Chapter Text
Arakita always seemed to wake up too damn early these days.
His boys were just too excited for their own good. Or, at least, for his own good. Sangaku was four, Sakamichi was three, and that apparently equaled endless amounts of energy at ungodly hours of the day. Add that on top of their Papillon puppy, Aki-chan, and Arakita was forced to live a life of next to no sleep and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
The record for how early he had to wake up in the morning, however, had to go to that particular morning.
“Papa!” Sangaku screamed cheerfully at around two in the morning as he dove head first onto Arakita’s stomach.
“What the fu—?!” Arakita startled awake, catching himself just in time, “—heck? Sangaku!”
“We can’t sleep!” Sangaku declared matter-of-factly as Sakamichi climbed up on Arakita’s other side.
“Hi, Papa!” the younger boy said cheerfully, as if it wasn’t two in the morning and he hadn’t just woken Arakita up from only about an hour of sleep. The longer the raven squinted at his boys, however, the less he found he could be angry with them.
Instead he just sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Well, now I can’t sleep. You guys want to watch One Punch Man?”
“Yeah!!” they both screamed, leaping off of the bed in excitement and running into the living room. Arakita just scoffed before he pulled himself out of bed as well and followed after his kids.
They were already sitting on the couch when he got there, dangling their short legs and talking animatedly. Sangaku was already throwing fake punches in the air.
“I wanna grow up to be like Saitama someday!” Sangaku said excitedly, breaking off to cough for a moment. Arakita tensed, watching his oldest son intently, but the coughing didn’t last long and soon Sangaku was going back to his animated punches. “He can destroy every bad guy with just one punch! Wouldn’t it be so cool if I could do that?!”
“Yeah, yeah!” Sakamichi was nodding eagerly. “Sangaku, if you’re Saitama, can I be Genos?”
“Sure, Sakamichi, but that means you have to do all the chores around here!” Sangaku laughed loudly, completely blowing over Sakamichi’s loud complaints. Arakita snorted, sneaking towards the couch while the kids weren’t paying attention.
“If you two are Saitama and Genos…” Arakita said, grinning widely as he jumped on the couch and began tickling his two sons, “then I’m the Sea King!!”
The two boys screeched with laughter, struggling to get away from Arakita’s fingers. They both leaped off the couch, and soon the raven was chasing the kids around the apartment. He’d grabbed a water gun from the kids’ room and was now using it to shoot at them, keeping up with his persona as the Sea King. Sakamichi was smartly keeping his distance, but Sangaku kept coming back to try and destroy him with one punch; all that got him, however, was drenched. Eventually Arakita managed to corner Sakamichi in the bathroom, and he snatched up his squealing son, holding him by his ankles as he dangled him upside down.
“Saitama, help!!” Sakamichi screamed, giggling loudly as Arakita swung him slightly back and forth.
“Foolish humans, you can’t beat me!” Arakita bellowed in a ridiculously low voice, trying to imitate the Sea King. “Sea is superior to land!”
“No way, land is the best!” Sangaku screamed as he slid into the bathroom suddenly, holding up his small fist threateningly. “Don’t worry, Genos, I’ll save you!”
Sangaku ran at Arakita, and the raven let the blue-haired toddler smack his fist into his thigh. Arakita made a dying roaring noise as he set Sakamichi down upright and fell on his back dramatically, pretending to be dead. “No! You’ve slain me!”
“Let’s finish him off, Genos!” Sangaku screamed, and soon Arakita’s two sons had both jumped on him, pummeling him with their small hands.
Arakita found himself laughing, as his boys’ punches didn’t hurt at all, and eventually he wrapped his arms around both of them, pinning them to his chest and stopping their attacks. “Okay, guys, you got me.”
“Well, of course!” Sangaku stated proudly. “I’m just a guy who’s a hero for fun!”
“And I’m his pupil!” Sakamichi stated just as proudly; Arakita couldn’t help but snort. It was entertaining how well catchphrases stuck with children, or at least his children.
“Yup, and now it’s time for these two heroes to go to bed,” Arakita said as he stood with the kids still in his arms.
