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"Kei!"
"Yea?!" Keigo called back from the living room, where he was colouring a wolf in a new nature-themed colouring book Shinyo got him the other day.
"Come brush your teeth, we're going in a minute!" Shinyo called from the bathroom where he was, with all his might, trying to push up more toothpaste to the top of the tube.
Must remember to get more while we're out, stupid design, can't ever get the last bit out, its like they want to waste product, waste my money, waste my time-
"Fu- freaking thing! Come on!"
With a deep inhale, hands basically vibrating with the way they shake as Shinyo grips the toothpaste tube tight, forcing more toothpaste to go up inside the tube.
He hears Keigo's little feet patter into the room, then the movement stopped beside him.
"Um, dad? You know we have a new tube in the cupboard right?"
Shinyo, having now stopped, with only a pea-sized amount pushed to the top to show his efforts, looks down at his son in a devastated look of, 'You've gotta be kidding me.'
Keigo turns to the little cupboard near the floor which was a part of a shelf cabinet, and bent down ever so slightly to open it and lo and behold, pulls out a brand new, still in its cardboard box, toothpaste. Keigo feels a little bad seeing his dads wings droop slightly, almost wishing he didn't tell him, so he could see his dads proud face, having gotten enough toothpaste out for the both of them.
Shinyo sighs and puts the basically empty tube down and moves to pick up a stool and move it in front of the sink for Keigo to use.
Keigo eagerly climbs up and hands Shinyo the new tube.
"Thank you babyfeathers."
"It's ok." He replies with a genuine, cute smile that makes Shinyo’s lungs feel like they're gonna give up on him again, with the way he stops breathing.
You're so damn cute, how do I deserve you?
Keigo reaches for his blue dinosaur toothbrush, turning the cold tap on to rinse it.
Shinyo grabs his own snake-themed toothbrush and also wets his, and as he's holding the toothpaste, plops some onto his brush and shoves it in his mouth to hold it there, the handle sticking out the side of his mouth.
He turns to Keigo and as Keigo holds his toothbrush out, Shinyo plops some onto his too, and they both get brushing.
Once they've finished, and Shinyo’s heart melts again at the sight of his son burying his face in the towel just to wipe his mouth, they head into the bedroom and help each other pick they're clothes for the day.
~
"Now what do you think, chirps? These super comfy black cargo pants? Or these also comfy grey..sorta like..dress pants things? I don't actually know what they're called...but they've got less pockets." Shinyo held both options up to his waist to show his son.
"Ummm...I think both look really cool, dad!"
"Thank you chirps, but I gotta pick one...forget their styles, do you like black or grey more?"
With a little look of panic, like this was serious, Keigo answered, "Umm! Black!"
"Aye! Good pick feathers. I like it, thank you." He said looking happy with the chosen pants, holding them up to himself again and checking if it matches with the shirt he chose, when it did, he got to changing.
Keigo, now relaxed and dressed in his own clothes, had brung his colouring book into the bedroom and was colouring while laying on his belly, swinging his legs. His clothes consisted of black comfy jogger trousers and a white t-shirt that had a green dinosaur with sunglasses on it, and shoes that were black canvas style shoes, like converse, except Shinyo refused to pay for the brand, so these were knock-off, still perfectly fine and cool, in his opinion.
"Alright feathers! You ready to go?"
Keigos head shot up and he nodded excitedly, a smile beaming on his face. "Let's go! Let's go!" He dashes to the door.
Shinyo chuckles and follows him through to the door, "Come on then chirpy, let's go." He says with a teasing lilt.
Opening the door and letting Keigo through first, he walks through himself and pulls his keys out to lock it. He mentally checks he has everything, and when he knows he does they begin their little adventure.
~~~~
"Slow down babyfeathers! Your old man can't keep up." Said man had to start speed walking with the occasional hop to his step for an extra boost, the kids got speed that's for sure.
"You're not that old yet dad!" Keigo giggled. Despite not answering him, he did slow down, and instead help Shinyo’s hand and tugged him to move quicker.
"I feel it, Kei."
He took a long look at his son in front of him. Since he's been going to school, he seems to have become more open and less quiet and anxious, despite it taking awhile. He still has his days of course, however, this certainly wasn't one of them, if the way he pays no attention to the strangers walking past them tells him correctly.
"Dad! I think I see it! Is that it?" He tugged more urgently and Shinyo couldn't stop the smile that graced his lips.
"I think so chirps! I don't know any other shops called Build-A-Bear."
As they approached the shop, Shinyo’s doubtful Keigo even heard what he just said. He looked so amazed and starry-eyed, he's glad he can finally do this for him.
They walked in, and despite all the different colours of the 'bears', the warm beige of the walls and containers holding the bears gave it a calm look, red outlined the main areas.
Shinyo made a conscious effort to keep his wings tucked firmly against his back, the shop not being small, but not big either. He didn't want to draw more attention to them than they already may have because his wings knocked something off its shelf. He had learnt that lesson the hard way.
Keigo on the other hand, was a different story. His wings flapped excitedly behind him, their small size meaning they didn't have to worry much about hitting anything.
