Archive of Our Own ^beta

It wasn’t the best of days for Daichi Sawamaru. He usually wasn’t one to complain or whine about his situation, but honestly, he had had the worst day of his life, probably.

First, he woke up late and his kids, Hajime and Tobio ended up being late for school, which meant he was late for work. Luckily, his boss, Ukai, was understanding and actually (secretly) loved his kids.

Then, his co-workers, Bokuto and Kuroo thought it would be funny to scare him whilst he was having lunch, which meant spilling water all down his front and having to explain to a bunch of 2nd year kids in gym class why it looked like he wet himself. They just laughed and high fived the two idiot teachers who were to blame.

He got a parking ticket in the ten minutes he was gone from his car whilst picking the boys up from school, he was lucky enough that the boys went to the same school or else he really would be dead on his feet.

After that, his car broke down and was currently sat on a near enough empty bus with a crying Tobio sat in his lap. He had tried everything to get the little baby back to sleep, or even just to stop crying for at least five minutes.

He had given him a carton of milk, tried playing with him, giving him cuddles and kisses (which usually works), he had even let Hajime try and calm him down, but all of these ended in the same result. Just more crying.

He slumped back in his chair, Tobio still sniffling on his lap. He glanced around the bus, hoping for something to distract Tobio with, unfortunately, there was only an annoyed looking teenager staring at his phone and an elderly couple who kept glaring at Tobio.

The bus stopped, doors opening and letting in, Daichi assumed, was a family of three. The tallest, obviously being the dad, was beautiful. Pale skin, ashen hair, soft features. Daichi tried not to stare but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from him, and his cute little mole under his left eye.

The two others, possibly his children, were both extremely cute. The older of the two was tall and gangly, despite only looking about Hajime’s age. He had bright eyes and unruly curls and bounced every time he moved. And the other was curled up in his father’s arms. His fiery hair catching everyone's attention, rosy cheeks and bright eyes making him look adorable. Daichi knew Tobio was cute but this kid was honestly adorable. Although he wore a little frown that seemed to be directed at Tobio, who had continued to sniffle and sob, little fists gripping Daichi’s jacket.

The three sat down opposite Daichi and his two boys, the baby on the father’s lap and the eldest child sitting down next to him, chatting about something to do with aliens?

Daichi sighed softly, gently bouncing the crying Tobio in his arms once more, trying to silence the little babe. He shifted Tobio around so he was facing away from Daichi, giving him a chance to look around, in which he took. Tobio’s gaze didn’t seem to leave the bright red hair of the baby opposite him.

Daichi thought he saw the orange haired baby smile at Tobio, but he had shoved his face into his dad’s chest before Daichi had a chance to clarify it. Tobio’s face hadn’t chance, still a small pout on it, sobs still coming from him.

“What’s wrong, little one? You’re giving your daddy a rough time.” Came a sudden voice, a soft, soothing voice that Daichi knew wasn’t directed to him. He glanced around before his eyes settled on the father of the two boys who had just got on the bus.

Daichi noticed something else, Tobio had stopped crying. His little pout had been replaced by something that you could call a smile for Tobio, who wasn’t the most expressive baby.

“There you go, you look much cuter now you’re all happy. Try not to give daddy such a hard time, okay?”

Daichi continued to blink in amazement as the man spoke softly to Tobio, reaching out and squeezing Tobio’s hands softly before settling back in his seat, two children looking at their dad in wonder.

Tobio certainly wasn’t crying anymore, he sat in Daichi’s lap, reaching his hands forward, clenching and curling his fists, in almost grabbing motions towards the man.

“I.. Thank you.. So much. He doesn’t usually cry as much as this. I don’t even know why he’s crying..” Daichi stuttered out, feeling his cheeks warm as he watched the other man smile at him.

“Oh no, its fine. I’m happy I could help, he’s just such a cutie.” The warm words came following by a sunshine laugh. Daichi honestly thought he had died and gone to heaven.

“I’m Suga by the way. This is Shouyou and Tooru, we just moved here last week.”

“I’m Daichi, this is Hajime, and this little cry baby is Tobio.”

“It’s lovely to meet you.”

Tobio answered with some form of baby talk, moving his hands rather than giving a verbal answer, Hajime just nodded and mumbled a quiet “you too,”, whilst almost hiding behind his dad’s arm.

“Oh, and you too.”

The baby, Shouyou, who seemed to be a lot more vocal than Tobio, started babbling broken words and soft baby talk, whilst Tooru smiled, obviously more confident than Hajime, and answered with “it’s nice to meet you too, Daichi-san.

Daichi just nodded, rather dumbly, at how polite Suga’s kids were.

Suga. Daichi seemed to fall in love with the name, what a cliché, and all the man had done was get Tobio to stop crying. Although that was quite a feat in itself.

“Where about’s in the neighbourhood do you guys live?” Suga asked, filling the space between them, speaking over the rumbling of the bus.

“Oh, we’re not far from the next stop, there’s an apartment block just up the road from the bus stop. We’re on the top floor of that.”

“Hey! That’s where we live! Isn’t that right, dad?” Tooru interrupted, glancing between Daichi and Suga, smile on his face.

“Yeah, that’s right, Tooru. We’re up on the top floor, so I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, huh?” Suga replied, eyes on Tooru before sliding his gaze over to Daichi, a smile mirroring his son’s on his face.

“Y- Yeah, I guess we will.” Daichi hated the fact his face went slightly pink at the thought.

~~~

The rest of the journey home was a nice change for Daichi and the boys. It was nice to have company that didn’t tease you (Bokuto and Kuroo) or play childish prank on you (Bokuto and Kuroo) or anything that seemed immature, (again, Bokuto and Kuroo).

Tobio didn’t fuss as much as he did on the bus but he did reach out for Suga a few times, who happily squeezed his hand or kiss his palm gently, causing a few more minutes of happiness for the little boy.

Every time Suga did this, he saw Tooru frown and stop his conversation with Hajime to grab his father’s hand, quickly starting to talk about something completely unrelated, like aliens or what they were eating for dinner.

Daichi thought he saw Suga smirk every time Tooru do this.

They finally reached the apartment block, all 6 of them bundling into the elevator and Tooru quickly reached to press the button for the top floor, stopping Tobio’s from reaching out to it.

The little boy didn’t seem to fazed, he just leaned back towards Daichi, curling a hand in the collar of his polo shirt and reaching his other hand towards Suga.

The boy was surprised when Shouyou was the one to grab his hands, waving their joined hands about, getting a soft laugh from Suga and a smile from Daichi.

The elevator was filled with the soft chatter of Hajime and Tooru, their hushed conversation about who would really win in a fight between Godzilla and an alien, it was filled with quiet baby talk from Shouyou and Tobio’s attempt to form words. They hadn’t quite got to the stage where Tobio was talking yet, it didn’t worry Daichi at all as Tobio had always tried to form words, he just.. Hadn’t yet.

Daichi took the opportunity to sigh deeply, trying to release some tension in his shoulders. He let his eyes slid shut, leaning back against the elevator wall, not moving far away from Suga and Shouyou so that the babies hands could still be joined.

“Rough day?”

Daichi opened one eye to see Suga smiling warmly at him, weight on one foot, hip jutted out.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Wanna talk about in the couple of minutes we have in this elevator?”

Daichi smiled sleepily, a soft chuckle shaking his chest.

“I didn’t know high school gym teachers were so exciting to you.”

Suga grinned, biting his lip to try and contain his smile. “Yeah, they’re super exciting, you just don’t think they are.”

Daichi laughed quietly causing Tobio to turn around and look at him, letting go of Daichi’s collar to press his palm against Daichi’s cheek. A fond smile pulled at his lips and he lent down and kissed his child’s forehead gently.

“Well, I recently found out my co-workers are actually five years old and they should not be allowed to teach.”

“Ahh, that is always a rough one, having children co-workers.” The grin stayed on Suga’s face as he listened to Daichi burst into stories about Bokuto and Kuroo and the one time they nearly broke the basketball net in the gym because Kuroo had a ‘great vine idea and that Bokuto isn’t as heavy as he looks’.

Suga was in stitches by the time the elevator doors slid open, Hajime and Tooru running out first, followed by Daichi, Tobio, Shouyou and finally the, still laughing, Suga.

“Dad! What number are we again?” Tooru called from down the hall, standing next to Hajime, both with smiles on their faces. ‘Maybe Hajime could be friends with Tooru’ thought Daichi as he heard Suga shout a number back, ‘Shouyou and Tobio already seem close enough.’

The pair strolled down the hallway, chatting about Daichi’s (Idiot) co-workers before Daichi stopped in front of door, pointing over his shoulder his his free hand.

“Well, this is us.”

Suga’s eyes widened slightly, before smiling and nodding. “This must be some weird coincidence.”

Daichi’s frowned slightly, pulling his keys out and handing them to Hajime, who started unlocking the door for his dad, something he had always done.

“What do you mean?”

“Well.. We live next door.” Suga told him, pointing over his shoulder to Tooru, who was waving and standing in front of the door next to theirs.

Daichi found himself laughing, shaking his head and bouncing Tobio in his arms.

“Well, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, huh?”

Suga grinned in response.