Sangaku wiggled in his arms defiantly. “But Papa – you said we could watch One Punch Man!”
“And instead, you got to be One Punch Man,” Arakita countered, grinning at his oldest. “Besides, you’re about to fall asleep right here.”
“Am not…” Sangaku complained, but he was yawning and his eyes were drooping sleepily. Sakamichi was already dozing, his head resting on Arakita’s shoulder. Running around trying to be heroes had been just tiring enough to get them to fall asleep finally.
Arakita smiled softly as he walked into their room, laying each kid in their respective beds and tucking them in. They were both sound asleep by then, so he just softly kissed their foreheads before going back to his own bed. He’d gotten worn out playing with them, too, so the warmth and softness of his blanket and mattress was comforting enough to send him straight to sleep for once.
He was asleep for maybe an hour before Sangaku was once more jumping onto his stomach, waking him up again. He resisted the urge to groan; tonight was even worse than usual if he was being woken up twice in a row.
“Still can’t sleep, Sangaku?” he murmured as he yawned loudly.
“Papa, Sakamichi was crying in his sleep again,” Sangaku said worriedly. As Arakita blinked the sleep out of his eyes, he noticed Sakamichi crawling up the bed on his other side. The little boy burrowed himself into Arakita’s side, looking up at him with big, blue eyes.
“What’s going on, Sakamichi?” Arakita asked softly, reaching out to gently ruffle the toddler’s hair.
“I-I just had a bad dream…” Sakamichi shook as he pressed closer against Arakita. “You were gone and Sangaku was coughing so much that he stopped breathing…”
Arakita winced, even as he released a sympathizing hum; he’d had similar dreams before about Sangaku. It was expensive paying for Sangaku’s medication, countless doctor appointments, and occasional hospital visits, and he was constantly worried that one day he wouldn’t be able to afford it. The doctors said that most kids grew out of their asthma, for the most part, but sometimes Arakita worried that Sangaku wouldn’t last until then, or he wouldn’t be able to keep affording the medication until that happened. The nightmares of losing his oldest plagued him then, and it scared the hell out of him; he couldn’t imagine what the same dreams would be like for an innocent three-year-old.
As for him being gone…Well, he always felt guilty for leaving the two kids home alone on the four nights a week he had to work at the diner, but he didn’t have much of a choice with that either. He couldn’t afford a babysitter and didn’t really know anyone that he trusted to look after them. He knew it was hard for them, but he didn’t know what else to do. He tried to make it up to them the nights he was home, but no doubt it was still lonely on the nights that he wasn’t.
“Hey, it’s okay Sakamichi; it was just a dream,” Arakita murmured as he pulled the smaller boy into his arms, hugging him tightly. He turned him slightly so Sakamichi could see his older brother. “I’m right here, and Sangaku’s fine, see?”
“Yeah, Sakamichi!” Sangaku crawled further up Arakita’s chest to pat the younger boy on the head. “I didn’t cough at all last night!”
Arakita actually smiled at that information; that was a sign for hope. The doctors had just switched Sangaku’s asthma medication, and it seemed to be working so far. Now that the raven thought about it, this was the first night he hadn’t woken up from his oldest coughing his lungs out and struggling to breathe through his wheezing; the first night that he hadn’t had to sit by his bedside and give him everything he had that might help until the coughing and wheezing finally subsided and Sangaku fell into a restless sleep.
Fingers crossed that this medicine kept helping; that would greatly decrease the amount of times Sangaku had to go to the doctor’s or the hospital, which would help ease Arakita’s worry some.
“See, everything’s fine,” Arakita repeated as he leaned down to press a kiss to Sakamichi’s forehead. “Try to go back to sleep, okay?”
“C-can I sleep here, Papa?” Sakamichi asked, his voice still shaky and tears still brimming in his eyes. The gripping fear of his nightmare hadn’t left him yet, then.
“Ooh, me too, Papa, me too!” Sangaku practically shouted as he waved his hand back and forth in the air. Despite the asthma that often kept him bedridden, the four-year-old could be quite energetic.
