’s younger brother by the coach’s bench, but he’s never spent time with the child. Or any children at that. He sends a silent apology for blue balling his boyfriend and throws a giant grin at the man in front of him. “Alexis and I’d be glad, we were just going to settle down and watch a movie anyway. Don’t worry, he’ll be safe with us. “
“Thank you so much, Karasu. Tell Ness he has my appreciation as well. If you need anything you have my number and I placed a spare keycard to our room in Sei’s bag. I can't thank you enough.” Chris rambles, handing over the backpack, before crouching down and putting Seishirou on his feet.
“Daddy and Papa will be back soon. Okay? Be good for Karasu and Ness. I love you Sei.” Chris places a kiss on the toddler's head giving him a hug before checking his watch and making a hastened leave.
The door closes softly behind the man, and Karasu was left standing in the doorway looking down at the child as the kid looked up blinking slowly. “Want a beer?” He asks, immediately feeling a hand connect with the back of his head with a resounding thwack. Alexis has thrown a shirt back on, though the marks Karasu had been in the middle of leaving are on full view, and has come over, a displeased look evident on his face, but it softens when he sees Seishirou standing in the doorway.
“He’s 3, Tabito. Don’t offer him a beer.”
“What else am I supposed to do? Lex, he’s just staring at me!” As if to prove his point Seishirou continued to just stare, blinking on the occasion.
Alexis just rolls his eyes, kneeling down in front of the toddler, and Seishirou’s eyes track the movement. “What do you wanna do bud? Anything you want we’ll make it happen.” He ruffles the white curls atop the boy's head, Seishirou grunting and trapping the hand under both his own. He doesn’t say anything else though, just darts his eyes around the room unsure. He lets out a shiver, body shaking roughly.
“Oh, you poor baby. It’s cold, isn’t it? Come here,” Alexis coos, opening up his arms to scoop up the boy. He swiftly carries the toddler to the bed, using a throw blanket to bundle up around Seishirou’s shoulders, setting him in his lap. He wraps his arms around the boy, hugging him tightly and blowing a raspberry onto his cheek. Seishirou giggles, squealing happily, an actual laugh, as he squirms in Alexis’s hold.
Karasu holds back a fond smile, taking a picture quietly so as not to get caught, he’ll send it to Snuffy later. He searches through the backpack Chris had handed him and retrieves what looks like a bag of Cheerios. Seishirou readily reaches for the bag, attention immediately shifting, and grabs a handful to shovel into his mouth. He has to hold back a snort at the fact the first thing the kid does for the entire 5 minutes he’s been in the room is eat.
The silence returns as Seishirou shovels Cheerios into his mouth one by one, refusing any form of conversation Alexis tries to start. Karasu almost thinks the kid can't hear them with how he simply goes right about what he's doing ignoring Alexis’s simple toddler conversation starters.
“Damn maybe we should’ve gone with Shidou to play pool at the bar,” Karasu grumbles, awkwardly shifting under the judging gaze of Seishirou. Apparently, that is both the right and wrong thing to say.
“Pool?” Seishirou asks, eyes going wide and scrambling up. He shifts his weight to his tiptoes, wobbling a little on the mattress, and the blanket falls from his shoulders, pooling near his feet. His bag of Cheerios is long discarded and forgotten about.
“You wanna go to the pool?” Alexis asks, already moving to stand up. Seishirou nods enthusiastically, humming loudly in assent.
“Look in the bag for swimwear, or like a spare pair of shorts. I’m gonna change mine in the bathroom.” Alexis demands, and Karasu nods, doing a fake mock salute in response. What can he say? He just shuts up and listens when he speaks, as a good boyfriend should.
Seishirou is bouncing on his toes, hands flapping slightly. “Pool,” he parrots again, and it's almost like he’s vibrating in excitement.
“Yea, yea lil’ dude we’re going to the pool,” Karasu laughs, digging through the bag for swim shorts. Miraculously, like it was out of plot convenience, he finds a pair of black swim shorts, embroidered with a golden ‘U’ in the corner of the left leg.
“Is this it, lil dude?” Karasu asks, brandishing the pair of shorts to the kid. Seishirou squeals, running across the bed, tripping in the process, and falling face-first into the duvet. He quickly recovers though, scrambling back up while giggling. When he reaches Karasu he tries, and fails, to pull his shirt above his head with a grunt. Seishirou looks up, a pout on his face.