~~~

Mornings were not easy for Daichi. Morning were definitely not easy for Hajime or Tobio.

His kids, of course, got enough sleep. They just didn’t like getting out of bed when asked (Hajime) or co-operate when he tried to put their socks and shoes on (Tobio).

Daichi liked getting up early, he really did. He just wasn’t good at it. He often slept through his alarm, so he started setting two alarms. The second one seemed more effective than the first.

The morning were rushed and messy, Tobio usually spilt some of his breakfast down him and Hajime usually forgot where he put his school bag. Daichi usually did both. Tobio usually fell back asleep when Daichi was trying to tie his shoes for him. Hajime usually put his t-shirt on backwards or inside out. Daichi usually put the wrong shoe on the wrong foot.

But that was okay because they were always happy in the morning.

And it was also okay because the little family of three usually (always) came out of their apartment at the same time that Suga and his two boys did.

Hajime seemed happy enough to hold Tobio’s hand and walk slowly with him when Daichi took all of there bags in two arms. Daichi always thought he saw Tooru frown whenever he saw Hajime holding Tobio’s hand but he easily shrugged it off, watching Tooru ask his dad if he could do the same with Shouyou.

Suga almost always let him. It was only if Shou was tired, grumpy or still asleep that he would say no. Funnily enough, Tobio never wanted to walk with Hajime when Shouyou wasn’t walking either.

That didn’t happen very often though. Whenever Daichi saw the little ball of sunshine, he was pretty much always happy. The only time he had seen Shouyou cry was when he fell over running (waddling) after Hajime and Tobio. Suga quickly swooped in, kissing his head and face, asking if he was okay, wiping the few tears that came through.

Shouyou was always happy after that. I mean, who wouldn’t be?

So here they were, all three Sawamaru’s had left the top floor apartment, just to see the three Sugawara’s doing the exact thing.

Daichi smiled and waved, making sure Hajime and Tobio were out of the apartment before closing it and locking it. Tobio immediately curled a hand into Daichi’s tracksuit pants, tugging gently when he saw Shouyou curled in Suga’s arms.

“Hey, you guys!” Suga called, returning Daichi’s wave, who grinned in response. The eldest Sawamaru bent down, lifting Tobio up into his arms and kissing his temple softly, quietly asking if Hajime would carry Tobio’s little bag for him.

He ruffled his sons hair when he agreed, swinging the backpack over his left shoulder, his right one already taken up by his own.

Daichi watched Tooru skip over to Hajime, already exclaiming out something too loud for 8:20 in the morning. He let the two boys go ahead, waiting for Suga to stroll over, a sleeping Shouyou pressed against his chest.

“Is is his sleepy day today?” Daichi asked, smiling down at Shouyou who was wiggling about in his dad’s arms.

“Yeah, he hasn’t been feeling too well recently, he’s just been really sleepy, I think he might be catching a cold.” Suga told him, frowning softly, readjusting Shouyou in his arms and kissing the crown of his head gently.

“Poor thing, it really sucks when they get sick when they’re young. Tobio hasn’t been sick before, but Hajime has, he’s surprisingly whiny for a kid who doesn’t complain much.”

“Aww, I can’t imagine him being ill, he’s such a healthy child.” Suga added, watching Tooru and Hajime wait for the elevator, waving for Daichi and Suga to hurry up.

They quickly joined the older boys, moving into the elevator when the doors slid open.

“Tooru is extra whiny when he’s ill, isn’t that right, you little monster?” Suga grinned, reaching out to ruffle Tooru’s hair, pale fingers displacing the already messy curls.

“Daaad, I’m not whiny!” Tooru groaned, moving to hands up to try and protect his hair from anymore attacks.

“Yeah, okay, baby.”

“Tooru’s whiny in class, too! I didn’t pass to him in PE once and he complained for like an hour!” Hajime exclaimed, grinning at his dad as he knocked his and Tooru’s shoulders together.

“Hajime-chan! You’re such a meanie!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

The exchange of harsh words when on for a few more seconds before the beeping of a phone interrupted Daichi’s listening. He blinked in surprise to realise it was his own phone making the noise. He shifted Tobio into his left arm, the baby frowning slightly as he was moved, so he could grab his phone from his front pocket.

He unlocked it and glanced over the message, feeling the blood drain from his face.

From: Sugino Mae

Guess who found your new address? Guess who’s coming to pay you a visit?

He hadn’t realised how quick his breathing was until a cool hand was pressed against his cheek. He snapped his eyes shut, pushing his phone back into his pocket before opening them again, looking at the owner of the hand.

Suga’s hand.

“Are you okay? You had some trouble breathing there for a second, everything okay?”

Daichi swallowed loudly, nodding slowly, hyper sensitive to the hand sliding to his jaw, then his neck, then off his flushed skin.

“I’m fine, sorry. It’s just the school telling me I have some extra training with the boys this morning.” He reassured him, although Suga didn’t look too convinced. Suga nodded, moving his hand up to play with Shouyou, keeping his gaze flicking between his baby and Daichi.

“Honestly, Suga, I’m fine. Stop being such a mum.” Daichi teased, which did gain a smile from Suga.

“I am a mum, Daichi. A mum and a dad.” Suga supplied, threading his fingers through Shouyou’s unruly curls, trying to flatten them but with no success.

“Huh? They don’t have one?” Daichi asked, his gaze shifting between Suga, Shouyou and Tooru, who was pouting at something Hajime was saying.

Suga just smiled and ruffled Tooru’s hair gently. “We can talk about that another time, okay?” he told him softly, honey voice warming the pit of Daichi’s stomach and tips of his ears.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Daichi nodded dumbly, following Suga as he left the elevator, Tooru and Hajime running ahead, Tobio clutching at his jacket, little fists balled tight.