Arakita pretended to think. “Well, okay, but you have to actually sleep! Don’t forget you guys have your first day of preschool tomorrow.”
“Yay! Thanks Papa!” Sangaku screamed as he burrowed into Arakita’s other side, falling asleep almost as soon as he got there. The raven snorted as he wrapped his arm protectively around him.
“Sangaku really will be okay, right Papa?” Sakamichi asked quietly after a moment.
“He’ll be fine; you don’t have anything to worry about,” Arakita replied, hoping it was true, as he reached up to wipe a forming tear from his son’s eyes. “Night, Sakamichi.”
“Good night, Papa.” Sakamichi snuggled even closer and closed his eyes. Arakita wrapped an arm around him protectively as well, and didn’t relax until the three-year-old’s soft breathing told him he was asleep.
Releasing a sigh, Arakita stared up at the ceiling as he tried to find sleep himself. Unfortunately, it was escaping him. Despite how tired he was, once his sons woke him up he usually stayed up, his insomnia just as bad as Sangaku’s asthma. He’d always had insomnia, but it seemed even worse these days.
Being a single parent wasn’t easy. Arakita worked two jobs just to keep them afloat, but that still didn’t get them very far. They lived in a spacious two-room apartment because there was no way in hell he could afford a house and most of his savings went to Sangaku’s medical bills. He was slowly saving money, but trips to the hospital always caused setbacks, and sometimes Arakita really struggled to put food on the table. In hindsight, it had probably been a mistake to get a dog, but the kids had really wanted one and Arakita couldn’t find a good reason to deny them the one present he could actually get, as the kids’ birthday presents were usually just elaborate cakes that Arakita made himself. He was constantly frustrated he couldn’t do anything special for them, but he didn’t have many options after his girlfriend had just ditched him after Sakamichi was born. Sangaku hadn’t even been one yet, Arakita wasn’t even sure he remembered his mom at all, but it was probably for the best; besides breastfeeding she hadn’t done much for them. Even then, Arakita had always been the one working himself to death taking care of the kids. At least now that she wasn’t here he didn’t have to pretend to love a crazy witch who screamed at him if he so much as looked at another girl (or guy).
Though it had been nice to split the rent at least.
Arakita let out another long sigh before looking down at the two kids wrapped in his arms. A small smile stretched his lips as he brushed some of Sangaku’s hair out of his face and wiped away any remaining tears on Sakamichi’s cheeks.
Even if it was hard, impossibly so sometimes, Arakita would never exchange the kids for anything. They were his pride and joy, and honestly he didn’t know what he’d be doing in life anymore if he wasn’t busy taking care of them. He wanted the best for them, the damn best that he could provide them with, and if that meant working himself to the bone then so be it. He would do anything for them.
Though it was definitely a saving grace that public school was free. Arakita wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to afford to give them an education if he’d had to pay for it; his money was already stretched so thin. Though he himself had gone to private school for high school, if their situation was still the same when the kids needed to go then that was out of the question.
But that was years away. For now Arakita just had to focus on getting them to their first day of preschool on time.
And that meant finally forcing his tired brain off so he could go to sleep. Stretching out, and pulling the kids even closer to him, Arakita settled back against his pillow and closed his eyes.
--
When he woke again, it was to the dog licking his face.
Aki-chan was still a rather new member of their family; Arakita had gotten her from a friend of his ex-girlfriend’s whose Papillon had given birth, so the puppy had only been a couple of months old. She was almost one now, and she was just as energetic as Sangaku and Sakamichi. She didn’t bark much, thank god, but she was always eager to play and sometimes ran too recklessly around the apartment. Her body was mostly white, except for one long black streak that crossed across the middle of her back, and her face was mostly black with gold mixing around her eyes and speckling her ears. Arakita thought she was actually a very beautiful dog, so he didn’t mind so much waking up to her wet nose and spit.
He did mind, however, when he’d barely slept the night before and when it was the third time he’d woken up in one night. Though maybe it was a good thing; he never needed a fucking alarm clock with her around, and he needed to get up and make breakfast anyway.
