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The quaint quart yard of the red-bricked kindergarten came into view as Daichi rounded the building. Some children were running around playing while other sat politely on the benches. As he parked his car and got out, Daichi scanned the space for his niece but couldn’t find any sight of her.
He caught a familiar head of silver hair turn his way as he made his way over. Suga, Aiko’s teacher smiled at him and left his conversation with the other kindergarten teacher to meet Daichi.
“Officer Daichi, how are you?” Suga’s warm voice and bright smile always made Daichi’s heart flutter when he came to pick up his niece. He was wearing a soft cream button down and dark brown slacks, so academic and charming while surrounded by rowdy children. Suga seemed like was one of those people that was born do their job. Daichi straightened his posture and hooked a thumb on his jeans’ beltloop, trying to feign casualness.
“Hey, Suga. It’s very nice to see you,” Daichi responded with a shy smile. He noticed Suga’s eyes quickly glance down to his shoulders, making Daichi realize he was wearing an old POLICE shirt that fit a little to snuggly around his biceps. Daichi, a little nervous, cleared his throat. “Do you know where Aiko is? I can’t seem to find her.”
Suga’s face cleared as if he woke himself up from some sort of faraway dream and tightened his shoulders. “Of course!” He sharply turned on his heel, “She’s over here on the playground.” Daichi got a slow start to following Suga’s fast pace, but admired the way the man’s fingers knotted together behind his back as they walked.
Once at the edge of the wood chip playground, Suga called Aiko over. “Uncle Daichi!” She called excitedly, hurrying down the slide and running over to him. He crouched down to pick her up as she wrapped his shoulders in a hug.
Daichi chuckles at her cuteness and rubbed her back, “Did you have a good day, kid?”
She nodded and pulled back to point at Suga, “Teacher Koshi let us make drawing out of pasta! I made a cat.” Suga smiled fondly at the girl and Daichi’s found himself so taken by his beauty that he nearly forgot to answer his own niece.
“That’s great, I’m sure it’s the cutest cat ever,” he praised and put her back on the ground, “Now let’s grab your things and we can head home.” The little girl ran off and returned with her sparkly pink backpack on, grabbing onto both Daichi and Suga’s hands as they made their way back to the parking lot.
Daichi clicked Aiko into her car seat before shutting the door and rounding the car to the driver’s side where Suga remained a few feet away. Daichi felt a pull seeing Suga there, slim and warm and kind. He pulled his gaze up from where Suga’s fingers looped together in front of him and gave him a nod. “It’s always wonderful seeing you, Suga.”
Suga’s fingers invisibly tightened around each other. “You too, Officer Daichi. Stay safe out there.”
Daichi’s heart fluttered for the last time that afternoon at hearing his name in Suga’s voice, but his heart didn’t slow it’s quickened beating until they far enough from the school premises.
Suga’s pink cheeks landed him in a pile of trouble when he walked back over to Ms. Zuki, the other teacher on pick-up duty. After a few unappreciated teasing comments about how ridiculous he was, she hummed. “You know, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for you to see those muscles when you wake up each morning, rather than waiting around for them to show up here.”
Suga shushed her as he stared off at the black car drove off with Daichi and Aiko inside. His mind wandered toward scenarios where that really happened. Where Daichi dropped off Suga in the morning and picked up Aiko in the afternoon. “Maybe you’re right,” He mumbled wistfully.
He chose to ignore Ms. Zuki’s eyeroll.
-
Daichi was on his way to Aiko’s kindergarten once again, but this time it 8:45 in the morning as opposed to 3:00pm. Today was bring your family to work day, and Aiko had begged Daichi to come talk about being a police officer. Her dad was on a business trip as he so often was and Aiko claimed that her mom’s accounting job wasn’t cool enough, so Daichi was tasked with the role.