“How about after school? You could all come over for a play date?” Suga called over his shoulder before tickling Shouyou gently, “that sound fun, little one?”

Shouyou gave a loud giggle, pushing at his dad’s hands. The whole scene made Daichi blush, damn it, and seemed to rile Tobio up, wiggling and squirming in his dad’s arms, fists tightening.

“That sounds great, Tobio seems to like that idea, too.” Daichi chuckled, quickening his side so he fell into step with the ashen haired man and giggling baby.

Suga looked over at Tobio and smiled, leaning forward to kiss Tobio’s forehead gently, which seemed to calm him down slightly, hands reaching forward for Suga’s jacket. “I’m glad you’re as excited as Shouyou, little sweetheart.” Suga mumbled softly, leaning back up, his face rather close to Daichi’s.

Daichi was going to die, all he could see was unmarked, pale skin with a soft dusting of freckles sitting upon his cheekbones. Daichi was dead, he must be. He was in the presence of an angel. Even his eyelashes were the colour of ash, fanning out across his cheekbones, mixing with the caramel freckles.

Daichi watched his honey eyes flicker down to his own lips before going down to Tobio, a small smirk on his beautiful, pastel lips.

“I think daddy likes that idea too, huh, Tobio?”

Daichi couldn’t even speak, he just felt his face heat up as Suga smiled, kissing Tobio’s cheek gently before walking on.

“Come on, Daichi, the boy’s will be late for school at this rate!”

Damn it. Daichi was so, so screwed.

~~~

Suga didn’t often have his phone turned on at work. He usually kept it on his bag or break room on charge or something. But today was different. He didn’t know why he thought it would be a good idea to have it on him, but he just.. Had a feeling.

He sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and set to the task of wiping down the tables at work.

The coffee shop he worked in was a quaint little thing.

There were only 7 employees, including the two owners, who happened to be very good friends of Suga’s, Asahi and Noya.

Asahi and Noya had known Suga although out high school and college. They had been dating since Asahi’s seconds year, Noya’s first year, of high school. They balanced each other out, Asahi was more calm and collected, even though he was a bit wuss. Noya was more hot headed, more impulsive with his actions, but they were the cutest couple Suga had ever met, so.

They had hired him in his seconds year of college, as they opened the shop as soon as they left high school with the savings they both had and some help from their parents. Now, it was a successful shop that many of the locals adored. It was often filled by college students, high schoolers, busy business men and women. All walks of life visited their shop, Yours & Mine.

The interior was a sort of clash of personalities. It had the sharp sense of Noya and the soothing presence of Asahi embedded into everything that was contained within the shop.The soft terracotta and warm creams covered the walls, but on the back wall was a bright shade of orange, that Noya always told people wasn’t orange, but pumpkin. Large black chalkboards filled that back wall, the swirling handwriting of Asahi covering most of it, small drawings that Noya added living in the corners of the boards. Soft lightning in the form of fairy lights hung over the boards and in various other places in the shop, Noya’s addition to the shop. Tables and chairs were placed around, large windows streaming light all throughout the shop.

It was a wonderful place to work, Suga thought.

Some of the customers came for the music and the relaxed atmosphere, the soft indie and chilled guitar music floating through the speakers dotted around the whole shop. Most of the customers came for the different varieties of coffee and other items that the shop had for sale, neatly promoted by the board outside the shop Suga and Asahi changed regularly. While a few of the customers came for the polite and attractive employees.

The employees were all dressed in similar attire, a black polo shirt with pale coral writing with the name of the shop over the left side of the breast. Black slacks and a small apron, matching the colour of the writing on the polo. The employees were, in Suga’s opinion, almost like a family.

Suga, of course, was like the mother of them all. He was constantly looking after the younger employees as if they were his own children. The youngest employee was a quiet boy called Akaashi Keiji, who Suga thought was very grown up for the age of only 19. He was a college kid who was looking for a job when he saw the flyer for Yours & Mine. He had been working at the quaint shop since the age of 17, apparently he loved it, although he didn’t show much emotion. Suga got along with him very well, both of them worked efficiently and shared breaks together, chatting quietly about all and nothing. Keiji had met Tooru and Shou before, Shouyou loved Keiji, wanting to be in his arms every time he saw him. Tooru did like him, but he once told Suga that it was impossible for him to be that pretty. Suga told Keiji this and it was the first time Suga had seen him blush.

The second youngest employee was a boy called Kozume Kenma, also a quiet boy who looked like he didn’t want to be anywhere but his bed. Sometimes, Suga could agree to that. Kenma was a few months older than Keiji and got on with the younger boy quite well. They were both quiet and preferred tea to coffee. Kenma was good at his job but was always found with a game console in his hands when he was on his break instead of chatting with Suga and Keiji. Like Keiji, Kenma had met Tooru and Shouyou. Like Keiji, Shouyou loved him and the games he played. Like Keiji, Shouyou liked to be in Kenma arms whenever the boy was playing a game. Suga thought it was for watching the game, but he knew Shouyou just liked to cuddle with different people. Suga once caught the two curled on the sofa in the break room, Shou asleep and Kenma with a small smile on his face as he played on his phone.

One of the older employees, but a good 6 months, was a guy called Tanaka Ryunosuke, also known as Noya’s real lover. Noya and Ryu were pretty much inseparable. They shared the same shifts, they lived together for 3 years before Noya moved in with Asahi. Apparently it was the “biggest betrayal since Sasuke and Naruto” as cried by Ryu. Suga didn’t have a clue who those people were, neither did Asahi. Ryu was a good kid, a hard worker, a joker. He livened up the place if the day was a bit slow or if someone wasn’t feeling up to get through the day. Asahi often made the joke that maybe Ryu and Noya should be dating instead of him and Noya. Noya was quick to tell Asahi that Ryu was his “best bro”, but Asahi would always be his “best bae”. Asahi found it oddly sweet. Suga once asked him if he knew what that word meant, Asahi would smile and shake his head. He was also great with the kids. A lot of people just paid attention to Shou because he was a baby and cute, but he also included Tooru in everything he and Noya did when the two were with Suga’s boys. Tooru secretly loved it.

Yaku Morisuke was probably he second mother to the coffee shop. He looked after Kenma like Suga looked after Keiji. Yaku was made of fire and ice, he had a short temper which was often tested by a lanky kid with silver hair who came in pretty much everyday. The boy, Lev was his name, made the mistake of commenting on Yaku’s height and Yaku “accidentally” spilt Lev’s drink down his shirt when Yaku brought it over to him. Lev was careful not to slip up on that mistake again. Yaku got along with every employee, he was much very much like Suga. Tooru liked Yaku, Shouyou liked Yaku as well, but Shou did like Lev too, much to Yaku’s hatred. Suga jst thought Shou was fascinated by how tall Lev actually was. The silver haired kid once put Shou on his shoulders and the poor baby started crying, reaching down for Suga, hitting Lev on the head a few times until he out him down. The half Russian boy was smart enough to not try something like that with Shouyou again.

Suga loved the shop and all it had to offer.

Anyway, back to the current situation of Suga’s phone buzzing in his pocket whilst serving a stoic boy with headphones and glasses perched on the end of his nose.

Suga quickly finished his order and handed over the drink, the blond boy giving exact change before leaving, a freckled boy in tow. He looked over to Asahi, who doing a routine check of the machines.

“Hey, Asahi, can I step out for a minute? I need to go grab a drink.”

The other man looked up from the machines and over to Suga, nodding as he did so. “Yeah, that’s fine. Just grab Kenma to cover the register when you go.”

Suga shot him a smile and nodded, strolling over to the younger boy with two toned hair, who was wiping down a table.

“Hey, Kenma, could you just cover the register for a minute? I need to step out, I’ll finish this table for you.”

Kenma looked up, gold eyes wide as he looked at Suga. “Okay, thanks.” Came the soft reply as he nodded, hair bobbing as he nodded.

Smiling, Suga thanked him and let the boy go as he quickly finished setting out the rest of the table for the next customer to use.

He made his way to the back of the shop and and slipped into the break room, pulling his phone out on the way and checking the message. It was from Daichi. Suga felt his heart clench slightly.

From ♡ Daichi ♡

I know this is sucky of me to ask but could you pick my kids up as well? I’ve got a practise game after school with the boys and I just completely forgot about it

Suga felt a smile pull at his lips as he slumped down on the couch that lived in the break room. He held his phone close to his chest as he took a breath deep and slowing let it out.

To ♡ Daichi ♡

Sure, it’s not a problem, I guess that play date is coming sooner than we thought, huh?(;

From ♡ Daichi ♡

You’re a life saver, thank you so much. I’ll get something for you and the kids on my way home as payment.

To ♡ Daichi ♡

Such a gentleman♡. I’ll see you later, good luck with your game, Mr. Head Coach

Suga sighed happily and slid even further into the couch, sliding his blushing face in one of the many pillows that lay on the smooth leather. He was screwed.

Daichi was such.. Such a dad. Yes, Suga was aware he was a dad, thank you for the sarcastic comment. But he was like one of those hot dads that you go to yours friends house just to see. No, Suga didn’t have past experience with this.

Daichi was a hot dad and Suga was doomed.