Arakita sat up, Aki-chan standing on his lap and wagging her tail eagerly, immediately feeling the exhaustion pounding as a headache behind his eyes. He cursed that he had to work at the diner tonight, because that meant he had to face an exhausting day when he was already exhausted. It also meant that he couldn’t just come home and sleep a couple of hours before his boys decided to wake him up in the middle of the night again.
Sighing heavily, he scratched behind the dog’s ears as he scooped her in his arms and stumbled off the bed. He walked into the kitchen before setting her down again; she weaved around his legs as he got out the dog food to fill her bowl.
As she was digging in happily, Arakita took a short trip to the bathroom to relieve himself before coming back to the kitchen to make food for himself and the kids. He was never hungry immediately after waking up, but he knew he’d be hungry once he’d woken up more. Besides, the kids always worried when he didn’t eat anything, the sweet things. They cared about him more than his own parents had, to be honest, and sometimes it was still surprising for Arakita to see that.
He wasn’t used to being loved.
He woke the kids once breakfast was ready, just measly helpings of bacon and scrambled eggs. Sakamichi was already energetic, but Sangaku looked tired; Arakita glanced at him in concern. His oldest slept a lot, but he was usually energetic once he woke from his naps. It was odd for him to be so subdued.
“How’s your breathing today, Sangaku?” he asked as the two boys sat at the table in front of their breakfasts.
“Fine, Papa…” Sangaku mumbled, but Arakita heard the all too telling wheezing in his voice.
Frowning, he went into the boys’ bedroom to grab Sangaku’s inhaler before coming back into the kitchen with it. He handed it to the blue-haired boy, who took it as a wheezy cough shook his small body. Arakita’s voice came out too sharp as he said, “It’s not fine, Sangaku – that’s what I’m talking about when I mean you need to take your inhaler when your chest feels weird.”
“Sorry, Papa…” Sangaku mumbled, sinking in on himself a little as he put the inhaler to his mouth and took his medicine.
Arakita flinched a little; he hadn’t meant to raise his voice. “It’s okay; just know what it feels like so you can take your inhaler by yourself next time.”
Sangaku just nodded before he put his inhaler down and began eating in silence. Sakamichi glanced at his brother in concern before he too began digging into his food. Even the younger boy’s energy had died a little, and Arakita sighed heavily.
He would never stop wishing for the ability to just take Sangaku’s asthma away.
Arakita sat down in front of his own breakfast, and the three ate in silence for a while. The raven didn’t like the silence, but he had no idea what to say. Sangaku’s asthma was kind of a touchy subject; it made Sakamichi too worried about his brother, and Arakita could never let the kids know how fucking terrified he was of it.
So the best thing to do would be to change the subject before the atmosphere got too gloomy.
“You guys excited for preschool?” Arakita finally asked after several minutes trying to figure out what to say. He was terrible at communicating, and sometimes he still wasn’t sure what good conversation topics with kids were, but he felt like he was getting better the older the kids got. Or maybe them being older just made it easier to talk to them.
“I’m excited!” Sangaku said enthusiastically; he was probably just as eager as Arakita to change the subject. “I wanna make new friends!!”
Sakamichi tilted his head to the side before turning to the raven. “Papa, how do we make friends?”
Arakita couldn’t help but snort at that. “I’m the last person you should ask about that, kiddo. Just…try and talk to people, I guess. If you’re playing a game, invite other kids to play with you, too.”
“What if they’re scary looking?” Sakamichi asked worriedly.
“Then you should especially ask them to play with you,” Arakita responded, bitterly remembering his own childhood. He’d been a grumpy asshole even as a four year old, and that on top of his scary face made all of the other children hesitant to approach him. It had been a lonely existence, and Arakita still remembered the potent longing for someone to have the courage to talk to him, since he lacked it himself.
Sakamichi still looked worried, but Sangaku leaned over and patted his shoulder encouragingly. “Don’t worry about it, Sakamichi! I’ll talk to them if you don’t want to!”
“O-okay…” Sakamichi murmured, looking relieved at the prospect.
