Work Text:
"Remind me why we're doing this again?"
"It's father's day in a week!"
"Yes, you said that before. But, how is that any of our concern?"
"We should do something nice for Satoru on father's day, since he's been taking care of us for about 2 years now."
"But he's not our father. He's just our guardian."
"Well, there isn't a guardian day, we'll have to make do with what we have. What do you think he would like?" she continued nonchalantly.
"Nothing. Let's just go back home, Tsumiki."
"I think we should do something to show him that we're grateful." Megumi huffed at her words, but kept on trudging after her in the mall, while she looked at every store's window, "Wait! This is it!" she exclaimed enthusiastically as she stopped in front of an arts and crafts supplies store.
Megumi stood next to Tsumiki to look at the window of the shop, and there it was, displayed in all its greatness; a modeling polymer clay kit. Megumi knew better than to try to talk his sister out of something she had already decided on. It was impossible. And also the reason why they were inside the store, being cooed at by the lady who worked there.
"You kids must like arts and crafts!" the woman smiled at them.
"Actually, we haven't done anything like this before. We want to make something nice for our father, since father's day is approaching." Tsumiki corrected her kindly.
Megumi's head whipped to look at his sister once he heard her referring to Satoru by the word 'father'. He was just their stupid guardian. But why did he start to feel warm inside? It must have been June's hot weather getting to him.
"Oh, how cute! Your father is really lucky to have you as his kids!" she cooed again.
"If anything, we're the lucky ones," she replied, and it sounded genuine. "So, you said something about acrylic paints we can use to customize the clay?"
"Yes, here they are."
"Great, we're buying them!"
"Tsumiki, wait!" Megumi grabbed her wrist as she went to get the money from her Hello Kitty bag, another one of Gojo's courtesies.
"Hm, what is it?"
"When are we going to find the time to do all that?"
"Don't worry, it's super easy, there are instructions in the box." the lady informed him before Tsumiki had the chance to respond.
"See? We can do it!" she said, determination gleaming in her eyes.
Everything had been going smooth that day, until they got home. To their (Tsumiki's) horror Gojo was already there, waiting for them. As soon as she saw him, she turned around, pushed the bags in Megumi's arms and shoved him back into the genkan.
"Oh no, what do we do now? I thought he wouldn't be back until Wednesday!" she whisper-yelled frantically.
"Tsumiki, Megumi? Are you guys okay?" Gojo asked from the living room.
"Yes, just taking off our shoes!" Tsumiki answered and turned to Megumi again, "I'll go distract him, and you will dash to your room with the bags. Got it?" Megumi nodded suddenly feeling motivated by his sister's determination, "Okay, 3, 2, 1, go!" Megumi started running to his room, trying his best to keep the plastic bags from making much noise, while Tsumiki was off to the living room to distract Gojo.
"You're back from your mission already?" she said, loud enough to cover any plastic bag noises that could reach the living room.
"Yeah, it wasn't all that difficult after all," he said in between bites of pastries he picked up from wherever his mission was, "You want some?" he asked her, pointing at the bag.
"Uh, sure." she took a piece and sat next to him on the couch, the weather forecast playing on the TV.
"It took you longer to get home after school, what were you up to?"
"We made some stops on the way here, since it's so hot outside."
"Ah, makes sense. And it looks like it's going to be like that all week long. Where's Megu- oh! Speak of the devil!" Gojo said that last sentence with a smug smile and Megumi stuck his tongue out at him as he entered the living room, "Anyway, now that you're both here, I thought I should let you know that I probably won't have any other missions until Sunday, so we can spend time together!"
Megumi and Tsumiki looked at each other. It was father's day at Sunday, and with Gojo at home all the time, they wouldn't be able to make his gift.
"Really? That's great! Right, Megumi?" Tsumiki said, barely keeping her eye from twitching.
"Um, I guess?" he said, trying to sound disinterested, even though he was started to feel stressed as well.
"Yeah, unless an emergency comes up." Gojo thought that they were both acting weird, but didn't comment on it.