~~~

Tooru wasn’t happy.

Tooru was normally happy, he loved being happy. He loved it when Shouyou was happy. He loved it when Hajime was happy.

He did not, however, love it when Hajime was happy because some dumb boy in their class had brought his new Godzilla toy in to show Hajime because he knew how much Hajime liked Godzilla.

He was supposed to be the only one who was allowed to make Hajime happy. Not even dumb Tobio-chan was allowed to do that.

He was Hajime’s best friend, not some stupid boy with a even stupider Godzilla toy.

He was sat at his own desk, knees curling up against his chest, skinny arms wrapped around his plastered knees. He didn’t need friends, girls liked him. A lot of girls liked him so who even needed dumb Hajime?

He felt his lower lip tremble as tears welled in the corners of his eyes.

He did. He needed dumb Hajime.

Tooru heard the bell go for the end of school but he didn’t get up or get this bag or anything. He didn’t want to move.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, he sniffled.

“Oi, Tooru! We’re going now! Your dad is here to pick you up!” Yelled the very boy he wanted to see.

He lifted his head and wiped his sleeve over his eyes, unfolding his long legs and running towards Hajime with outstretched arms. He fell into the other boy and hugged him tightly, smiling when he felt Hajime’s arms go around his middle.

“What’s up with you? You’re being weird, weirder than normal.”

“Haji-chan is so mean to me.” He said, voice muffled by Hajime’s dark green jumper.

“Yeah, okay. Come on, your dad’s outside.”

Tooru nodded as he pulled away, grinning down at Hajime who started running out, grabbing his bag on the way. Tooru just followed his lead, copying his actions.

There stood Suga, smiling at Tooru and Hajime as they ran out of the classroom, waving goodbye to their teacher.

Tooru ran to Suga and hugged his waist, grinning up at him and Shouyou, who was giggling and reaching down to Tooru.

Tooru’s grin slid off his face when he saw Tobio in his father’s other arm.

“What’s Tobio-chan doing here? Isn’t his dad picking him up?” Tooru asked, watching Hajime greet Tobio, grin on his tanned face.

“Well, Tooru, Tobio and Hajime are coming home with us, their dad has a volleyball game at his school so he’s going to be home a little later.” Suga told him, kneeling down to talk to him.

“So a playdate?”

“Exactly a playdate.”