Arakita snorted. He had no idea where Sangaku got his confidence from, but he could force someone to talk to him no matter how stubborn they were. He was sure they’d be fine, and that they’d definitely do a much better job at making friends than he had.
When they were done with breakfast, Arakita prepared the kids’ lunches and stuck them into their matching One Punch Man backpacks. When he was sure they had everything, the three left the apartment together.
The walk there was peaceful, but it wasn’t a heavy one like earlier. Sangaku and Sakamichi were both skipping down the sidewalk with Arakita trailing behind, their excitement easily exceeding the raven’s lazy pace. The walk was short, which was good considering that Arakita was exceptionally bad at getting to places on time, and soon enough they were standing in front of the preschool.
The raven walked them into the building, guiding them so they wouldn’t get lost (they were definitely his kids); when they reached the classroom, he kneeled down so he was eye level with them. They tackled him before he could say anything, their little hands clenching in his shirt as he wrapped his arms around them.
“Do you have to go, Papa?” Sakamichi sniffed, his big eyes round and shimmering as if he was about to cry.
“It’s only for a couple of hours, Sakamichi,” Arakita replied softly before letting the both of them down again. He rubbed Sakamichi’s cheek with a thumb, wiping away a forming tear. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
Sakamichi still seemed a little unconvinced, so Arakita pinched his cheek and pulled gently, moving it back and forth. The little boy squealed with laughter, trying to get away from Arakita’s fingers, and the raven couldn’t help but grin affectionately. “You’ll be fine; don’t forget you have your brother with you!”
Arakita turned to Sangaku. “You have your inhaler, right?”
“Yeah, Papa.” Sangaku answered through a large yawn; the blue-haired toddler looked like he was about to fall asleep on his feet. Arakita had to hold back a snort; Sangaku always took every chance he could to fall asleep, but he probably needed the rest. Asthma was extremely tiring on the body. “I take it whenever my chest feels weird, right?”
“Right.” Arakita placed a hand on each kid’s shoulder, squeezing them gently. “Look after each other, okay?”
“Okay!” Sangaku was suddenly wide awake, which also wasn’t unusual, and he took Sakamichi’s hand in his as he started running, pulling the smaller boy into the classroom. He only turned back slightly to send a beaming smile and a wave at Arakita. “Bye, Papa!”
“Look where you’re going, idiot,” Arakita muttered to himself, snorting as Sangaku almost caused himself and Sakamichi to collide head first into an adult. But he didn’t comment, and just waved back as he watched the adult, presumably one of the teachers, lead the boys to where all of the other kids were playing.
When they were out of sight, Arakita sighed in relief. He’d gotten his kids to preschool with no problems; thank god there hadn’t been some big mishap. He was already running late for work as it was. As he left the building again, he couldn’t stifle a large yawn.
Today was going to be a long day.
--
He spent the next six hours doing boring work that made his head spin from piling exhaustion, and it was a relief to finally get off and head back to the apartment. It was still another hour until he needed to pick up the kids, so he went straight to his bed and passed out to spend the time.
He didn’t really feel much better when he woke again, but, once again, he didn’t have much of a choice; he couldn’t just leave the kids waiting for him, after all. He would just have to hope that the diner wouldn’t be too busy tonight (which it would be) and that the kids wouldn’t wake him up again (which they would).
Groaning, Arakita dragged himself out of bed. Aki-chan was already waiting by the door, eager for their walk to the preschool. It was her usual walk time, as Arakita always walked her after he got back from work, so it worked out that he had to pick up the kids around the same time; that way he only had to leave the house once, and could take care of two important things while doing it.
Clipping Aki-chan’s leash to her collar, Arakita made sure he had both his phone and his keys before leaving the apartment. Aki-chan bounded eagerly down the stairs, nearly dragging the raven off of his feet; luckily he was used to her pulling on her leash, or he might have actually fallen.
The sidewalk was surprisingly empty as Arakita and Aki-chan walked along; it was mid-afternoon, so the raven thought there would be more people. Not that he minded at all. It was more pleasant to walk around without annoying people getting in his fucking way all the time. It also made the trip length shorter, as there were less dogs out and about that would grab Aki-chan’s attention for too long of a time. As it was, there were only the occasional pauses as the Papillon went to sniff something or go to the bathroom.