Despite his excitement, he seemed a little lost at what to do first. Shinyo takes his hand and gently pulls him over to the selection of unstuffed animal and character teddies.
“Do any of them tickle your fancy, chirps?” He looked down at his son, “You can have whichever one you want.”
Keigo looked up at him with his eyes wide, “Really?”
“Really, babyfeathers. You can choose whichever you want to keep, and then we go over to that lady over there,” He turns his body and leans down ever so slightly to Keigo and shows him who he means. “And get the thing stuffed, aye?”
Eyes still wide and mouth open a little, Keigo nods. “Mmhm, thank you!”
“S'alright baby, come on, what one you want?” He leads Keigo further down the aisle of animals. “Think I saw a chick down here, we finally found your twin, chirps!”
Keigo giggled and kept going on his tip-toes to look at the other characters as well as the ones Shinyo points out. He spots a wolf and immediately goes to grab one out of the box full of the unstuffed ones. “I found Mr Wolf!”
“Ha! Well done, lil chirp! That ones not quite as big as our Wolf is he?”
He blushes lightly at the praise and then giggles at Shinyo's comment, shaking his head. “Can I have him, dad? Please.”
“‘Course babyfeathers, I said you could have whatever one you want. You sure you want that one specifically? You always gotta rummage and make sure you get a gooden. Some of ‘em might not look right.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Like, some might have bits of fluff coming out, or an eye wonky or something,” he grabs a different one from the pile and inspects it, “but it doesn't really matter, as long as you like it.”
He turns the wolf to face Keigo. He grabs it and holds it in front of him next to the one he was already holding. “Hmm, I like this one!” He holds up the one Shinyo handed to him higher.
“Aye! Alright feathers. Your old mans got a good eye, ay?”
Keigo nods enthusiastically, then puts the other wolf back in the box, holding the one Shinyo picked tightly with both hands. It made Shinyo's breath catch for a second.
“Let's go get him stuffed yea?”
“Ok! Thank you!” He walks, quite quickly, back to Shinyo's side ready to follow him over to the lady.
“Don't have to keep saying it, Kei. But it's ok,” he ruffles Keigo's hair. “Now let's go!”
They make their way over to the lady, her smiling at them as they get closer. “Hi! Are you ready to stuff your bear?” She said it in a tone that was clearly a practised way of talking to children.
Huh, is that what he's supposed to be doing?
Keigo nods a few times so short and quick that Shinyo almost didn't notice he did it. “Yes please!”
“Alright, give him to me then.” The lady, now that he thought about it, was probably in her early twenties. She smiled softly at Keigo as he passed the wolf over to her.
“Thank you, just come over here.”
She led them just a few steps to a big square machine that was full of stuffing material, and sat down on a small chair beside it. Aligning the hole in the wolf where it hadn't been sewn, to some sort of pipe type thing where the stuffing comes out, and pushing her foot on a peddle.
Keigo's face became a bit hard to read then, it seemed to be a mixture of excitement, wonder, and then horror when the wolf got impaled. It seems he did not know the hole was there, how did he think it was going to be stuffed? Magic? Or a quirk more likely?
Once it was clear the wolf was being filled with stuffing, and the lady hadn't just torn a hole in it, he seemed to brighten up again.
Shinyo let out a breath of air through his nose in amusement. Silly chick.
“All done! Now, I need you to bring life to your little friend's heart here.” She pulls out a little material heart and shows Keigo.
Handing it out to him after he nods a bit startledly, not expecting whatever this is to happen, he takes a hold of the heart gently.
“Are you ready? I'm gonna ask you to do a few things ok?”
Keigo nods, “Ok!”
“Good! Now, I need you to warm it up, rub your hands together with it in between them.” She spoke gently, doing the actions with her own hands to show him.
Keigo rubs his hands together carefully, not wanting to be rough with the precious heart.
“Now I need you to shake it to wake him up.” Again, she says it while doing the action herself.
Keigo shakes the hand he's holding the heart in ever so gently.
“Now rub it on your nose so he knows you.”
Shinyo snickered at the pun and quietly muttered to himself, “Hah, nose you.”
The lady's eyes flickered to him for a second and smiled with a knowing, cheeky look while Keigo didn't second guess the command and acted it out.
“Then you're gonna rub it on your back so he always has your back.”
“Aww. He's always there for you, chirps!”
Keigo giggles once again, wings flapping, and rubs it on his back the best he can with his reach.
“Rub it on your knees so he always needs you.”
He bends down slightly to reach his knee, again not questioning the pun.
“Rub it on your toes so he's totally awesome.”
This time, the pun seemed to register as it got a laugh and a happy chirp out of him.
“Ok! Now I need you to hold it in your hands and close your eyes. Make a wish!”
Keigo's mouth opens a little in a soundless gasp, or something more akin to awe, then squeezes his eyes shut, holding the heart more tightly than he previously had been.
“When you're ready, give your heart a kiss and we'll put it inside your wolf.”
He nods vigorously again after opening his eyes, and he goes to hand her the heart, but she shakes her head.
“No it's ok, you put it inside him, he's your friend yea?”
