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Emu was sitting at the table in CR with Kiriya and Poppy. Both of the adults were currently drinking coffee. The child tilted his head. "Can I try coffee?"
Poppy stared at him for a moment as if contemplating. An awkward smile spread on her face as she began to briefly laugh. "I don't think you'd like it. Coffee is really bitter."
The 8-year-old tilted his head. "But I remember coffee not tasting too bitter?" He had a genuine look of confusion on his face.
Kiriya just grinned.
Poppy let out a soft sigh. "I'll make you a small cup of coffee, okay? We don't need you bouncing off of the walls later!" As she stood up to head to the coffee maker, Emu looked rather excited and giddy. They definitely did try to let him have things he enjoyed as an adult, even if they were unsure he'd like it as a child. This included things like restaurants—but some restaurants and foods seemed to confuse his child brain. One of the biggest things that seemed to really confuse child Emu was the fancy restaurant Hiiro and his parents took Emu too once. Apparently it was a place he'd take Saki but also it was a place his family would go to often. He definitely wasn't sure how to act there. Poppy was thinking about that as she poured a small bit of coffee into the coffee cup for him. Emu came back to CR the next day all excited to tell her and the others about that experience even though it confused him.
She came back to the table and placed the cup in front of him. "Let it cool down first, so you don't accidentally burn your tongue."
"Okay!" Emu blew on his coffee a bit to help it cool off faster. Kiriya was in the middle of taking a sip when Emu finally took a little sip of his own. The child quickly put the cup down and made a slightly disgusted face. "Bleh—that's more bitter than I thought!" He stared at Poppy. "Did you make it right?"
"Of course I did! We haven't changed anything in the last 8 years—" she paused. "Then again, children's taste buds are usually more sensitive than adults—"
Kiriya briefly laughed after he put his cup down. "Hang on, Emu! I know just the thing you need." The coroner stood up to walk to the coffee maker and taking a few packets of sugar and one packet of creamer. As he brought it back, he set them right next to Emu's cup. The child turned to look up at him before glancing back down. "Just try it like this—" he opened one packet of sugar and put it in the cup before he then opened the packet of creamer and put it in, too. Then he took a coffee stirrer they also had by the coffee maker and stirred it.
Emu stared at it. "Woah! It made the color lighter?!" His gaze was in his coffee mug, practically in awe at the color difference.
"Yep! Science is great, isn't it?" He went to sit back down to continue sipping on his coffee.
Emu finally took another sip of his. "Mm! This tastes much better! It's more sweet!"
"Yep!" Kiriya was smiling in amusement while casually sipping his own coffee.
"Well now he's going to be hyper, Kiriya!" Poppy couldn't contain her brief laughter even though she knew Hiiro would throw a fit later, especially if Emu wouldn't be able to sleep that night. There had been a few nights where Parado had to practically roughhouse with Emu in order to wear him out, so he'd actually sleep. Sometimes Parado or Hiiro would take him out on a drive somewhere like a fast food place or just to CR and he'd end up falling asleep not too long later.
"True, true. I'll take the blame for it." Kiriya still couldn't help his grin while sipping again.
. . . . .
Later that night, Emu had finally fallen asleep around two in the morning. It took Parado playing games with him for several hours until he finally calmed down. Parado pulled the covers up over him after he had carried him up onto his bed. Once he knew for sure his human was asleep, he left his room and gently shut the door. Hiiro had gone to bed already after Parado said he would handle the hyper mini human.
A single glance down to his phone and he decided to text Kiriya.
Parado: 'The little brat is asleep finally. Geez, Lazer. WTH?'
Kiriya: 'oh come onnnnn its fine! Coffee and sugar once in a while won't kill him.'
Kiriya: 'let him live a little, man!'
Parado sighed before he laughed at that response.
Parado: 'Whatever'
Kiriya: [sent a laughing emoji] 'come on, you know you gotta let him live his new life'
Parado: 'Yeah, that's why I'm not too upset'
Kiriya: 'seeee? Problem solved!'