It wasn’t long before dog and owner reached the preschool. Aki-chan definitely didn’t appreciate the short walk, but hell Arakita would just take her and the kids to the park later or something for extra exercise.
As Arakita neared the entrance of the building, he scanned the crowd of children standing by the door, looking for his kids. He spotted familiar blue hair a few moments later, as Sangaku was waving his arms wildly in the air at him. Snorting, Arakita told Aki-chan to heel, so she wouldn’t wander off among the other kids, and made his way towards Sangaku.
He saw Sakamichi standing near Sangaku as he got closer, which was a relief, as well as another boy. He cocked an eyebrow, wondering who the kid was, before he finally reached his kids and kneeled down in front of them. “Hey guys, how was school?”
“It was fun, Papa!” Sangaku exclaimed loudly before holding up a finger in Arakita’s face. “And guess what?? I was running around a lot and only had to use my inhaler once!”
“That’s great, Sangaku,” Arakita said, smiling again. It looked like the medication really was helping.
“And look, Papa, we made a friend!” Sakamichi butted in excitedly as he grasped Arakita’s shirt sleeve in his tiny hand. “This is Takuto!”
Arakita glanced in the direction his son was pointing to see the kid he’d noticed earlier, a rather tall for his age, shy-looking boy with orange hair that swirled in the front and a heart-shaped mole underneath his right eye. He was staring down at the ground shyly, but he had a small smile on his face as he held hands with both Sakamichi and Sangaku. Arakita couldn’t help but smile at the cute scene.
“Hi, Takuto,” he said to the boy, trying not to sound intimidating. His boys were used to his grouchy tone, but this kid looked like he’d spook if Arakita so much as made too loud of a noise. “How old are you?”
Takuto looked up at him from underneath his bangs. “I-I’m four…”
“Ah, like Sangaku then,” Arakita commented, ruffling the blue-haired toddler’s hair affectionately.
“Yeah, just like me!” Sangaku shouted, puffing up his chest proudly. He let go of Takuto’s hand to instead wrap an arm around his shoulder, causing the other to flinch slightly. “We’re the four team! Too bad Sakamichi is still three~”
“I-I-I’ll be four in a few months!!” Sakamichi complained, obviously upset that he was left out.
Arakita laughed before also ruffling Sakamichi’s hair. “Don’t worry, Sakamichi – I’ll be on your team. We’ll kick their as—butts!”
“What?! Papa!” Sangaku complained loudly. “That’s not fair – you’re an adult!”
“Yeah, well, life isn’t fair, kid!” Arakita cackled, reaching out to flick Sangaku’s noise. The toddler continued to complain loudly; meanwhile, Takuto looked slightly awkward as Sangaku shook him back and forth from the force of his gyrating.
“Um…” he spoke up after a while, glancing at Sakamichi shyly. “Sangaku, I don’t mind if Sakamichi is on our team too…”
Sangaku frowned. “But he’s not four.”
“But he’s your brother,” Arakita interjected, “And family is more important than age, Sangaku.”
The blue-haired toddler thought for a moment. “Well, I like Sakamichi, and Takuto likes Sakamichi, so I guess there’s no reason not to have him on the team…even though he’s not four.”
Sakamichi and Takuto both looked happy at Sangaku’s agreement, and before long they were chatting amongst themselves, completely forgetting Arakita was there. The raven couldn’t stop the small smile that rose on his face as he watched the three of them. Takuto already fit in quite well, and it was obvious that both Sakamichi and Sangaku liked him a lot.
He was so glad his kids were better at making friends than he himself was.
After a few moments, Arakita noticed that Aki-chan was growing restless beside him. She’d been cooped up in the apartment all day, and obviously the raven had been right when he’d thought that the short walk to the preschool hadn’t been enough exercise for her. She began circling the kids, licking their hands when they weren’t paying attention and nudging their legs, trying to get one of them to play with her.