“Ooh, m'kay!” He gently pushes the heart in through the small unsewn hole on the wolf's back, and keeps going a little so the heart is roughly in the middle.
When he's done, the lady looks up at him rather than the wolf, “Would you like to put a scent in him?”
Keigo looks up at his dad with big eyes in question.
“I said you could have whatever, babyfeathers. Go ahead.”
And so the lady lists off all the scents they have today, a few being vanilla, strawberry, cotton candy, and party cake.
“Can I have the strawberry one please?”
“Of course, sweetheart.” She turns behind her to pull out something from one of the few small drawers behind her and carefully puts in it the wolf. “I'm just gonna sew him up and he's all yours.”
Keigo seems as though the fact he's getting a new teddy and registered again for the first time and hes buzzing. He's smiling wide, eyes shining and body practically vibrating. He looks like he doesn't know how he should move, does he jump in joy or wiggle his hands?
“Here you go!” She hands him the newly stitched up teddy.
“Thank you!” Keigo takes it and brings it to his chest and hugs it, then faces Shinyo and holds it up to him. “Look! Look! He's so cute! Thank you too dad!”
Shinyo feels his chest go tight for a moment, then he remembers to breathe and he smiles, hand reaching to ruffle Keigo's hair once he moves the wolf plush back into himself.
“Aye, that's ok, chirps. Thank you” He says turning to the lady, giving a small bow.
“That's alright, he's such a cutie.”
Shinyo gives a wide grin and agrees, “He is, ain't ya chirps?” He turns to Keigo again, but he's still just there buzzing with his new teddy. He turns back to the lady.
“I go over there to pay, right?” He asks while pointing to a counter near the entrance.
“Ohhh no no not yet! Would he like to name his friend too? You can make him a birth certificate and put him in a little house box for the journey home so he's safe.”
“Aye you wanna name him, fluffs?”
Keigo nods eagerly and the lady leads them over to a cute blue machine. And she shows him how it works, and with the help of her and Shinyo, he fills the information out.
“Ayy! Well done, chirps! You named him directly after Wolf?” He turned to Keigo, who was having his teddy put in its box.
He nods, “We don't see him much anymore.”
He said it so softly, Shinyo almost wanted to announce that they take a trip to see the man urgently, but he refrained. “He's comin’ to see us in a months time, you can show him your new wolf then, yea?”
“Ooh! Yea! It's been forever.”
“Aye, it has. We'll grandpa Wolf soon, chirps don't worry.”
Keigo giggled at ‘grandpa’ and nodded.
“You want some clothes for him too before we go? Look, they've got loads! Can get him a cool t-shirt or some skates.”
Keigo looks over to where Shinyo's pointing at the clothes section and goes slightly wide-eyed again, but then frowned a little, turning back to him. “No it's ok dad, I like him like this.”
Shinyo's eyebrows furrowed, “You sure, Kei? You can have whatever.” He pauses for a second, “I have enough, babyfeathers.”
Shinyo can tell that's what Keigo was worried about by the slight guilty look on his face, it seemed to brighten up a bit more when Shinyo reassures him, but it's still unsure.
“Come on, chirps. It's perfectly fine, let's have a look, yea? I wanna look to see if they've got some cool stuff for when I get a bear too another time.”
That seems to do the trick, as the claim that they'll come back for Shinyo to build a bear must mean they've got enough.
They look around at all the different clothes for awhile, some even being perfect for Shinyo, with egg puns and “Best Dad” t-shirts, but soon enough Keigo settled on a white shirt that had a little grey button up waistcoat and baby blue bow tie. Perfect for Mr Wolf.
If the blue bow tie reminds him of Touya too, that's only for him to know.
Despite Shinyo urging him on to choose some pants or shoes too, Keigo said he was sure he was ok with just the shirt combo, and with that, they walked over to the check-out counter.
“Hi, just this, please.” Shinyo tells the employee politely and Keigo holds up the new wolf to show her what they have, and she punches in the number onto the little computer. She tells Shinyo the amount and without hesitation he pulls cash notes out of his pocket, counts them quickly, and hands them over.
The lady puts it into the cash register and hands him his change with a smile. “Enjoy your new friend, little guy!”
Keigo giggles, “I will! Thank you!”
“Aye, thank you, have a good one.” And he leads Keigo out the shop smiling down at his son and his new ‘bear’.
“What do you wanna do now, chirps? You hungry?”
Keigo looks up from his wolf at Shinyo, “A little, but I'm ok, thank you!”
“It's alright, feathers, I've told you it's ok. And I'm hungry too, where you wanna go? I'm starving actually, damn.”
Keigo giggles again, for the hundredth time that afternoon. “I don't mind, really! What do you want? Is there chicken near here?”
“Hm, probably, we could find a KFC?” Shinyo gives Keigo a cheeky grin.
Keigo beams back and vigorously nods his head in agreement.
“KFC it is then. Let's go, fluffs.” Shinyo motions with his head for Keigo to follow him, assuming he'd hold tight to his wolf teddy again, but instead he holds Mr Wolf under his right arm, and lifts his left hand up to hold Shinyo's right. Shinyo takes his still small hand gently and leads them towards their goal, yummy chicken.