Parado just stared at the text messages. As he closed the messaging app, he decided to turn his phone off and lean against the wall next to Emu's bedroom door. Tears were falling from his eyes now as he took his sleeve to wipe them. He was crying because of how happy Emu has been—he had never felt this overload of happiness in adult Emu at all. It made him realize how isolated and distant Emu Hojo truly was. If only they caught on sooner...
Oh well. Parado knows the past can't be changed but sometimes he does wonder if he somehow could've prevented Emu's downfall back then. "Emu... I promise I'll always be here for you."
. . . . .
In the morning, Emu was clearly tired and still waking up. Thankfully it was the weekend, but he definitely is having a 'sugar rush hangover' as they all put it. He would be extremely hyper until he'd crash—sometimes he had to be carried back to bed. Hiiro was actually in the kitchen making breakfast for himself and Emu. "Ah, you're finally awake." He glanced when he saw Emu walk in with his Mighty pajamas still on.
His head tilted. "Where's Parapara?"
"Parado got called to CR earlier by Poppy, so it's just you and me today." Hiiro was practically already done. "Did you sleep okay?"
Emu stared at him, still groggy. Then he smiled and nodded. "Yeah! The coffee made me sleep hard!"
"Sounds about right. Caffeine'll do that, so will sugar. At any rate," he was motioning for Emu to sit at the table, so the child did, "breakfast is done." The surgeon brought over a plate of food to put in front of Emu. It was French toast with honey and vanilla. There were also sausage links and a small omurice. Hiiro put his own plate at the other end of the table and then went to get drinks. "You want your usual?"
"Yes please!"
"Alright." He poured apple juice into a cup for Emu and then hot tea in his own cup. He brought the apple juice cup and put it in front of Emu and then went to sit down with his tea. The child put his hands together to thank Hiiro for the food. "You know you don't have to do every time, right?"
"I know, I just wanna!" His smile didn't fade at all. Hiiro smiled back at him.
"At any rate, don't drink anymore coffee. If you want coffee, it's going to be decaffeinated from now on."
Emu had the fork with a piece of French toast in his mouth. "Okay!" He said, but it was garbled from him having a mouthful of food. Hiiro couldn't help his grin that then turned into a brief laugh. The 8-year-old swallowed the food he had in his mouth before he looked confused. "Wait, what's funny, papa?"
"You, you're funny. No matter whether you're a child or not, your antics never change."
Emu smiled and then continued eating his breakfast.
When they both finished their breakfast, Hiiro took the plates and cups to put them into the sink to wash later. He then turned back around to look at Emu. "What would you like to do today?"
"Uhhh—" he clearly didn't think that far yet. "Will you play Street Fighter with me?!" Emu was getting out of his chair. He looked hopeful when he looked at his adopted father.
Hiiro let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, we can play. Though, you know you'll have to go easy on me, right?" He had a smirk on his face as he continued to look at his son. Emu had a wide smile as he nodded.
"I can go easy!" Emu practically ran to head back to his room. Hiiro laughed as he followed. It was nice to see Emu like this. It was nice to see Emu happy, to see him not being afraid to ask for things he needed or wanted.
. . . . .
When Parado came back later, he could hear Emu and Hiiro playing games together. He decided to be as quiet as possible. Glancing into Emu's room slowly, he couldn't help his smile. Hiiro was sitting on the floor and Emu was sitting in his lap while they were playing games together—this was something Emu would do with Parado, too. Even though Taiga said that Emu was too old for that, Kiriya said you're never too old to sit on Santa's lap or your parents'.
Then Parado's smile turned into a grin. He wanted to do something devious. Emu grinned in response and began button mashing just a bit harder. He was beating Hiiro's character to a pulp now. "I thought you said you'd go easy on me, Emu?" Hiiro just let out a short laugh. His gaze went to the doorway. "I knew you were home."
"Sorry, I couldn't resist."
Emu immediately paused the game and turned to look. He staggered up to his feet and ran to hug Parado. "Parapara!"
Parado hugged him back. "Hi, Emu!" He rubbed his head gently while hugging him. "How bad did you beat your papa up?"
Hiiro let out a soft and defeated sigh. "The score was 2 to 11..." He muttered that before laughing with a smile on his face. "I'm much better at RPGs still, I guess."
"Seems so. Hey, Emu, wanna play with me?"
"Yeah!"