“Need help?” Karasu teases, helping Seishirou pull his shirt over his head, and handing him the shorts to do the rest. When he’s done he squeals loudly, throwing himself into Karasu’s stomach in some semblance of a hug. Or at least that’s what Karasu thought he was doing until he felt a small foot start pushing into his groin as Seishirou tried, and failed once again, to climb up him.
“Do you want to be held, Sei?” Karasu teases and the toddler just grunts with a nod, seeming to have given up on his acrobatics, lifting his arms expectantly. He hoists him up with ease, though he makes sure to add in a dramatic groan. “You’re pretty heavy dude, getting too big to carry.”
“No, ‘m not,” Seishirou whines with a glare, pouting cutely.
“Mm, yea okay. You got cool shorts bud, did your dad pick them out?”
“Mhm, Papa and me match now. Daddy said he’ll get a pair too,” Seishirou nods, a large smile on his face.
“You gonna put any on?” Alexis asks, and Karasu turns to see his boyfriend exiting the bathroom. His shirt and other articles of clothing are balled up in his hand, leaving a beautiful expanse of pale skin and abs for Karasu to look at.
“I guess so, but I’m not getting in,” Karasu sighs, bouncing Seishirou up higher in his arms. “But I suppose I could for this little bug.”
“I’m not a bug,” the toddler pouts, pushing a hand over Karasu’s mouth, grunting when he’s passed over to Alexis.
Within 5 minutes they’ve gathered their things, all suited up, and out the door. Seishirou declares the right to push the buttons and nearly jumps from Karasu’s arms to do so.
As they enter the pool room, Seishirou is bouncing in his steps, only waiting till Alexis has set down their stuff on a chair to chuck off his Crocs and try to pull them over to the pool. He drags Alexis in, hurriedly swimming little circles in the shallower end, never straying too far from where Alexis stands. Karasu carefully sits on the second step, braving just that far for his boyfriend who waves him over.
Karasu watches fondly as Alexis picks Seishirou up, holding him close as he walks deeper into the water. Seishirou’s small hand splashes into the water, and his laugh echoes alongside Alexis’s. God, Karasu loves his boyfriend. He’s so beautiful, gorgeously flawless in everything he does. The curves of his face are so delicate like flower petals freshly bloomed, and the curves of his body are so enticing like fresh fruit from a tree. His laugh is the only sound Karasu wishes to hear for the rest of his life, lay next to him and listen as words are softly spoken, sunlight dancing on skin. He wants to breathe his scent, his body, his everything till the day he dies, and even then he’ll crawl back up through hell just to feel him again.
He’s zoned out, daydreaming about Alexis, so into his head, he doesn’t realize when the two have come closer until a wave of water is drenching his front. Seishirou is giggling, only being held up by an arm around his middle, and Alexis is silently laughing, hand covering his mouth at Karasu’s stunned, spluttering face.
“Again!” Seishirou squeals and Alexis sends a giant wave of water toward Karasu. His own boyfriend attacked him with his greatest weakness.
“Babe! Sei! How could you?” Karasu dramatically exclaims, wiping water out of his eyes. “After all I’ve done for you two,” he laments, falling back against the wall, an arm thrown over his forehead. Karasu feels the ripples of waves as the two move closer, and then the weight of Seishirou crawling up onto his lap, the heat of Alexis sitting down next to him.
“Sorry,” Alexis whispers softly into Karasu’s ear, placing a light kiss on his cheek. Karasu removes his arm, opens his eyes, and softly grins back at his boyfriend.
“Love you, honey,” he responds, capturing his lips in a kiss. He’s pulled out of it when a small fist pushes on his chest, whining loudly.
“Play,” the toddler complains, though a shiver wracks his body as he rubs tiredly at his eyes.
“I don’t know bud, you seem pretty cold. Why don’t we go warm up? Maybe watch a movie?” Karasu suggests already, picking up Seishirou and holding him close, heading over to their stuff. Alexis readily hands him a fluffy towel to lay over the boy.
“Cars?” Seishirou mumbles, a hand reaching out to hold onto Alexis’s hand before it leaves his reach, laying his head on Karasu’s shoulder.
