Work Text:
Keishin ran into the lecture hall, already running 15 minutes late due to his daughter’s bus not coming in time for school. As he burst through the door, he quickly sat in one of the back rows. Taking his laptop out, he saw that the person next to him was typing furiously.
“Can I see your notes after class?” He whispered to the stranger wearing glasses.
Shocked, the stranger turned towards his classmate and nodded.
“This is Professor Lang’s class, right?” The other looked at him confused.
“No, this is Professor Jiu’s class for Psych 405.”
Crap. Keishin quickly closed his laptop and ran out.
The classmate was dumbfounded and just giggled to himself.
1.
Ittettsu Takeda was a hard-working man who knew what he wanted and always chased for it. Fascinated with history and education, he majored in both and handled his studies well. When he told his friend about the odd scene that happened in his psychology class, his friend laughed.
“Wow, that must be so embarrassing to run into the wrong classroom!” they exclaimed.
“Yeah, I guess so, but it’s understandable for the first week of school. I did the same thing last year.”
“Well, then you guys are a match made in heaven! If you guys ever bump into each other again, you should totally ask him out.”
Takeda sputtered, but didn’t argue. He did find the mysterious lost man cute. “It’s unlikely that we’ll meet again.”
“Never say never!”
And what a complete surprise, two days later Ittetsu bumped into his mystery man.
When he walked into his sports history class, he immediately recognized the dyed blond hair. Feeling confident as always, he sat next to him. It seemed the other man had also recognized him by his wide-gaped mouth.
Determined, Ittetsu spoke up first. “We meet again! Hopefully, this is the right class for both of us.”
The other just nodded. “I had more time this morning to make sure I made it to the right room.”
There were still 20 minutes until class started, with only a few students in the room. With all the open seats, Takeda sat right next to the other.
“I’m Ittetsu,” he said as he bowed.
“I’m Keishin.”
“That’s a beautiful name, almost as beautiful as you.”
With that statement, Keishin blushed a deep red.
Not wanting to make the other uncomfortable, Takeda took a metaphorical (and literal) step back. “Sorry, was that too much?”
Keishin quickly shook his head. “No, just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”
“Oh! I get it, sorry about that!” Ittetsu let out a big smile.
“You’re a weird one, Ittetsu,” Keishin said, testing out the new name on his tongue.
“I get that a lot!” They both chuckled. “So, do you want to grab dinner with me sometime?”
Keishin was about to agree, but frowned and looked away. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”
A little disappointed, Ittetsu just nodded his head.
Not wanting the conversation to end however, Keishin changed the subject. “Are you also a history major?”
“Yes! I’m so glad I’m graduating after this semester, I’m ready to get out into the workforce!”
They continued to talk, becoming acquainted with each other before the professor came and began teaching.
2.
“Daddy!” Hitoka Yachi ran into her father’s arms, exhausted after a long day of preschool.
“Mr.Ukai, little Hitoka here did amazing today! She was able to identify all uppercase letters!”
“Wow! Look at my genius gumdrop go!” He patted his daughter on the head.
“Thank you for taking care of her, Mr. Sugawara. Hitoka, what do you say?”
“Bye Mr. Suga!” They all waved each other goodbye before Keishin and Hitoka started walking home.
“How was your day, sweetie?”
“It was amazing, Daddy! I made a new friend, her name’s Shimizu and she’s so pretty! She taught me a bunch about this new game,” she rambled on and on about her new friend before they finally made it home.
When they got home, they took their shoes off and Keishin got dinner ready.
“What about you? Did Daddy make any new friends at school today?”
Remembering Ittetsu, Keishin blushed. It had only been a day since he last saw Takeda and his straight-forwardness and determination really captivated him. He was someone he could see himself spending his future with, but he had Hitoka to think about.
“Daddy? Your face is all red like in the movies.” Hitoka noticed, before gasping really loud. “Daddy! Do- do you have a,” she lowered her tone and whispered the final word, “ crush ?”
The father sputtered but knew he couldn’t hide anything from his perceptive daughter.
“Yes, I do.”
“Then date him!”
“I can’t.”
Hitoka tilted her head to the side. “Why not? You like him.” She gasped loudly once again. “Does he not like you? If he doesn’t, he’s STUPID!”
“Hitoka, remember what I told you? Don’t say that word, it’s mean.”
“But you say it all the time!” Keishin should really learn to censor himself, but he noted that for another day.
“Okay okay, he likes me back. He asked me on a date the second time we met.”
“Then why aren’t you with him?”
“I said no.”
“But why???”
Keishin sighed. “It’s complicated, Hitoka.”
“But I want to know!” Always stubborn.