Megumi looked at Tsumiki again and by the way her eyes slightly widened, he could tell that she had an idea on how they could make his gift without him knowing.
"Tsumiki, can you help me with some math problems I have for tomorrow?" he had already started making his way to his room, Tsumiki soon following behind, catching up to his thinking, let's go to my room where the present is hidden and make a plan.
"I'll be right here, if you need anything." Gojo called out behind them, still munching on sweet pastries and watching TV.
Once the kids were inside the room, they closed the door and sat on the floor to brainstorm possible scenarios of emergency missions.
"We need him away for at least two days." Tsumiki started
"But he has to be here on Sunday."
"Right. Tomorrow is Tuesday, so he could leave on Wednesday and return on Saturday."
"But how can we make him leave?"
"We have Yaga-san's phone number. Remember? What if we begged him to send Satoru on a fake mission?"
"Yeah, but didn't Satoru say to call him only when we can't reach him, Shoko-san or Nanami-san?
Tsumiki sighed defeated and ran her hands through her hair. "He did say that..."
"Let's just drop it. He's not even expecting a gift from us."
"We're not backing down now! Isn't it worth a try? It won't hurt us to try."
Just as Tsumiki was about to take her phone out and call Yaga, they heard a knock on the door. Gojo opened the door, entered the room, and sat down with them.
"What are you gremlins scheming?" he smiled playfully and rested his chin on his palm. None of them had the chance to answer before Satoru started speaking again. "I was just on the phone with Yaga. I have to go on a mission on Wednesday, I don't know when I'll return, though." his smile faltered.
"It's okay, don't worry!" Tsumiki hugged him, while simultaneously hiding her overjoyed smile.
"This sucks, I was looking forward to spending time with you this week." he pouted and hugged Tsumiki back with one hand, the other reaching to ruffle Megumi's hair.
"Will you be back by Sunday?" Megumi asked after he let himself bask in his affection for a few seconds, then swatting his hand away.
"Aw, you're gonna miss me that much?" he tried to squish his cheek this time, but he was swatted away before he even made contact with Megumi's cheek.
"We don't have school on Sunday, so we can spend the whole day together!" Tsumiki answered in his place.
"Hopefully, I'll be back by Saturday. I'll try to make the mission as short as possible."
Tuesday went by uneventufully. Wednesday morning was the same as any other morning, except this time Gojo would be going at his mission right after dropping them off at school.
"You will have to return alone at home." Satoru told them one last time. "Have a good day!"
"You too, stay safe!" Tsumiki waved back, as Megumi mumbled a small bye.
Tsumiki (and Megumi, though he would not admit it) was determined on making the best father's day gift to ever grace the planet. And even though she was able to manage her enthusiasm while at school, she didn't even try at home.
"Let's get to work!" she said as soon as both kids were inside the house.
"But what are we going to make?" Megumi asked calmly, putting away his shoes.
"Oh, right, we haven't decided on that yet." she stopped in her tracks, "Let's look at the suggestions in the kit."
That's how the two siblings ended up sitting next to each to each other on the kitchen table, looking at the instruction manual that came with the clay, troubled looks on their faces.
"Mugs and plates shouldn't be too hard to make..." Tsumiki said, trying to sound hopeful. Everything else looked a bit too advanced, "I can do the mug, Do you wanna do the plate?"
"Sure, let's do that."
"Let's see... what color should we make them?" she started taking out the clay.
"Blue? To match his freaky eyes." Megumi suggested.
"That's a great idea!" Tsumiki started, "Wait, did you just call his eyes freaky?"
"Are they not?"
"Well, blue it is!"
Soon, they were both focused on doing their absolute best for their father's guardian's present. Tsumiki was unexpectedly good at this, as it was her first time trying it, and was almost done with the mug. Megumi was struggling a bit more than he would like to admit. When she was done with the mug, Tsumiki offered to help him.
"No, thanks, I can do it on my own." was Megumi's response, who had that distinct frown on his face which meant that he was concentrating. Not long after, he finished his work as well.
