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It was the afternoon of New Years Eve. The recent heatwave over Sydney had finally eased, but the humidity in the air was still obvious.
With the blistering temperatures gone, Haru no longer had any excuse to discourage their three-year-old from playing outside—or from Rin from introducing Sakura to bang snaps, a harmless novelty firework that produced a loud pop and sparks when thrown.
They had been a staple of the one or two New Years Rin had spent in Sydney with Russell and Lori. He had fond memories of having piles upon piles of boxes of the things, spending hours in the driveway with Winnie as he chucked handful after handful, his preteen turmoil vented in every vicious throw.
And although Sakura was practically a whole decade younger than his pops had been at the time, Rin had convinced Haru that it would be fine with both of them supervising him.
Rin scooped the first handful of snaps out of the box and knelt down to his son's level. Sakura's enormous blue eyes were fixed on the small gray bundles in his hand.
Predictably, the toddler was unable to resist his first instinct to reach for them.
Rin gently nudged Sakura's hand away, but kept his palm open. "Not yet! You have to watch daddy do it first, okay?”
Sakura bounced on his heels impaitently as Rin’s pointer finger hovered over his palm.
“These are called bang snaps, see? You throw them at the ground, and they pop real loud! Ready?"
Sakura nodded, and Rin demonstrated, throwing the handful onto the driveway, taking care for his throw to be soft so the noise wouldn’t be so harsh.
The snaps scattered down the driveway, and despite his shocked gasp, Sakura appeared undeterred by the loud noise.
Rather, he quickly got excited by the sparks they had briefly imprinted onto the driveway. The toddler hopped in place.
"Daddy! I try!" He pleaded excitedly, whirling around to grab eagerly at Rin’s muscular forearm.
Rin couldn't help but grin at his son’s reaction. He shot a 'I told you he would like it' glance over at Haru from where he sat on the porch, watching over them like a hawk.
Digging another handful out of the box, Rin handed a couple to his son and put his hands over his small arms to guide his throw. "You ready? You just throw them, and they go pop-pop-pop."
Rin moved his toddler's arm, and supported his throw with his arm strength as the bang snaps popped against the driveway.
Round blue eyes lighting up, Sakura squealed.
"Pop-pop-pop!" Sakura echoed, stomping and wriggling in delight in his dad's arms.
Rin couldn't resist laughing excitedly at his son's pure happiness. He lifted Sakura in his arms and spun him for a moment, earning another squeal from Sakura before he was set back down.
Finally standing from his seat on the porch, Haru joined his family, gaze softening as it fell on Sakura first.
"What do you think, Kura-chan?" Haru questioned softly, brushing the toddler's unruly pale cherry hair out of his eyes.
"Is that fun?"
Sakura threw his arms around the arm of his other dad, squeezing and pulling it.
"Yeah!"
Rin ruffled up their toddler's soft hair from behind and stood up, his gaze meeting Haru's.
"Told you it’d be fine,” he said with a smirk.
Haru huffed bashfully, crossing his arms.
"I was only worried. Rightfully so. He's a jumpy child. Have you forgotten all the things that used to terrify him?"
"C'mon, Haru. He was still a baby then.”
"Young children can find anything frightening just as well." Haru reminded his husband with a curt look. “Frightening enough to traumatize them for years.”
Rin huffed gently, knowing what Haru was referring to without the other man saying anything.
“I got it, I got it. But, really, you know as well as I do that bang snaps aren’t enough to do it.”
Haru opened his mouth to say more, but his expression suddenly flashed with visible fear.
"Sakura—don't throw it on your feet!"
The toddler heard his dad too late before the bang snaps popped against the soft skin on his bare feet.
The boy jolted at the stinging pain, shocked for a second as he took a step back. There was a short silence, before he predictably began to wail in shock and fear.
He wasn't hurt, but the brief stinging pain was enough to feel like he was, and a three-year-old couldn’t possibly be expected to tell the difference.
Rin ran to his son, Haru hot like an an inferno on his heels. His knees hit the hot pavement as he hurriedly scooped the sobbing toddler up into his arms. Haru knelt down urgently, hovering over them.
"Kura-chan, it's okay! You're okay, see?" Rin sputtered quickly, rapidly patting his back to soothe him.
Haru reached his hands out to hold Sakura's face. He wordlessly leaned down and pressed peppered kisses to Sakura’s teary face, both men trying in tandem to stop their son's shocked and frightened crying.