“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” He settled on. Hitoka huffed but just sat down at the dining room table.
Keishin laughed at his daughter’s antics. He was so happy to have her in his life, and he told her such. “You make me happy, Hitoka. I don’t need anyone else but you.”
Her eyes lit up. “Daddy!”
“I love you, my baby crow.”
“I love you more, Daddy.”
“No, I love you more.”
“Well I love you thissssss much!” she said, stretching her arms as far as they would go.
Keishin laughed, rubbing his daughter’s head.
***
Through out the next few weeks, they talk some more and Keishin teaches Takeda about different sports like basketball and volleyball, which Ittetsu never learned about.
“Okay, wait so you’re saying a block doesn’t count as one of the three touches the side gets?”
“Exactly! You’re a pretty quick learner.”
Ittetsu chuckled as they sat down to eat lunch. This has become a routine for them, after the class they both shared ended, they would eat together. They only had this class twice a week but Keishin secretly wished he had it every day, not that he would ever admit that to himself.
“Haha, I get that a lot.” Ittetsu rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “I’d like to learn more about you though.”
Keishin blushed. “Geez, you’re such a flirt…”
“You haven’t told me to stop.” Keishin blushed harder at that.
“Shut up!” He started to stuff his face with the sandwich he brought from home. As they were eating in silence, Ittetsu’s phone started ringing.
“Hello?” A few seconds passed. “Yes, 5 works for me. Today, correct? Of course! Thank you so much! Have a nice day.” He hung up and quickly turned to Keishin.
“I got accepted for the interview! It’s-”
“Today at 5?” Keishin smirked.
“Yes! I need to pick out a suit for today. I should go now!” Ittetsu was grabbing his bag, in a rush to get things ready for his big interview! It was a job he was looking forward to, they were very selective and he was lucky to even be considered for the job.
“Wait!” Keishin didn’t want him to go just yet. He wanted to talk to him a bit more. As a friend though, okay???
“Can I get your number?” Crap. He hadn’t meant to sound that pathetic.
Ittetsu just looked in shock. “Yeah, of course. Does this mean you’ll go out with me?”
Keishin blushed, but remembered about Hitoka. He had to keep her safe, he didn’t even know if this man liked children, he could hate Hitoka (though she is the most lovable creature on Earth, according to Keishin.)
“No.” Ittetsu chuckled, used to the response and put his number into Keishin’s phone.
“Here you go. See you Thursday!” As he waved goodbye, Keishin looked at the new contact in his phone, just 3 hearts next to each other. He smiled to himself.
3.
“Have a good day at school, my little crow.”
“Of course Daddy! Byebye!” Hitoka ran to the school bus, ready for the day.
***
“Are you excited for your first day with the students?” Suga asked.
“Yes! You make them sound wonderful!” Ittetsu answered. He had passed the interview and had finally gotten the job as a teacher assistant in preschool.
“Amazing! They’ll be here soon, and don’t stress! You’ll do great.” Suga’s phone alarm rang. “Oh! Let me open the door for the children.” As soon as the door was open, a bunch of children came running in, saying their good mornings.
“Hey class! No running! We have someone new today, remember?” The children all froze at those words as they looked at the unfamiliar man at the front of their classroom.
Some took a step back out of fear, but one child walked up to Ittetsu.
“I’m Hitoka Yachi! Are you our new teacher?” She looked up with wide eyes. Ittetsu crouched down.
“Yes! I’ll be teaching with Mr. Suga. You can call me Mr. Takeda.”
“Mister… Taco?” She had trouble pronouncing his name.
Ittetsu just laughed. “Yes, you can call me Mr. Taco if that’s easier for you.”
“Oh! Mr. Taco are you married?”
Ittetsu laughed at the bluntness of the question. “No I’m not, why do you ask?”
“My dad’s not married so can you marry him?”
…
“Let’s talk about something else, okay?”
“Okay! Can I tell you about my friend?”
“Of course!”
***
“Daddy!!! Our new teacher is amazing! He’s teaching me how to write my name! Look!!!” She held a piece of paper to her dad’s face. On it was her name written in capital letters, with a few errors here and there.
“Wow! Good job! I’m so proud of you,” Keishin said as he ruffled his daughter’s hair.
“And!!! I found out that he isn’t married. Do you want to go out with my teacher?”
“...” Keishin almost dropped the plate he was holding.
“Well?” She looked up, eyes as big as ever.
“No.”
“Whattttttttt!”
4.
“And then number 9 and 10 did this insane quick attack! I didn’t think it was possible, but they did it on live television! Multiple times! Isn’t that crazy? Ittetsu?” When he turned, Ittetsu was just staring at him.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, no. You’re just beautiful when you talk about the things you love.” Keishin was dumbstruck and tried to deny it, coming out as sputters instead.