Tooru’s grin returned to his face as he heard the reply.

~~~

Suga was great with kids, even with four kids who all pretty much liked different things.

Suga easily got the four children home and into the apartment without anything going wrong or anyone getting hurt.

Suga let Hajime and Tooru go play in Tooru’s room as he let the two babies play in the living room where Suga could keep an eye on them.

Suga didn’t know what to do when Noya burst into his apartment, followed by an apologetic looking Asahi who was holding a box of cake.

Suga just smiled and welcomed them in, shouting for Tooru and Hajime to come say hi to Noya and Asahi who had taken seats in the living room and had started playing with the two small babies.

Shouyou knew Noya and Asahi so it was easy for him to start playing and giggling straight away, flapping his arms about when Noya tickled him or made a sound Shouyou found funny.

Tobio was a little more apprehensive when it came to playing with Asahi, who might have looked scary to Tobio. But the little boy didn’t seemed to find it a problem at all. He just placed toys in front of himself and watched Asahi try to make him smile. When that didn’t happen, Suga was quick to inform him that Tobio didn’t smile often. Asahi looked a little more relieved about that.

Tooru and Hajime came rushing in, Tooru eagerly greeting Noya and Asahi, asking the taller man if he could braid his hair. Asahi replied with only if he didn’t pull it this time.

Noya whispered a joke that wasn’t suitable for children to Suga, who had to go stand in the kitchen because he was laughing too hard.

Tooru had rushed off to grab a brush and some clips, something he had in huge amount, so he could braid Asahi’s hair. By the time Tooru had come back, Tobio had moved into Asahi’s lap, reaching up for the pieces of hair that fell in front of Asahi’s face now that he had taken his hair tie out.

Asahi had expected Tobio to yank his hair, similar to what Shouyou did when he first saw him with his hair down, but he was surprisingly gently with it, just holding on to a thin couple of strands, staring at it in his hand very hard for someone who was so young.

Tooru frowned slightly, his hands full of all sorts of hair accessories. He marched over to Asahi and Tobio, a pout settled on his face.

“Tobio-chan! You have to move so I can braid Asa-chan’s hair!” He told him, staring down at the little boy who, in turn, was staring right back at Tooru.

“Ahh, it’s okay, Tooru, I don’t mind him sitting here, he might get upset if I move him.” Asahi tried to argue, well, calm Tooru down a somewhat at least.

It didn’t work.

“No! Asa-chan! He has to move!”

“Tooru, play nicely.” Suga interrupted, cocking an eyebrow as he watched his son pout and nod. Tooru began running a brush through Asahi’s hair, gently of course, and talking about his day at school. Asahi was more than happy to listen to him, if it stopped his glaring at the little baby sat in his lap.

Suga sunk back into the couch, running a hand through Shouyou’s hair as the two watched Noya and Hajime played ‘Godzilla and the space pirates’. Suga watched (in horror) as Noya picked Hajime up on to his shoulders and started yelling about how he was the new ‘Pirate Godzilla.’

“Be careful!” Suga and Asahi both yelled, both shouting to different people. Hajime just grinned and nodded, while Noya just laughed, bounding into the kitchen, boy on his shoulders as he went.

Suga heard Asahi mutter something like “he can’t be a year younger than me, he can’t be..”

Suga covered his mouth to stifle his laughter, but once Shouyou saw him laughing, the little baby was off. Giggling and clapping, Shou wiggled about on his lap, his hands gripping Suga’s cardigan lapels.

Of course, that caused Tobio to look over, his free hand suddenly reaching towards Shouyou and Suga, (his free hand staying latched on to Asahi’s hair), who were both giggling, Shouyou leading the clapping as Suga somewhat joined in.

The laughing and clapping stopped when Suga heard a crash from the kitchen and the cry of “We’re okay!” quickly followed said crash. Suga resisted the compelling urge to roll his eyes before standing up, Shouyou in his arms as he rushed to the kitchen.

Noya and Hajime were stood in front of a broken plate, Noya rubbing the back of his head and Hajime looking close to tears.

“Noya, take Shouyou back into the living room, I’ll clean up.”

Noya couldn’t be quicker to move, scooping Shouyou up from Suga’s arms and dashing off.

Suga smiled as he went, looking back at Hajime, kneeling down in front of him and holding his tanned hands in Suga’s own pale pair.

“Are you okay, little Godzilla? You didn’t get cut or anything?” Suga asked gently, rubbing his thumbs in circles against Hajime’s knuckles gently.

Hajime shook his head, a few tears slipping down his cheeks.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright, it’s only a little plate, no need for those tears, okay?” Suga told him, reaching up to cup his cheeks and wipe the few tears that stained Hajime’s cheek.

“I- I’m sorry.. I didn--”

“Easy, easy, Hajime. Honestly, it’s okay. Tooru breaks plates and cups all the time, he’s super clumsy. I think Shouyou just likes to break my plates, he just throws them about, that’s why he uses plastic plates now.”

That seemed to brighten Hajime up a little, his smaller hands now gripping Suga’s gently.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m very sure, now, you go and play with Tobio, I think he’s a bit lonely sat with Asahi.”

Hajime’s grin had returned, nodding vigorously as he threw his arms around Suga, who smiled and reciprocated the hug quickly, kissing his cheek gently.

“Just be careful when you walk out, okay?”

“Okay!”

Suga just smiled as he let go of the boy, watching him scamper off to play with his baby brother. The pale man stayed knelt down for a few seconds, a warmth filling him as he chuckled and shook his head.

He quickly cleaned up the bits of plate, sweeping up what was left on the floor before checking the time. How long did volleyball matches even last? Suga had no idea. Suga just wanted to see Daichi, yes, he was that desperate.

Suga just didn’t know what to do. He liked Daichi, he really, really liked him, but he had asked someone out since high school, so--

Suga needed serious help.

‘Maybe I can look online’, he thought to himself as he filled up the kettle, wrapping his arms around himself as he leaned back against the kitchen counter.

‘Or one of those teenage magazines that tell you how crushes work’, he added to himself as he bit his lip, pale hand sliding through his ashen hair.

Suga’s teenage girl thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell.

Daichi was the one word that came to Suga’s mind as he pushed himself away from the counter and towards the door.

Suga’s blood ran cold when he heard Noya shout, “I’ll get it!”

Suga rubbed a hand over his face as he dragged his feet toward the door. His sudden urge to see the other man were now forgotten as he stood in front of the kitchen door.

Did he look good? Did he have coffee stains on his shirt? Was his hair right? Did he smell good? Was the coffee smell too strong? Was the kitchen tidy? What if Daichi was wearing shorts? What if Suga couldn’t contain himself around such wonderful legs? What if his shirt was tight? Oh, God, Suga was panicking. Okay, deep breath and go--

Suga only vaguely remembered the door swinging open and hitting him square him in the face.

“Suga?!”

Suga stumbled backwards, his pale hands covering his now red face, both with pain and embarrassment because Daichi just smacked him in the face with a door, oh my god.

Suga felt two larger hands cover his wrists, cold fingertips pressing against his hot skin. Suga didn’t dare look, he knew how close Daichi would be. The man almost fainted at the thought. His large, chocolate eyes gazing into Suga’s own caramel ones, the blemish free skin darkened with the help of the sun, the strong cheek and jaw bones casting shadows over his neck, the kind smile on those soft looking lips. Suga’s knees felt weak.

He finally opened his eyes and saw exactly what he was excited for, yet dreading at the same time.

It was just Daichi, but yet it was just Daichi.

Daichi and his strong facial features that Suga would very much like to run his hands over. Daichi and his warm chocolate eyes that Suga cannot escape. Daichi and his tanned skin. Daichi and his soft looking lips. Daichi in all of his beauty.

Daichi with a very worried look on his face.

“Suga?! Oh my God! Are you okay? I can’t believe I just did that, oh my, god.. Suga, are you okay? You aren’t seeing double or anything? No blurry lines? Spinning? Anything? Su--”

“Daichi, shut up, I’m fine, it’s okay.”

“But, I just hit you with a door!”

“I’ve been hit by worse, relax.”

“But, Sug--”

“But nothing, I’m okay.”

Daichi’s worry seemed to slide off his face however he kept a few worry lines creased into his forehead. Suga was still hyper aware of his Daichi’s hands still wrapped around his wrists, Suga’s gaze switching between Daichi’s eyes, mouth and hands.

“You sure?”

“I’m certain.”

Daichi didn’t look convinced but he slowly nodded and started pulling his hands away from Suga’s wrists, grinning when he heard the word, “Dad!” being called from the door way.

Suga watched as Daichi turned around and caught Hajime in his arms as he ran towards him, the two grinning and hugging each other. Hajime didn’t hesitate to question Daichi about the game and the team and the score and whether Daichi’s team won or not.

“Woah, woah, spud. Let’s go see Tobio first, okay?”

Hajime nodded, grin still on his face. It was awfully similar to Daichi’s, Suga found himself smiling at that fact.

“He’s in the front room with Asahi and Shouyou.” Suga supplied after Hajime had ran out the room, smiling as Daichi smiled and nodded his thanks, rushing off to find hid little boy.

Suga followed the other man out of the room, walking down the corridor until Noya caught his arm, dragging him into Tooru’s room.

“Suga, you sly dog! Why didn’t you tell us about him?!” Noya whispered, well, stage whispered, he was still quite loud and grinning from ear to ear.

“Because, I knew you would be like this, dummy.”

Noya pouted and followed his arms over his chest. “That’s just mean, Suga,” his pout morphed into a grin, “so is he as hot without his clothes as he is with them on?”

Now it was Suga’s turn to pout, and blush. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Noya, we aren’t like that. He’s just a friend.”

“Yeah, but so we’re me and Asahi, now look at us.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“You’ve known Asahi longer than a month.”

“I guess, but you li--”

“Noya. Stop.”

“Suga~! You’re blushin-”

“Noya.”

“Suga has a crus--”

“Noya! I do not!”

“Whatever you say, Suga.” Noya even added a wink before skipping, yes skipping, off to join the four boys and two men in the other room. Suga just sighed and followed him back to the living room.

Suga wished he had stayed in Tooru’s room.

Daichi, Noya, Hajime and Tooru were all attempting to get Tobio’s little hand to let go of a section of Asahi’s hair. The man was sat down with Tobio in his lap, who looked like he had no intention of letting go of his hair. Noya was trying his best to help, if his best meant taking pictures and videos for ‘friends’ which mean Snapchat.

Daichi and Hajime were trying to make Tobio laugh or loosen his hand from Asahi’s hair. Tooru did not look like he was helping whatsoever. He was just stood there, smirking and offering unhelpful comments like,

“He must have glued it there” or “Silly little Tobio-chan.”

Suga looked over the chaos to see a certain little fiery haired baby sat on the floor playing his a soft crow plushie they had bought when they went to the zoo.

Suga just smiled and wandered over to him, scooping Shouyou, the crow plushie and a soft blanket up before walking back over to Tobio and kneeling down in front of him.

“Hey, you little trouble maker, how about you let go so you and Shou can go take a nap, huh?” Suga asked, gently setting Shouyou down in front of him, placing the crow plushie into Shouyou’s lap and smoothing the blanket over Tobio’s hands, both free and loose.

Both of the tiny hands shot forward to grab hold of the soft fabric beneath his palms.

Suga smiled and reached forward, picking Tobio up and then setting him down next to Shouyou. Both babies seemed happy to be where they were as they immediately reached for each other, Shouyou laughing and giggling and Tobio giving an almost smile.

“How?”

Suga looked up at the four people staring down at him, Daichi, Hajime, Noya and Tooru.

“Tobio just likes me.” Suga told them, grinning and leaning down to kiss the babe on the cheek, gaining him a real smile from Tobio.

“See?”

“It’s honestly not fair.” Daichi mumbled, shaking his head with a warm smile on his face.