He felt a little strange walking into a school in uniform, but he had worn a toned down version to not look as intimidating as he was supposed to while on patrol. Aiko gushed with excitement as they walked inside and through the halls to her classroom. On the other hand, despite being a symbol of the law, Daichi was a little nervous to be interrogated by a room full of children. Especially in front of their cute teacher.
They rounded the corner and Aiko dropped Daichi’s hand to proudly march into the room. A few of the other parents had already arrived, and Daichi politely greeted them. They were seated at the children’s desks while their kids sat on the floor playing together. He pulled out one of the child-sized chairs, and just as Daichi was about to sit, a glimpse of Suga’s silver hair made him stand right back up. He was clearly coming from the teacher’s lounge with a cup of hot coffee in his hands, and he looked even softer than normal in the morning light coming through the windows.
“Suga…” He called softly, trying to catch his attention without making a show of it in front of the other parents. He didn’t notice how two moms leaning together and gigged as they looked between the officer and teacher.
Suga met his graze and smiled that easy smile of his, seemingly getting shyer as Daichi made his way around the desks and towards his desk. Suga wrapped his arms around himself, self-soothingly rubbing his hands on his cardigans soft fabric as he tried to take in how strong Daichi looked in his uniform.
He briefly wondered if Daichi always kept his handcuffs on him, then shoved that thought far away.
“Officer Daichi, how are you? Aiko’s mom told me about the altercation at the…bar,” Daichi’s lips ticked up at how Suga leaned in and whispered that last word. Simultaneously, he wondered why his sister was telling Suga about the drunkard he had to wrestle down at a dive bar last weekend.
Clearly, form the expression on his face, he could tell the information worried Suga. “Oh, that was just some drunk loser biting off more than he could chew,” He explained away, shaking his head dismissively.
A pale hand came to rest on his wrist, causing Daichi stomach to drop more than any drunk fight ever could. “It was very brave,” Suga said, tone genuine and heartfelt. Their eyes met for a few brief moments of stillness, just watching each other, and giving Daichi the feeling that he was slowly falling through something.
But Daichi snapped out of it, thankfully, and Suga gently picked up his hand. “Thank you, Suga.” He changed his tone to lighten the mood, “But it’s a rare occurrence for there to be a story that makes me out to be a hero. This town is so safe and quiet, I worry I’ll bore the kids with my speeding tickets and petty theft stories.”
Suga smiled as he looked up at him through his eyelashes. “Impossible. You’re far too interesting for children to find you boring.” Like an absolute teenager, Daichi felt himself blush if just the tiniest amount. Something about Suga’s gaze just did something to his stomach and made him feel warm all over.
The cat had caught his tongue, and Daichi found himself just smiling like an idiot back at Suga for a long while before whispering a ‘thank you.’ Just then, the morning bell rang, and the pair stood up straight from where there shoulders had settled into a curve towards each other.
Daichi turned around to see nearly every parent’s eyes flitting between him and Suga. Rose on his cheeks darkening, he adjusted his Police baseball cap lower over his eyes and rushed over to a chair.
Aiko’s small head popped up and she places his small hands on his knee. “Uncle Daichi is blushing,” she whispered.
“It’s hot in here,” Daichi responded through his teeth.
“No it isn’t.”
“Shh. You can’t even spelling blushing.”
“B-L-U—”
“Alright show-off, now sit down.”
-
Fridays were always one of Daichi’s traffic days. They were usually boring, but he enjoyed people watching in the various parts on town. This afternoon, he was stationed at one of the busiest intersections, a place that was important to stay alert at.
Just before the rush hour began, a blue Civic tried to dash through a yellow that had turned red for longer than Daichi liked. He adjusted himself up in his seat and immediately threw his sirens on. This town was a safe little town, and he didn’t like when people took advantage of that.
He followed the car till there was a space for them to pull over and stepped out to approach the vehicle. Surprisingly, he saw an older man in the driver’s seat instead of a rambunctious teen like he’d expected.
Daichi cleared his throat, “Good after noon sir, do you know why I pulled you over?”