They both stared at the other, lost in each other’s eyes.
“Can… can I kiss you?” Ukai just nodded.
As Ukai closed his eyes, he remembered everything.
A whack.
“If you tell your mother I’ll hurt her too.”
He imagined Hitoka in his place.
“Daddy!”
“No!” He shoved Ittetsu away from him, who was in obvious shock.
Ittetsu stood up. “Keishin, are you okay? I can stop if you want, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable-”
“Just- go away!” And he did.
Keishin held his head in his hands. He can’t put Hitoka in danger. Not even if it goes against what he wants.
5.
His phone rang. It did multiple times in the past week.
“Daddy? Your phone’s ringing again. It’s the hearts again.”
“Just leave it, it’ll turn off soon.” He was sitting at his laptop, rereading the same sentence for the umpteenth time.
Hitoka climbed onto the couch next to her dad. “What’s wrong, Daddy?” She looked up with pleading eyes. She didn’t like it when her father was sad.
“It’s nothing, my little crow.”
“It’s something! You’re really sad and it’s making me sad!” Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes.
Keishin was distraught. “Don’t cry, Hitoka. It’s okay, Daddy’s not sad!”
“Yes you are! Tell me!”
Keishin sighed. He had to tell her sooner or later. He put his laptop down and brought Hitoka to sit on his lap.
“You know how I didn’t have a dad when I was younger?” Hitoka nodded.
“Well, my mother, your grandmother, married someone else. He was very nice to her, and she loved him.” He took a deep breath in.
“He wasn’t nice to me. I wanted to tell my mom that he was a mean, mean man but he said that he’d do bad things to my mom if I told her. It wasn’t true, but I was scared. So I let him be mean to me until I finally spoke up years later. And it really hurt me. I don’t want to bring someone home who will be mean to you like they were with me.”
Hitoka just stared at her dad. He pulled her into a tight hug.
“I just want to keep you safe.”
“Daddy, I love you. I want you to be happy and get married.” She hugged her dad back.
“I know, but what about you?”
“I’ll tell you if anything bad happens! But you wouldn’t like someone who would be mean to me. You only like good people!” Keishin just stared at his daughter, who he just realized loved him just as much as he loved her.
“And if they are mean to me, I’ll beat them up!” She flexed her arm, trying to show her (non-existent) muscles. They both of them just laughed.
+1
“Daddy!!!” Hitoka ran to her dad, who was waiting for her outside of the school.
Keishin picked her up as she ran into his arms. “How was school?”
“It was really good! Mr. Suga taught us how to add and Shimizu made a pretty flower and- oh no!”
“What?”
“I forgot to give Mr. Taco my drawing! I made it for him!” Hitoka was trying to wiggle out of her dad’s arms.
“Hold on, let me put you down. We can go in and give it to him, okay?” He knew how fond his daughter had grown to her new teacher, as she talked about him everyday. She still insisted that he go out with him, which he would always decline. There was only one person he would want to be with anyways, but he ruined that chance the day he pushed Ittetsu away.
As Mr. Suga let them back in the classroom for Hitoka to give her gift, Keishin stopped at the doorway as he saw a familiar face.
“Mr. Taco! I forgot to give you my drawing!” She ran over, handing the drawing (of what Keishin can tell is a duck? Maybe a rabbit?) to Ittetsu.
“Oh thank you, Hitoka! You’re so kind! Is your dad here-” He paused abruptly as he locked eyes with Keishin.
“Daddy! This is Mr. Taco! Or well Mr. Take- Takedo?”
“T- Takeda.” The two men just continued staring at each other in disbelief.
“Daddy?”
“Hitoka, why don’t you go outside with Mr. Suga?” As soon as she left, Keishin took a step forward.
“You’re a teacher?” “You’re Hitoka’s dad?” They both asked simultaneously.
Ittetsu answered first. “Yes, I’m a history and education double major. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. What about you and Hitoka, why haven’t you mentioned her?”
Keishin shuffled his feet. “I usually don’t go around telling people about my daughter. Want to keep her safe,” he muttered.
Ittetsu softened at that. “I see. Well, she’s been a joy to have in class! I see where she gets her kindness from.”
“Would you like to go out with me?” Keishin blurted out.
“Wh- what?”
“I’m sorry I’ll go take Hitoka home-”
“No no no, I was just caught off guard. Oh my gosh of course! It’s what I’ve been wanting for so long. Yes!”
Keishin smiled the widest he had in a long time.
“We can go to Nekoma Cafe, they have the best coffee,” the teacher mentioned.
“Oh we’re going to Nekoma now that you’ve brought it up.”