~~~

It wasn’t long before Asahi and Noya had said their goodbyes, Noya and Hajime taking quite a while to say goodbye, Asahi being almost hesitant around the little Tobio, who just waved at him. Shouyou and Tooru were not as bad as saying goodbye as they both knew it would not be long before they saw the pair again.

Daichi, being the gentlemen Suga knew he was, waved and shook their hands, grinning when Noya announced that he liked Daichi. Much to Asahi’s dismay, but Suga knew the big wuss liked Daichi’s company as well.

As the pair left, Daichi seemed to pull his coat on, calling for Hajime and Tobio, but stopped when Suga suggested that they stay for dinner.

“Honestly, we’ve taken too much of your time already.” Daichi tried to argue, tried being the key word.

Suga shook his head, waving his hands at the other man. “Seriously, I don’t mind, plus you look tired, let me do this for you,” he quickly added, “and the boys.”

Daichi sighed, rubbing his temples before smirking up at Suga. “I can’t say no, can I?”

“Nope, not at all.” Suga grinned in response.

Daichi chuckled before sliding his coat off and hanging it back up on the rack. “Well, at least let me help with dinner.” He insisted, rolling his sleeves up on his undershirt, topped by a Karasuno training t-shirt. Suga didn’t answer for a few seconds, his eyes were trained on to the tanned skin stretched across Daichi’s forearms, golden skin against his white shirt.

“No, go play with the kids. You deserve a break.”

Daichi frowned slightly, “Su-gaaa.”

Suga bit his lip to contain his smile, shaking his head. “Nope. Go play, you work too hard.”

Daichi’s shoulders slumped in defeat, nodding slowly before a smile melted on to his face. His very, very attractive face. His very attractive face that Suga would love to hold, poke, squeeze and kiss.

Suga watched as Daichi headed to the door. No, his eyes certainly weren’t following the sculpted calves or the marble thighs or the tight, round--

Suga’s not PG thoughts were interrupted when Daichi turned around, his face lighting up as he spoke again, “You didn’t tell me about your kids.”

Suga was confused.

“My kids?” He asked, tilting his head slightly and leaning back against the counter, his arms wrapping around himself.

“Yeah, remember when I asked you in the elevator this morning about their mum and you said you’ll tell me later. I mean, that’s only if you feel comfortable or whatever telling me about it..” Daichi trailed off, his hand automatically coming up to the back of his own head, running through the short hair at the nape of his neck.

“Oh! Sure, yeah, I mean, yes. I’ll tell you.” Suga got out, his cheeks heating up slightly as he stuttered his sentence out.

Daichi grinned and walked back over to Suga, slipping into one of the breakfast bar stools as he looked from Suga and the table.

Suga’s eyes just followed him, a smaller smile on his face but there nonetheless. He took a deep breath and unfolded his arms, walking over and sliding into the seat next to Daichi, folding his hands on the table in front of him.

“Well, they’re both adopted. I’m gay so having kids was never something I had ever really planned. I love kids, I just could never have them so I talked to my mum about it, she’s been a massive help with the boys, and she came with me when I went to visit Tooru when he was about five.”

“I loved him the very moment I saw him, he has always been such a cute kid, it’s hard not to love him. After a month or so of spending days with him, I asked him if he wanted to come home and be my son. He nearly cried when I told that I actually meant it.” A fond smile found its way on to Suga’s face as he spoke, soft sighs filled with happy memories coming from his lips.

“When Tooru was just about to turn seven, I asked him if there was anything special he wanted for his birthday. He said a little brother, and me being me, we went back to the foster centre the day after.”

“That’s when I found Shouyou. Me and Tooru went, Tooru said he wanted a baby brother, he had to be a baby. So we went, there was another cute little boy named Tadashi that liked me, but Tooru had already started playing with a little red head who just seemed to giggle at anything and everything. He was just..” Suga stopped for a moment, “He was perfect.”

“Tooru told me that he wanted Shou as a younger brother, and again, after a month of home visits and play days with the two, we adopted Shouyou.”

“Tooru hasn’t always known he as his dad, but I think he feels as if I am his real dad. His real father abandoned him at the centre, whilst Shouyou’s mother died during childbirth, his father was no where to be seen. Shou hasn’t known any other parent, which is why I think he’s so confident around me and Tooru.” Another sigh escaped his lips.

Suga looked up at Daichi, who was in awe, causing Suga to blush and cast his eyes back to the table. “Sorry, I ramble a lot when I talk about them.”

Daichi just shook his head, smile on his lips. “Suga, it’s fine. I just.. Wasn’t bringing them up on your own hard?”

Suga relaxed in his seat, resting his head on his arms. “I guess, but nothing you love is easy. It was hard, but it’s worth it. Seeing Tooru and Shou happy is pretty much what keeps me going.”

“I feel the same way about Hajime and Tobio.”

Suga smiled and let his eyes slid shut. “What about you then? What’s your story?”

Daichi went silent for a few moments before sighing. “It’s not the prettiest of stories, but I guess it’s only fair.”

Suga’s eyes shot open, caramel running over Daichi’s tanned face. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me if it bring up bad memories.”

Daichi smiled and shook his head, lifting his hand up to rest on the back of Suga’s neck. “It’s fine, I want to tell you.”

Suga, being the schoolgirl he actually is, blushed and nodded, hiding his face in his arms again.

“When I was nineteen, I had a girlfriend, we had just moved in with each other and it was great. I had a job, a girlfriend, a car, everything was fine for a while. Then one day, I come home from work and she tells me she’s pregnant. Of course, I’m super excited and happy, but she doesn’t seem as happy about it.”

“She tells me she doesn’t want the baby and that we couldn’t cope with one, but I convinced her to keep it. Those soft words I spoke to her became our first child, Hajime. He was a quiet baby, really, but Mae, my ex, didn’t like that. She took Hajime to speech classes and all sorts because she wanted him to be more vocal, but I didn’t mind, he was perfect to me. He didn’t need to change.”

“So a few years later when Hajime was four, I asked her to marry me. She said yes, but she didn’t seem as happy as I thought she was. She was quiet, subdued, anti-social with people. She hated that she had to stay at home with Hajime, he wasn’t old enough to start school and we didn’t have enough money for preschool, so she asked me to do it.”

“I told her I couldn’t, I would lose my job. She didn’t work so we only had my measly income to keep us going. Life was hard. She drank more than she should, I came home to find Hajime on his own and her in out room, asleep or knocked out. Our apartment always stank of whatever she drank.”