He fumbled through his wallet for his license and registration before passing it off to Daichi. “Oh hello officer, I’m sorry but I do not—wait a minute. Officer Daichi?”
Daichi kept his expression neutral. Small town, people know each other. That was not gonna get this guy of a ticket. “That’s me,” he affirmed, looking between the man’s identification car and the car window.
“Well isn’t this funny. I just saw you at that Bring Your Family to School day down at the kindergarten a few days ago! I was there for my grandson; I do carpentry!”
Daichi vaguely remembered this man’s face now. To be honest, he hadn’t really been paying attention when he spoke that day, too busy staring at the teacher from across the room.
“Oh yeah,” Daichi said. “Very nice, well. You ran through a red light at a very busy stoplight during a busy time and could have seriously hurt someone. Are you in some big hurry or were you not giving your full attention to the road?”
The man’s smile tightened a little, seemingly understanding that he wasn’t gonna get off the hook for this one with chatter. The man apologized as Daichi ran his information with his handheld device. After a few more lines of talking to, the man made another comment to try and escape his punishment.
“That teacher Suga, eh? Thing of beauty that one.”
Daichi’s hand stilled where it was just about finished writing out this man’s ticket. Something like protectiveness crawled through his chest and he ripped the ticket off the stackpad a little harder than normal. “Uh, yeah. Pay that within a month or you’ll have to go to court. And drive steady on your way home now.”
The man took his ticket with a glint in his eye and a knowing smile that remained on his face as he started his car and drove off. Daichi opened his door and sat down with a heavy breath. That man may not have gotten out of his ticket, but he definitely ruffled Officer Daichi’s feathers.
-
Aiko’s mom had signed up to work the annual school faire, which meant she needed Daichi to attend and take Aiko around the grounds to all the rides and games while worked one of the booths. Always excited to hang out with his adorable niece, Daichi agreed and threw on a well-worn neighborhood volleyball tee and navy track pants.
Upon their arrival, Daichi was amazed with what the school and PTA were able to out together with rental rides and old faire supplies. The middle school grounds were completely transformed, covered lights strung above and delicious smells in the air.
Daichi bought Aiko some tickets and let her drag him around to different activities. At one point, Aiko’s friend joined them, allowing Daichi’s feet to stay planted firmly on their ground instead of getting in the spinning cups for a fourth time.
While keeping an eye on the girls on the ride, Daichi stepped aside to chat with a friend, Asahi, who owned the barber shop on main street and had a little one a year or two older than Aiko.
The two got to chatting, and somehow along the way Suga came up in conversation. Asahi’s kid had had him when he was in kindergarten and always compared his new teachers to him. “Says they are never as nice and Teacher Koshi was,” Asahi explains with a chuckle.
Daichi’s chest warmed with how loved Suga was by everyone who met him, including himself. “He really is great,” he mused in agreement, lost in the memory of Suga’s hand resting on his wrist.
He didn’t catch Asahi side eyeing him as he rubbed his thumb back and forth over his wrist. The taller cleared his throat. “You know, I hear Suga was asking about whether this event was gonna have security or whatnot. Maybe you oughta find him and let him know you’re covering it,” he said with a nudge to Daichi’s arm.
The girls stumbled off the ride, dizzy from going on so many times. “Oh? Well, in that case maybe I should. Could give these adrenaline junkies a minute to recover,” he teased, ruffling Aiko’s hair.
Asahi chuckled. “Yeah, man. Go find him!”
Daichi smiled and waved as he walked off with one little hand in each hand. “Nice talking to you!”
Asahi stood their waving until Daichi rounded the corner, then he crouched down to his daughter and said, “If Officer Daichi doesn’t kiss Teacher Koshi tonight, then Daddy has failed his mission sweetie.”
“Oh no!” She cried.