"Now we should let them air dry until tomorrow and then paint them." Tsumiki sighed after reading the manual one more time.
Precisely 24 hours after they made the mug and plate, they sat on the kitchen table once again, preparing to give a little more character to their creations. Tsumiki picked up a brush and dipped it in the white acrylic paint (to match Gojo's hair) and wrote Happy Father's day, Satoru! and at the bottom she wrote Love, Tsumiki and "Megumi, write your name here!" she gave the brush and mug to Megumi, who wrote his name without any complaints, to her surprise.
Now, that's a good mug, she thought, proud of herself.
"We should paint three white hearts on the plate!" she said, already dipping the brush in the paint.
"Why?"
"Because there's three of us."
"No, I mean, why hearts?"
"Because we're family and families love each other!" she said with a smile warmer than the summer weather.
Poor Megumi, on the other hand, was about to have his brain fried. Family, love? When had they ever had one of them to know what they should feel like? Ever since a white haired idiot made his way into our lives, a voice in the back of his head kept telling him, and he felt like his heart was about to explode.
"Actually, let's do many little hearts on the edge of the plate. This is really well made, Megumi!" she praised him.
"Thank you." he said, blushing a little and picking up another brush to paint hearts alongside his sister.
When they were done, the edge of the blue plate was littered with little white hearts, a masterpiece in Tsumiki's humble opinion.
"Okay, now we have to bake them in the oven."
After they had baked them, given them their ice bath and were done with everything, they stood and looked at the finished product. And after they agreed to pick up some wrapping paper on their way home the next day, they called it a night. The important day was getting closer and closer.
On Saturday, they got a phone call from Gojo.
"Hey kids, how are ya doing?"
'We're doing fine, how are you?" Tsumiki said, putting him on speaker.
"I'm okay, I just called to see how you're doing and let you know that I'll be back tomorrow morning."
"That's great!"
"I have to go now, a curse just flew past me!"
"Okay, goodbye!" Tsumiki said and ended the call, "I was talking to some of my classmates today, and they said that flowers is a common gift for father's day" she turned to Megumi, "We should also buy some flowers for Satoru, don't you think?"
"We should go now, he said he'll be back tomorrow morning."
"Let's go!" she agreed and they got ready to head to the nearest flower shop.
When they were back home they put the flowers in water and spent the rest of the day doing nothing in particular, waiting anxiously for tomorrow to arrive.
Early in the morning, Megumi was woken up by the sound of their apartment door opening and closing. That must be Satoru, he thought to himself and rolled on his side to fall asleep again, when he remembered; the flowers were still in the kitchen, if Satoru sees them now, the surprise is spoiled! He made his way in Tsumiki's room soundlessly and explained to her the situation after waking her up. They decided it would be best to just surprise him at that moment.
They picked up the plate and mug, in the pretty wrapping paper, from Tsumiki's desk and went into the kitchen, where Gojo was looking at the flowers, but had no clue what they were about.
"Hey, Satoru..." Megumi said, his voice still a little bit sleepy and Tsumiki behind him, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey, why are you up so early?" he asked and crouched down to their level.
"Um, the flowers are for you" he started to explain, "and these are for you, as well." he said and handed him their hand made gifts.
"What?" Gojo questioned, still clueless. Until he unwrapped the mug and saw the Happy Father's day, Satoru! that Tsumiki had written.
"You guys..." he started with the most genuine smile the kids had seen on his face.
"Turn it upside down, there's something at the bottom." Tsumiki told him.
When he took a look at the bottom of the mug and saw the Love, Tsumiki and Megumi tears started gathering in his eyes, but he didn't let them fall.
"I don't-"
"You haven't looked at the plate yet." Tsumiki cut him off again.
He unwrapped the plate and he could have sworn that he could die from the cuteness and the love he felt in that moment.
"Come here!" he tackled them in a hug and kissed their foreheads.
"Happy father's day, Satoru!" Tsumiki giggled.
"Happy father's day." Megumi copied his sister, more timidly.
"What did I do to deserve you two?" he said, his kids still trapped in his warm hug.