Daichi stopped for a moment, rubbing his thumb across the milky skin of Suga’s neck before continuing.

“When Hajime was six, she fell pregnant again, which confused me. We hadn’t done anything for a while so I wondered what was going on. Whenever I tried to talk to her about it, she would make an excuse that she was meeting friends or her mother or any old excuse that came to mind. I found myself having to quit my job because she was never around to look after Hajime, so I did it.”

“I moved in with some friends of mine, who had always told me Mae was bad for me, but surprising, they never said a word when I rolled up at their doorstop, baby in one arm and a bag in the other. I complain about them everyday, but Bokuto and Kuroo are really good guys. I don’t know where I’d be without them really.”

Another pause, another deep breath, another swipe of his thumb, another lingering look at Suga, who had turned to face Daichi.

“She found out where I was eventually, saying that I abandoned her and all that, when I pointed out that she was the one who left, she went into labour and I took her to the hospital. Tobio was a healthy baby, he still is. But, like Hajime, very quiet. He didn’t look like either me at all, which confused me more. But, he was still my child.”

“She tried to take them away once. I came home from job hunting and she had locked them in her car, a half empty whiskey bottle in her hand, her handbag in the other. All I could hear was Tobio and Hajime crying, shouting for me as I tried to convince her to not go. To not leave me, or to not take them away from me.”

“Deep down, I think she loved them, I think she just didn’t know how to show it properly.”

Daichi didn’t realise he was crying until Suga’s hand was upon his cheek, brushing the hot tears off his cold skin.

“After the whole incident, I decided I couldn’t do it anymore. I had tried and tried to love her, to make the whole thing work, but I couldn’t do it. Tobio and Hajime were terrified of her, I couldn’t leave them alone with her anymore so I went through the divorce with her.”

“We moved here two years ago and I haven’t seen her since. My life is better, the kids’ life is so much better, healthier. But the other day, I got a text from her saying she knew where I lived, and I don’t think I can face her again, she-- she just..--”

Daichi felt warm hands cup his cheeks, sliding to the back of his head as he was pulled against Suga’s chest. He wasn’t ashamed of the tears that rolled down his cheeks. He wasn’t frightened at the thought that Suga would just disappear because he knew it wouldn’t happen.

The two adults stayed huddled together in the cold kitchen for a good ten minutes, long fingers raking through Daichi’s hair, strong arms wrapping around Suga’s middle. They just took in the comfort and reassurance given off by the other, they took in the soothing words and soft mumbles of their given names.