Daichi marched through the grounds, scanning the crowds for that familiar head of silver hair. It seemed as though they would never find the beautiful teacher, until Aiko wakened from her dizzy revery and pointed to a mini volleyball net set up in the grass. Suga was with the other kindergarten teacher—Ms. Zuki, Daichi thinks?—with their backs facing them, not partaking but just monitoring the kids play.
“Suga?” Daichi called, hesitant to disrupt any conversation the two teachers might be having. Upon hearing his name, Suga jumped just slightly, and the pair turned around.
“Oh, Officer Daichi, we were just talking about you,” Ms. Zuki mused. Suga’s ears went red and he coughed his way through a glare directed at his fellow teacher.
Daichi stepped forward. “I heard there were concerns about the security, figured I’d flash the badge around to remind people to act smart,” he joked, bravely holding his gaze to Suga’s big dark eyes that glittered in the evening fair lights.
Suga’s fingers came to nervously knot in front of him. “Teacher Koshi!” Aiko suddenly yelled, startling her uncle and teacher who had been staring dreamily into each other’s eyes. They both looked at her expectantly, noticing how her face was suspiciously tense. “You should come with us to watch the fireworks!”
That fond smiled found its way back onto Suga’s face, but his twiddling fingers signaled that perhaps he was nervous to join her and Daichi. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose on your family time together…”
Daichi’s mouth opened to protest before he could even process a thought. “No, no, please. It would be great to have you.” Daichi smiled and ruffled Aiko’s hair, “Besides, maybe this one will actually listen to you when she’s causing trouble.” Aiko giggled and wrapped her arms around Daichi’s leg.
“Okay then,” Suga said biting his lip through a smile. “Zuki, will you be alright moderating on your own?”
Zuki face looked both teasing and knowing as she nodded her head. “I’ll be fine, you kids have fun.” Suga shot her a look of gratitude and excitement. Zuki shook her head and chuckled to herself as she turned back towards the volleyball game. “I can’t wait for their wedding,” she muttered.
With minutes till the fireworks show, Aiko insisted they go to the green space now so that they could get a good seat. She dragged Daichi through a crowed part of the grounds, which prompted to instinctively reach behind for Suga to grab his hand to stay connected. The feeling on Suga’s soft fingers wrapped around his hand made his whole arm feel like there were sparks running up and down it. He glanced back at Suga to check if he was okay, and they shared a look of shy amusement at Aiko’s relentless pace.
They reached the green space where a few other families and children had laid out blankets and jackets to sit on. Aiko pulled them to the center, right in line with the big box of fireworks many yards away. Daichi realized that he never let go of Suga’s hand, and Suga had never let go of his. Aiko turned toward them ordering them to sit down, before dropping her eyes to their connected hands and hiding a giggle behind her hand.
They quickly break their hold and Daichi nervously scratches his head while Suga ties his together behind their back. Once seated, Aiko’s friend find them again and the two girls entertain each other, leaving Daichi and Suga free to actually talk sans children.
Daichi can’t stop his eyes from flitting down to Suga’s hands as they play with his pant fabric and rings. Time doesn’t feel like its passing as they speak in soft voices about their school fairs, Suga’s life before he moved to their town, and how Daichi’s stayed in one town all his life.
Slowly, Suga’s hand comes to rest on the ground beside Daichi’s. And when the firework show starts, they have to lean their heads together to hear each other’s voices. Between big, colorful explosions in the sky, Suga’s fingers crawl over Daichi’s and send sparks though his chest.
Daichi likes being in Suga’s space like this, and Suga likes resting his forehead on Daichi’s shoulder while laughing at Daichi’s jokes. They settle into a comfortable closeness, and Daichi asks Suga if he’d want to hang out sometime without children around.
Suga bites his cheek to stop himself from smiling too wide, and says he would like that very much.
With Suga’s head resting on Daichi’s wide shoulder, the rest of the town seated behind them—who had been waiting and waiting for this moment to happen—cheer.
Suga and Daichi don’t notice, they think the excitement is for the fireworks.