“Yea, we can watch Cars after a warm bath. That sounds good?” Alexis says, carding a hand through the wet strands on the toddler's head. Seishirou nods tiredly, slowly blinking as they walk back to their room.
The steam from the tub was a welcome warmth in the otherwise chilling bathroom, Alexis kneeling by the edge of the tub trying to get Seishirou to stop swimming in the water. The toddler simply ignores his pleas giggling as he splashes around carelessly.
“Seishirou,” Karasu calls, trying to put on his best dad voice, “Listen to Alexis or we’re not watching Cars.”
The toddler stops immediately, freezing in his spot, and face falling. “No Cars?” He asks, and it sounds like he might cry.
Karasu backtracks, sensing the blaring warning sign of going down that route, only added by the panicked look Alexis is sending him. “Not until after your bath, alright? Sooner you’re done washing up the sooner we can watch Cars.” Any trace of sadness on the toddler’s face is wiped away instantaneously, replaced with excitement at the prospect of watching the movie. Karasu has to hold back a laugh when Seishirou starts urging Alexis to hurry up, claiming that they’re running late.
Seishirou squeals the entire time they pull him out of the tub, squirming in Karasu’s grasp. As soon as he has him warped in a towel, he throws the toddler over his shoulder and stands up. “Gonna go get the gremlin dressed and settled. You can take a shower now, I’ve got it covered.” He says, his free hand on Alexis’s hip, thumb idly rubbing up and down.
“If you say so. I’ll see you in a bit,” he whispers, and Karasu can’t hold back from placing a sweet, long kiss on his boyfriend's lips. He pulls back with a wink, playfully swatting Alexis’s ass, and swiftly exits, Seishirou laughing from where he’s hanging upside down from over Karasu’s shoulder.
Karasu carefully helps Seishirou dress into his pajamas, idly listening to the faint sound of water running in the background. The toddler had dug around in his backpack until he brandished, high above his head like a trophy, one of the club shirts that were way too large for his body. Couldn’t they at least get him a children’s size? The shirt swallowed Seishirou whole, hanging so low it was practically a dress.
“Cars now?” Seishirou asks, bouncing slightly from where he sat on the bed.
“Yea, Yea, just a second bud.” Karasu connected his laptop to the TV, pulling up the movie on Disney+ and pressing play. He walked over to the bed tucking Seishirou in snugly, and handing over a ratty plush dinosaur that the toddler readily tucked under his arm. He placed a kiss on the boy’s forehead before moving to make a light snack for the two of them, and Alexis for when he was finished with his shower. He searches through the mini fridge, contemplating what to eat.
“You want bird feed bug?” Karasu asks, not turning to look at the toddler.
“I’m not a bird,” he gets back in response, and Karasu has to stifle a laugh. He fishes (ha get it) a can of Mountain Dew out, and grabs a bag of Goldfish from the cabinet on his way back to the bed.
“There you go, dude,” Karasu says, tossing the Goldfish beside the toddler, and cracking open his soda. Seishirou eagerly takes the snack with a chirp, pulling out a handful of the crackers to shove in his mouth. Karasu sips at his drink and watches the movie with Seishirou, idly running a hand through the toddler’s slightly damp curls.
“I’m thirsty,” Seishirou whines and Karasu feels his head turn in his grasp. The toddler stares at his drink with a pour.
“Do you want a sip?” He asks, already moving to hand it over. Seishirou nods enthusiastically, taking the can from Karasu’s grasp, but the teen keeps a steadying hand on it making sure the toddler doesn’t spill it. The kid gulps down a very large sip, letting out a satisfied “ahh” after he’s done, a stray drop of soda dripping down his chin.
“Careful there,” Karasu softly chides, laughing a little as he uses the loose collar of the club shirt to wipe away the mess. Seishirou hands off the drink with a front, focus returning full force to the movie. Karasu swears he can hear the child mumbling the words under his breath.
“Having fun?” A voice whispers next to his ear, a hand settling on Karasu’s waist, and his heart nearly jumps out of his chest.
“Oh, god you scared me,” Karasu sighs, hand placed over his heart. Alexis just smirks at him, a manic grin on his face. “Ass,” Karasu pouts, accepting the kiss his boyfriend places on his temple.
“You’ll be fine,” Alexis rolls his eyes with a laugh, “Go shower, you stink.”