Bliss was hard to come by, but they had certainly found a small pocket full of it in Suga’s kitchen that night.

~~~

Daichi was many things. A good man, an even better dad, a stern coach. He was not, however, a morning man. So having two children jump on him when he was still asleep was not the best wake up call he had ever received.

His worst wake up call involved a crab, a bucket of iced water, two idiots he called his friends ( Bokuto and Kuroo, who else would it be?) and a lot of shouting and laughing. They had even recorded it. But that was another story for another time.

He had ended up staying at Suga’s last night, it wasn’t a school night so Daichi had agreed. The boys all seemed excited and happy to have the sleepover so the eldest Sawamaru didn’t have anything against it. It was nice being able to put the kids to bed then stay up talking with Suga, he was a good listener, a great dad.

The shared a bottle of Italian wine that Daichi did not know the name of, he didn’t know much about wine. They went to sleep in the early hours of the morning, curled up in Suga’s bed. Nothing sexual happened, Daichi hadn’t expected it too, but it would have been a nice surprise. It was wonderful end to a stressful day at work and Daichi told himself that he could easily get used to it.

But having two children jump on him and call for him to get up wasn’t the nicest start to his day. Tooru and Hajime were definitely heavier than they looked. But it still got him up, yawning and scratching his chest as Tooru and Hajime grinned at him.

“Suga-san is making pancakes!” Hajime exclaimed, moving forward and hugging Daichi’s arm, his deep green eyes wide with excitement.

“Then we best get into the kitchen before those two little babies eat all of them.” Daichi answered, watching the two faces in front of morph into frowns and angry scowls as they jumped off the bed, running back into the kitchen.

“Don’t eat our pancakes, babies!”

“Yeah!”

Daichi chuckled to himself as he lay back down on the bed, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out again. Today was going to be a good day, he knew it would be.

He actually got out of bed about five minutes later, pulling on some sweats that Suga let him borrow. They were a bit snug but he didn’t mind. He wandered into the kitchen, grinning at the sight of his two children and Suga’s two children all with plates filled with pancakes and syrup. He walked over to Tobio, who had syrup running down his chin and hand. Daichi smiled and kissed his cheek, making a face when he felt Tobio’s sticky hands cover his cheeks.

“Careful, dad! Tobio is really sticky and bleh!” Hajime called from where he sat next to Tooru, significantly less covered in syrup but had seemed to have a smear of chocolate spread over his cheek.

“I’ll be careful, bud, but I think he already got me.” Daichi joked, reaching out to ruffle his hair, doing a similar action to Tooru who grinned up at him.

“Dad saved some for you! He just went to get our mail from downstairs.” Tooru told him, pointing to a plate behind Daichi.

Daichi thanked him before greeting Shouyou and walking over to collect his plate. A little note had been left in front of the plate covered in smiley faces and little hearts around his name in the middle. A small arrow had been drawn to the left with the word ‘coffee’ written with about five exclamation points after it. True to his word, a steaming cup of coffee was to the left of his plate. Man, he really loved Suga.

Daichi felt his ears turn slightly pink. He couldn’t tell him that, well, not yet. They hadn’t known each other that long, maybe only a month or so. Did people fall in love that quickly? Daichi wasn’t really one to believe in love at first sight, but maybe his love wasn’t a slow burning thing, it was more like a firework. The build up was nice and exciting and then all at once, he was in love. Growing up, he had always heard stories that people never found love but were still happy. Growing up, he had heard stories about love at first sight. Growing up, he had been told his love was wrong, that a man’s love was only meant for a woman, Daichi never really paid any attention to the people that told him that.

‘Maybe being in love isn’t such a bad thing..’ Daichi told himself as he took a sip of coffee, watching Tooru and Hajime joke together, watching Shou and Tobio giggle at each other, syrup covering their hands and faces. ‘Maybe being in love with a man is easier than being with a woman..’ Daichi pondered as he heard the door open, a sweet voice calling into the apartment.

“I’m back! Daichi, there’s someone waiting outside your apartment!” Suga called to him, letters and newspapers in his hand as he came back into the kitchen, warming smile on his face.

“Really?” Daichi asked, eyebrows furrowing as he set his coffee down on the side, moving towards Suga.

“Yeah, she said she needed to talk to you, at first, I thought it was your sister but she said she wasn’t.” Suga added, greeting the two giggling babies and picking up his own coffee, some sort of vanilla latte that Daichi always found too sweet.

“Oh.. I’ll go have a look. I won’t be long.” He told Suga, reassuring the man and himself in a way.

Daichi slipped on his trainers from last night and exited the apartment, sliding the door shut as he turned to look at the woman stood outside the, his, apartment.

It was Mae. It was his ex-wife.

Mae had always been beautiful. No matter the time of day, what she did, she always had this shine about her. Daichi often saw it when he looked at his children. She looked beautiful now, soft hair, soft skin, bright eyes. How dare she look happy after what she did.

“Daichi.. Handsome as ever I see.” Even her voice was beautiful, soft milky tone. Nothing like Suga’s, nowhere near as lovely as Suga’s.

“You look well.” She added, brushing a soft piece of hair behind her ear.

Daichi couldn’t speak, what were you supposed to say to a women who drank her way out of your life? Out of her children’s life?

“Are they here? Are Hajime and Tobio here? I want to see them.”

“How dare you. How dare you even ask that of me. You don’t deserve to look at them, you don’t deserve it.” Daichi watched her face contort, pretty smile into a snarl.

“Are you going to stop me from seeing my own children?” She took a step closer to Daichi, head titled to the side, jet black curls falling off her shoulder.

“They stopped being your children when you left. When you cheated. When you came home drunk every night.” Daichi’s fists curled into tight balls, his nails pressing half circles into his palm.

Daichi heard the apartment door opening behind him, a soft call of his name that he didn’t quite register. A soft touch of his arm that he didn’t quite feel.

“Who’s this, Daichi? Why is he allowed to see my children? Why am I not allowed?” Her voice had turned from something sweet, to something very sour.

“Suga.. Can you please go back inside? Can you just stay with Hajime and Tooru? Keep them inside..” Daichi asked him softly, sliding his gaze to see Suga’s concerned look, nodding nonetheless.

“Just call me if I’m needed..” Suga told him gently, another touch
on Daichi’s arm before he slipped back into the apartment.

A moment of silence passed between the two before Mae grinned. “Awh, Daichi, is that who’ve you been spending your time with? Some little faggot. Does he have kids as well? Daichi, it’s like a perfect, little, faggot family, isn’t it?”

Daichi had to mentally hold himself in place, his palms now bleeding because of how hard his fists were clenched, his shoulders cramping because of how tightly they were hunched.

“Don’t, don’t you speak about him like that. He’s a better father to my kids than you were ever a mother. He actually cares about them, he is actually willing to spend time with them! He doesn’t just disappear at night and then not come home for days on end! I can rely on him! He keeps me sane! He’s.. He’s the love of my life and I couldn’t imagine life without him. For once in my life, I’m happy with someone. I’m happy with my job, my house, my partner, my kids, my everything! And it’s because you are not in the picture, and you will never be in the picture.”

All that was heard was Daichi’s ragged breathing when the slap connected with his face. The silent hallway echoing the sound. Daichi’s cheek burned, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, he felt at peace. He heard Mae huff and mutter something before turning and stomping back down the corridor, high heels clicking against the floor.

He took a few more deep breaths before he slowly turned around, smiling at the door of Suga’s apartment as he walked forward and opened it slowly, slipping his shoes off and looking up to face Suga.

Suga with his pink cheeks, with his teary eyes, with his watery smile. Suga in all his beauty and all his grace and all his wonderful words and smiles and reassuring air that made Daichi feel like a teenager in love again.

Suga with his arms around Daichi, with his hands moving up to his hair, tangling his pale fingers into the soft, cropped locks. Suga with hot tears on his cool cheeks.

Suga with the words, “I love you, too, Daichi,” falling from his lips into Daichi’s chest, neck, ears and finally lips.

The pair of them stood in the door way of Suga’s apartment for what seemed like hours, sharing heart filled kisses and sharing soft “I love you”’s. Sharing breath, warmth, tears, smiles. Sharing everything between them.

The air around them seemed perfect, everything seemed perfect.

“Dad, Shou-chan is crying because Tobio-chan spilt milk on him!” Tooru called down the corridor, a sniffle then a sob following the words spoken by Suga’s eldest.

Daichi felt Suga chuckle against his chest, slowing shaking his head as Tooru shouted, “Now Tobio-chan is crying because he made Shou-chan cry!” also followed by another little voice echoing down the corridor, sobbing and sniffling following him.

“I guess we better go, our babies need us..” Suga told him softly, a warming smile on his lips. The tears that once filled his eyes now gone, now replaced with.. Daichi couldn’t put it into words really. It was love, reassurance, gentle feelings that Daichi hadn’t felt in a long time.

The two made their way back into the kitchen, two sniffling babies sat in their high chairs, one covered in milk and the other covered in tears. Suga quickly swooped in and picked up Shouyou, kissing both cheeks and calming him down instantly. Daichi followed suit with Tobio, calming him down before wiping the tears off the boy’s pink cheeks.

As Daichi looked down at Tobio, the little boy opened his mouth, lips moving slowly in an attempt to form words.

“D-..”

“Suga.. I think Tobio is trying to talk..”

Tobio attempted the same word yet again, “Da--..”

“Daichi, isn’t this his first word?” Suga asked, rushing back over, a now dry Shouyou in his arms.

“Yeah! It is.. Hajime, grab my phone!”

“Da--...”

Hajime came skidding in, Daichi’s phone in his hand and Tooru on his tail. “What’s happening?”

Suga grinned and took the phone, swiping the camera open and setting it to record, “Tobio is about to say his first word! Go on, little one.”

Daichi couldn’t stop smiling, looking between the camera, Tobio and Hajime as he awaited the small word that was finally mumbled by the small boy.

“Dada.. Dada! Dad!” Tobio mumbled at first, his voice growing as he looked up at Daichi, small smile on his face as he shouted the word, his gaze now landing on Suga, his little arms flapping up and down, smacking Daichi in the chest several times.

Shouts erupted from Hajime and Tooru, laughter mixed in by Suga and Daichi, relentless giggling from Shouyou as Tobio continued to repeat the word over and over, making grabbing motions towards both Suga and Daichi.

“Shou-chan! You can’t lose to Tobio-chan! You have to speak, too!” Tooru whined, holding the fiery haired baby’s hands in his own, his lip stuck out into a pout.

Shouyou only replied by giggling and moving his hands up to Tooru’s cheek, the boy yelled and moaned something about how Shouyou’s hands were still sticky from the pancakes.

~~~

It wasn’t the best of days for Daichi Sawamaru. He usually wasn’t one to complain or whine about his situation, but honestly, he had had the worst day of his life, probably.

First, he had to wake up four times in the night because Tobio was teething and he was constantly in pain because of it. No amount of teething gel, toys or hugs could stop his crying. He only fell back asleep when he exhausted himself from crying. Not to mention that whenever Tobio woke up, Shouyou also woke up, either crying or sniffling. Those two never liked seeing each other upset.

Then, his car broke down on the way to work so he had to run the last two miles so he wasn’t late. He didn’t bother explain it to Bokuto and Kuroo because he knew they would tease him about it and he really couldn’t deal with their teasing with only a few hours worth of sleep.

Around lunch time, he got a call from Hajime’s school asking him to come in because Hajime had gotten into a fight with another boy. Daichi told his boss and he let him go. Thankfully, Hajime’s school wasn’t far from the one he worked at. Apparently, Hajime had thrown a toy car at a boy when he called himself and Tooru ‘weird’ and ‘freaks’ when the boy found out that they both had two dads. Daichi wasn’t supposed to be proud, but he was, secretly.

He took the two boys back home, after a somewhat lax scolding, and let them do whatever they pleased until Suga got home with Tobio and Shouyou. His day took another turn for the worse when Hajime rushed back into the house shouting about Tooru getting scratched by a cat he was petting. Daichi spent the next half hour cleaning the wound and hugging the crying nine year old. Hajime was careful not to call the boy a wuss.

Although, when Daichi heard the front door open and the pitter patter of two sets of tiny feet run through the apartment, both yelling, “Daddy!”, and a soft call of, “We’re back!” come from his honey voiced partner. He felt as though maybe his days weren’t as bad as he originally through they were.