Takuto was the unfortunate victim who Aki-chan decided to jump on when she got too impatient. The boy let out a small cry as he was knocked onto his back, the Papillon jumping on his chest and happily licking his face, her tail wagging back and forth. Arakita was about to call her off, because with his luck Takuto’s fucking parents would show up just then and reprimand him for not watching his dog and injuring their son, but then he noticed that Takuto was laughing as he ruffled the dog’s ears.
“A-Are you okay, Takuto?!” Sakamichi screamed as he stumbled closer to his new friend. He looked terrified. “Aki-chan!!!”
“I’m fine, Sakamichi,” Takuto hummed as he sat up, half-holding Aki-chan in his arms as the Papillon continued licking his face. “Papa and I have a dog at home who does this all the time, and he’s much bigger than Aki-chan.”
As if on cue, a loud woof echoed through the courtyard, barely giving any warning before a big husky suddenly ran into their circle. The dog sniffed at Sakamichi and Sangaku for a moment, his tail wagging as the kids reached out to pet him, their faces bright with delight, but in the end it was Arakita that the husky decided to jump on. The raven hadn’t even been paying attention, really, trying to make sure the dog was friendly and wasn’t trying to harm his sons, and the next thing he knew he was sprawled on his back with the husky slobbering all over his face. It was strangely reminiscent of the way he’d woken up that morning.
“Wah, look Sakamichi!” Sangaku cried as he and Sakamichi ran over to the dog, their small hands petting through the husky’s thick fur in excitement. “A big husky!”
“He’s so cute!” Sakamichi exclaimed in awe, his large eyes bright with excitement.
Arakita felt his eye twitch as the dog continued to lick his entire face, the boys not moving a muscle to help him. So the kids cared when their friend was attacked by a dog, but not him, huh?
“Oh man, sorry about that!” a new voice laughed nearby, a person soon looming into Arakita’s view. When the raven turned his head slightly to get a better look at the newcomer, he just about pissed himself. “Ryuu can get a little too excited around new people for his own good!”
The apparent owner of the husky was extremely attractive; he had shoulder-length red hair with blue streaks and a smile that could probably bring light to the darkest depths of the ocean. His eyes were a dark blue, his lips were big and full, and Arakita was quite suddenly struck speechless.
Holy shit he’s really hot.
“Ah, Papa!” Takuto shouted happily, Aki-chan having released him to check out the husky. He ran into the redhead’s arms, his father picking him up and swinging him around in a circle.
“Hey, Takuto, how was school?” the redhead asked, eventually settling the toddler into his arms and smiling brightly at him.
Arakita felt a small stone of disappointment settle in his stomach; this attractive guy was Takuto’s father? That was really fucking frustrating – Arakita wasn’t sure how he felt about attempting to hit on a guy whose kid was friends with his kids. It definitely made him more off limits, at least, and the raven almost wanted to scream. Of all the dumb luck; he hadn’t seen anyone since his witch of a girlfriend, and now the first person in over five years who he actually thought was attractive was off-limits.
Goddammit.
“It was really good, Papa,” Takuto said eagerly. Arakita, amongst his despair, noticed that the toddler was more talkative now as the orange-haired boy pointed towards Sangaku and Sakamichi. “I made some friends!”
“That’s great, Takuto!” the redhead exclaimed happily as he kneeled down by Arakita’s boys, still smiling. “And what are your names?”
“I’m Sangaku!” Sangaku shouted eagerly, before pointing wildly at Sakamichi. “And this is my brother, Sakamichi!”
“It’s nice to meet the two of you! We still have a few minutes before we have to leave if you want to play still,” the redhead said with a large smile; all three kids nodded their heads eagerly. He put Takuto down again before he and Arakita watched as the three boys ran away to begin playing tag with Aki-chan running alongside them, tripping everyone. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Ryuu finally jumped off of Arakita, with a painful paw to the raven’s gut, and joined the group.
Finally, Arakita could sit up. He groaned as he wiped at his face, trying to get rid of the excess husky spit. The redhead laughed as he held out a hand to him, offering him help to stand. Arakita, embarrassingly, accepted the help. “And I assume you’re Sangaku’s and Sakamichi’s father?”