It took a minute or two, but eventually Sakura’s cries slowed. He sniffled noisily, still clinging to Rin's shirt in a vice grip.
Haru continued to cradle Sakura's wet face, thumbing away the remaining tears with his thumbs.
"It's okay," he murmured calmly as he did so. "You’re not hurt."
"They're for the driveway, Kura-chan.” Rin added, unable to reign calm in his voice like his partner could.
“It's no good to throw them on your feet. No good, okay? They hurt, don’t they? Ouch!"
Sakura nodded a little, scrubbing at his eyes with his little hands.
Even if he had stopped crying, it was obvious the toddler was still upset and frightened.
Haru frowned for a moment, exchanging a glance with his husband before reaching his arms out to carefully transfer Sakura into his arms.
He picked their toddler up. Sakura whined and wiggled in protest as he was lifted, but his whines quickly switched into hysterical, hiccuping giggles as Haru shoved his face in the crook of his son's neck and blew a raspberry.
It was the kind of thing most people back in Japan would never possibly imagine a man like Haruka doing.
But he had changed in many ways since becoming a dad, and was changing still.
Rin stood with a relieved grin, fishing his smartphone out of his back pants pocket.
"Hehe. Hang on, I gotta get a picture of this."
For once, Haru humored Rin's constant need to get photos and videos of their son every second of the day. He smiled gently for the camera while Sakura laughed with glee, his fear completely forgotten.
Rin captured the moment in a picture, and he didn't hold back his grin as he did so. He couldn’t wait to send it to his mother and Gou, back in Japan.
"Look at that! My two favorite guys. Obaa-chan is going to love it."
As Haru set Sakura down, Rin grabbed a couple more of the bang snaps out of the box, kneeling back down next to Sakura and placing a few in the toddler’s palm.
"Ready? No tossing them at your feet, okay? You gotta throw them hard so they go far, like this!” He chucked his handful across the driveway, each snap landing in a different place and sending an array of sparks across the pavement.
Sakura's eyes once again went huge with wonder and delight at the impressive length of his dad’s throw. The toddler chucked his handful as hard as he could, and although he didn't make it very far, he still created a ray of sparks similar to Rin’s.
Once they had used up all the bang snaps, the sun was beginning to set, the vibrant summer color of dusk settling over the neighborhood.
Sakura was lastingly energetic and giddy, jumping around Haru's legs as Rin tossed the empty box in the trash bin beside their gated condo.
"More! Daddy, more!" Sakura begged, tugging with all his might on Haru's pants leg.
"Look at what you did to our son." Haru said, though his voice was light and free of any true scolding.
"He's going to want to do this year-round now."
"Sorry, kiddo. We're all out." Rin told his son with a grin as he rejoined them.
Before Sakura could begin to pout, Rin continued. "Buuut, we’re going to go see something even cooler tonight. It’s New Years Eve! We gotta go watch the fireworks, don’t we?”
Sakura looked up at Rin in wonder at the realization. The toddler’s face then worked through several mixed emotions, before he turned and tugged on Haru's pants again, looking up at him pleadingly.
"But—but… I’m hungry..." he complained, not wanting to go anywhere without being fed.
"It's okay, Kura-chan. We're going to eat dinner while we're there." Haru reassured him as he reached down to scoop up the toddler clinging to his leg.
"And you're going to get to see real, big fireworks, too. But you have to promise to be a good boy tonight."
Sakura squirmed, idly tugging on Haru's shirt collar before nodding obediently.
This was going to be the first time their son was going to witness real fireworks up close, so both Rin and Haru quietly knew that they were taking a bit of a gamble. Sakura could very well end up terrified of them, and it wouldn't be his fault.
They already had a back-up plan in mind. The festival they were going to for the event had a massive community centre, where they could take Sakura if the noise and crowds outside became too much. Not only that, but they were bringing a pair of earmuffs for him to wear.
Although he was wearing those to protect his bare ears, whether he was frightened by the noise or not.
Rin shoved his hands in his jeans pockets, noticing the sun setting over the driveway. He checked his watch.
"We got a little over an hour before we gotta head out," he reminded Haru.
Haru nodded. "Let’s head inside and get Kura-chan ready early. I don't want us to end up having to rush..."
"...And I have a feeling he's not going to like the earmuffs." Haru added in a murmur to Rin as he carried their toddler up the porch.
Rin grinned after his husband, his expression knowing as he followed him back into the house.
“Don’t forget your backup. I’m right behind you.”