“As you wish, my love,” Karasu bows dramatically as he gets out of bed before pulling Alexis into another long, probably indecent kiss. “See you in a bit.”
As the water rushes down Karasu’s back, steam billowing into the small bathroom, his mind drifts. The burning liquid washes away his sins, carries away his flaws, and cleanses him of his wrongs. He’s only left with the body of a man devout to his lord, his angel, his most sweet and dearest Alexis Ness. He’ll cherish him every moment that he draws breath, with every beat of his heart, with every second he yet still stands alive. He thinks about how tender and caring Alexis was with Seishirou, how it was almost second nature for him to care for the toddler. He’s surrounded by that feeling of renowned love, bursting at his seams. He could spend hours admiring everything Alexis does, everything he says. God, he’s such a sap, but there isn’t a moment that goes by that he could regret loving his boyfriend.
Karasu comes back from his shower, loose shorts on and a beaten t-shirt, towel drying his hair when he feels his heart melt. The TV is still playing the movie, but both Seishirou and Alexis are curled up together sleeping soundly, soft little snores escaping. He can’t hold back the wave of fondness that spills over him, seeping deep into his bones, and overtaking every fiber of his being. He’s reminded of every reason he loves his boyfriend, every way Alexis manages to take his breath away, leaving him gasping for air, suffocating on his affection. It claws at his heart, bleeding him dry, and he wouldn’t give it up for the world. He’d suffer the death of a million time and time again, over and over, he’d never stop loving Alexis Ness.
He walks over, lifts up Alexis’s bangs, and places a soft kiss on his forehead. A chime from Karasu’s phone startles him out of his thoughts, the screen lighting up a dim glow in the corner of the room.
Snuffy: Sorry, our meeting ran late. I’ll be by in a few to pick up Seishirou. Thank you for watching him, Chris and I appreciate it very much.
Karasu: 👍
Karasu quietly spent some time picking up Seishirou’s things and stuffing them into his bag, idly wondering how he even managed to make such a mess in the few hours he was there. A knock on the door brings him back, and he carefully walks over in the dim lighting of the hotel forway. Snuffy stands outside when he opens the door, an apologetic and thankful look spread across his features.
“Once again, I’m so sorry it ran late, and Chris and I are so grateful you could help out. We really appreciate it. Let us treat you to breakfast tomorrow, yea?” Snuffy says, and Karasu smiles a bit at the comforting presence of the older coach.
“It’s really no problem, Seishirou was an angel. He’s sleeping right now if you’d like to come in,” Karasu whispers, gesturing Snuffy in and shutting the door softly behind them.
“He was really worn out huh?” Snuffy asks with a laugh, carefully picking up Seishirou and laying his head on his shoulder. He rocks softly when Seishirou stirs a little with a whine, yet settles back down quickly with a soft hum and hand on his back.
“Yea, he tired himself a lot down at the pool. We got him showered and watched a movie after though.” Karasu passes over the backpack to Snuffy, who throws it over his free shoulder, the tight strap meant for a child, accentuating his bicep.
“Oh? You went to the pool?” Snuffy asks though a smile plays at the corners of his mouth betraying his tone. “Seishirou can be quite persuasive can’t he?”
“Well, I’ll make my leave now. I can’t thank you enough for this. Tell Ness we appreciate the help, please. It means a lot.” Karasu sees the father and son off, waving goodbye at the door and shutting it softly. He jumps at a pair of arms circling around his waist, pulling him closer.
“Come back to bed, Tabito,” Alexis’s breath ghosts across Karasu’s neck eliciting an involuntary shiver out of him. His heart rate picks up, an excited thrum dancing in his veins. His boyfriend mouths at his neck, pulling him over to the bed, and drawing him into a bruising kiss. Karasu’s back hits the mattress, an angel straddling above him, smiling softly, happily at him. How was he gifted with such delicate beauty if a man to share a bed with? To kiss and to love, to lay beside, day by day. He kisses to convey this, compelling his feelings for Alexis. He mumbles these praises over and over so the words fall against Alexis Ness’s tongue.
“I love you,” Alexis whispers, barely audible, a hand on Karasu’s cheek from where they now lay cuddled in each other's arms. Karasu smiles softly, heart doing a flip in his chest.
“I love you too.”