“Yeah, Arakita Yasutomo,” Arakita said as he stood. It took him a few painful moments to realize he was still holding the redhead’s hand, and he let go with an embarrassed blush.
Great. He forgot he always acted like a fucking idiot.
“Shinkai Hayato,” the redhead replied cheerfully. Arakita couldn’t tell if he’d noticed him holding his hand way longer than necessary. “Sorry again about Ryuu – he has no manners sometimes.”
“It’s fine, I pretty much constantly shower in dog spit,” Arakita snorted, his heart flipping in his chest as Shinkai laughed. Fuck, what was with that adorable laugh?? A guy in his late twenties wasn’t supposed to be cute.
“Well, it looks like the kids get along well!” Shinkai said happily; both fathers turned to watch their kids playing again. “I’m glad – I was worried Takuto would be too shy to make friends.”
“I was a little worried about Sakamichi, too, but luckily Sangaku is too oblivious to be shy,” Arakita replied with another snort. “He probably forced Takuto to talk and play with them.”
“Well I’m glad!” Shinkai laughed. “Sometimes Takuto needs a push.”
They fell into an awkward silence then, or at least it was awkward for Arakita. He wanted to ask the redhead so many questions – what he did for a living, if Takuto was his only kid, if he was single…. But he felt that all of those questions were inappropriate at the moment. He barely even knew the guy’s name, so he had no right asking him for his entire life story. Besides, the raven couldn’t help but be a little afraid of the answer to his last question; he didn’t want to hear about a wife that was waiting for the redhead back home.
“What’s your puppy’s name, Yasutomo?” Shinkai asked after a moment of silence.
Arakita startled badly, turning to look at the redhead in shock. Had he really just called him by his first name, or had he dreamed it? It was impossible to tell, as Shinkai was now looking at him expectantly, not looking at all like he’d just overstepped a major Japanese courtesy boundary. The raven was annoyed to find he was blushing.
He stuttered around for a moment before he finally found his voice again. “Aki-chan.”
Shinkai hummed. “That’s cute – did the kids name her that?”
Arakita’s blush darkened, and he stared down at his shoes as he kicked some pebbles around. “Uh, no, I did…”
The redhead just stared at him for a moment before he suddenly burst out laughing. Arakita’s blush couldn’t get any darker as he stood there in intense embarrassment, spluttering angrily as Shinkai continued to laugh and laugh. Eventually he punched the other in the shoulder. “Shut the fuck up!! What the hell is so funny?!”
“I-I’m sorry, Yasutomo!” Shinkai cried, struggling to breathe through his laughter. “It’s just…how old are you again?”
Arakita growled and refused to answer; he wouldn’t give the redhead more material to make fun of him. Shinkai continued to laugh for several minutes, and by that time the raven was starting to think that maybe it was a good thing that he couldn’t go after this guy; what an asshole.
“Well Yasutomo, Takuto, Ryuu, and I have to go soon, but maybe we could get coffee sometime?” Shinkai said when he’d finally calmed down from his laughter. Arakita glanced at him skeptically, only to see the wink the redhead sent him that caused his cheeks to flare up again. “We might as well get to know each other better, since our kids are going to be hanging out a lot.”
“Huh, well then you better as hell be offering to treat, after you made fun of me and let your dog drool all over my face,” Arakita snapped, even as his heart turned summersaults in his chest. Shinkai wanted to get coffee with him?? Did he dare think of it as a date?
To his moderate annoyance, Shinkai just laughed and sent him another wink. “Sure, I’m willing to treat. See you around, Yasutomo!”
And with that, the redhead left Arakita to approach the group of playing kids and dogs. He said something to Takuto and clipped a leash to Ryuu’s collar as the orange-haired boy said goodbye to Sangaku and Sakamichi. Arakita watched Shinkai walk away with his family, barely even processing as his kids and Aki-chan came back to his side; he was just standing there gawking, trying to ignore his heart hammering wildly in his chest.
After the whirlwind that was Shinkai Hayato, Arakita was physically only able to process one thing:
Was it weird to want to kiss the dad of your kids’ best friend?