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He would never forget that fateful night he first found Yukine.
Yato was in desperate need of a new regalia after his previous one, Tomone, bailed on him, and he also was saddled with that new girl he had to protect as well. Even as he told himself that a teenage boy would be a pain to deal with, deep down, Yato knew this tiny wandering spirit hiding beneath a lamppost was special as soon as he laid eyes on it.
Upon naming the Setsuki and summoning it to his side, he was hit by a barrage of memories, and just like that, all his dubiety about claiming him melted away.
There was smiles at first, but then it quickly turned into chaos. Yelling, so much yelling, pleading and begging to not be left alone, tears staining letters upon letters that were never sent, and darkness, and sobs, and then finally blood, oh there was so much blood—
Yato named him Yukine, and made a promise to himself to always be there for this kid. To make him the best regalia he knew he could be, to make sure he was as happy as was possible for someone who was, well, dead, and to love him, even as lowly a god as he was. And he might fail, because he was pretty sure he didn’t have the best idea of what a father should be like to go off of, but damn it, he was going to try. Because he knew how it felt to feel so alone when everyone had abandoned you.
Even still, Yato felt bad that he couldn’t give Yukine as much as a more famous god could. They wouldn’t die from lack of normal human necessities like food and shelter, but that didn’t mean they didn’t feel the effects of not having these things. He didn’t have a shrine, and he tried to save most of the five yen coins he got for eventually getting one (though more worshippers was obviously the most important requirement). But he had a bad tendency to spend it on tacky good-luck charms that were overpriced and probably bogus, and so he was lucky Tenjin let them sleep at his shrine (even if “at” meant “outside of”, and the nights were usually cold).
As happy as Yato was to have Yukine with him (much more so than Tomone, even before their relationship had gone sour), Yukine unfortunately did not share the same sentiment.
He knew that his living conditions, inability to find jobs, and low popularity were difficult for his regalia, but Yukine had very definite attitude problem that came from his disgust over Yato himself, the awkward age that he was stuck at… and of course, the fact that he was dead, and thus couldn’t make any friends his age or go to school. …But Yato couldn’t do anything about his problems currently, and he certainly couldn’t fix his sweatiness, the thing Yukine constantly complained about. Even Tomo – Mayu, Tenjin, and Daikoku, who knew that he was a lousy god, told Yukine that it was his duty as a regalia to obey and serve his master without question. But Yukine couldn’t stand being around him, no matter what, and his attitude only got worse.
Hiyori didn’t help with the situation. At first, Yato thought that maybe it’d be good to have her around, a big sister that Yukine would be more happy being with than him currently. But it quickly became evident that she was willing to cover for him when he stole things, and was completely naïve to Yukine’s… inappropriate thoughts regarding her.
It was obvious that Yukine wouldn’t change his ways at this point, no matter what anyone told him. He continued to steal things and become enraged over his situation, and the worse he got, the more the blight spread over Yato’s body. The pain from it became excruciating, and it made continued clashes with his sworn enemy, Bishamon, almost impossible to handle. Any smarter god would have long since released their regalia by then to save themselves.
But Yato didn’t. He didn’t want Yukine to be abandoned yet again, like he had in the past he no longer remembered. He believed he could change… even if it took drastic measures for it to happen.
…He also knew that if he was forced to lose Yukine, he would have to resort to Nora again. And he never, never wanted to fall back on her again, especially now that this this happiness, this feeling of a family had been within his grasp; he couldn’t lose it, he just couldn’t. This is how Yato wanted to be, the people he wanted to be with… It was too refreshing, too amazing to give up.
In the end, it was Hiyori, amazing, strong Hiyori, who saved them. She brought him and Yukine to Kofoku’s place, just like he had told her to do, found Kazuma as the final regalia for the ablution, and called out to Yukine to bring him back from the brink.
He couldn’t help but smile when he heard her tell Yukine that he was like a father to him. Yato knew he’d been a pretty lame one so far, despite his wishes… but even if it failed, he still needed to tell Yukine the most important thing he needed to hear.
“You were given a person’s name! So… live as a person!!”
He was a person, and that was a fact. …He was his son.
The next thing Yato knew, Yukine was blubbering and crying and confessing everything wrong he had ever done, and the other regalias were sighing with relief, and Yato had never been so grateful in all his life because he got through to him; despite everything, his words had reached him.
And then it wasn’t long after that he and Yukine were in Hiyori’s arms, her hugging them fiercely and telling them how worried she had been, how thankful she was that they were okay. And Yato was fairly certain he had never been this happy before, in her embrace and with Yukine by his side.
Yukine, just as he believed, turned out to be the strongest weapon he had ever had, and would come to evolve into a Blessed Regalia. It marked only the highest level of loyalty to and protection over their master; they would be willing to die for them. Yato would never have forgiven himself if he had let Yukine die that day… but he couldn’t have been more proud, and he made sure that everyone knew just how special his regalia was. Meanwhile, Yukine still complained occasionally about Yato’s bad habits and conditions, but he knew it wasn’t truly hostile like before.
It was nice, Yato thought, having a family again. With Hiyori and Yukine with him, plus Kofoku and Daikoku, as well as Bishamon’s group now that they had reconciled, it was more lively than he had ever remembered it being.
Yato prayed things could always stay like this.