Work Text:
It was Friday morning. As usual, Yoshihito Usaida was opening up the babysitting room at Morinomiya Academy bright and early. However, he was notorious for not being a morning person and today was no exception.
Usaida put his apron on and yawned. He was actually early for once, thanks to his boyfriend accidentally waking him up when he got up to leave. Usually Usaida would just roll back over and go back to sleep, but he had felt particularly frisky that morning and Saikawa.....well, Saikawa caved like a ton of bricks falling off a ledge.
He wondered if Saikawa made it to work on time. The Chairwoman he worked for could be a bit of a ball buster. Usaida giggled to himself when he thought about Saikawa's balls; he sure as hell drained them this morning.
When Usaida took on this job all those years ago, it was to fulfill a promise to Morinomiya-sensei, the Chairwoman's son. He thought it would be a good idea to give Usaida a sense of responsibility, and he was right. Morinomiya-sensei's wisdom knew no bounds and he often understood his students more than they understood themselves. His premature death in a plane crash left a huge void in many people's lives and there was a massive outpouring of grief at the funeral.
Usaida missed him terribly.
Suddenly feeling a tad emotional, Usaida wiped his eyes on his apron. It was too early to be crying, but Usaida blamed it on the morning tryst he had with Saikawa.
That man will be the death of him. Usaida had been seeing Keigo Saikawa, the butler of the Morinomiya household for the last eight months or so. It was a pairing that wasn't supposed to work, but it somehow did. Saikawa was highly alert, always well-presented and had a strong sense of duty and Usaida....he was somewhat responsible during the times he was awake. But Saikawa saw through his sloppy facade into the kind heart he possessed, and that was when he fell and he fell hard.
Not that either of them would ever admit it.
"Usaida".
Did he fall asleep standing up? Because he swore he just heard Saikawa's voice calling his name.
"Usaida!"
He jumped. Nope, he was awake. And that was indeed Saikawa standing in front of him. He had left his apartment in an unkempt state that morning but in true Saikawa form, he had now straightened himself out and looked immaculate in his crisp white shirt, black suit and matching tie.
"Saikawa!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Dropping his voice to a low whisper, he leant in next to his ear.
"Miss me already? Was this morning not enough?" he grinned.
The flaxen-haired butler pushed his glasses up his nose, pretending not to hear him.
"I'm here to deliver Kotarou-sama's lunch", Saikawa said in his official butler voice, but there was no disguising the pink flush spreading across his face. He presented the bento box and opened it.
"I made plenty of tako-san's. They are Kotarou-sama's favourite and there should be enough there to share with the rest of the children".
Usaida marveled at the little octopus-shaped hotdogs that Saikawa had painstakingly prepared. He was an amazing chef with even more amazing attention to detail. Every single octopus had exactly eight evenly- sized tentacles and little black sesame seeds for eyes. They rested on a bed of fluffy rice and was surrounded by a nutritious mix of colourful vegetables.
"Cute", Usaida said. "I'm a little jealous-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Saikawa pulled another box out. This one was immaculately wrapped in a navy blue furoshiki that Usaida recognized as Saikawa's own.
"This one is for you", Saikawa said, placing it in his hands. Usaida's face softened into a smile.
"I hope you like katsu chicken curry", he continued. "I used fresh grated apple and pure honey, so the sauce should be extra sweet-".
Usaida pulled Saikawa in, drawing a surprised gasp from the usually stoic butler.
"Not as sweet as you, Keigo", he teased as he leant in for a kiss. Saikawa put his hands against his face and tried to rebuff him.
"Stop it", he hissed. "We're at school! The kids will see us!"
Usaida scoffed.
"Relax, it's too early! None of the kids will be here yet!"
Saikawa and Usaida continued to wrestle playfully. The fresh scent of Saikawa's aftershave lingered on his collar as Usaida nuzzled him. Saikawa's hand instinctively reached up and stroked his cheek, brushing his light pink locks aside.
"You're incorrigible", Saikawa complained, his hand continuing to play with Usaida's hair.
"That's a big word," Usaida quipped. "How about a simpler one we can both understand?"
He threw his arms around Saikawa's neck, bringing his face close.
"Kiss".
Their lips met. Gently but with much longing. Saikawa and Usaida had enough respect for the premises to not cross the line between affection and lust and they pulled apart after a couple of seconds. It might have been short, but it was enough to satiate themselves for now. Usaida let out a low giggle, their foreheads still touching.
"That was easy to understand, wasn't it?" he asked cheekily.
"Yeah," Saikawa uttered in response. "Now get back to work!"
They both let go of each other reluctantly. Usaida was right; it wasn't enough. But they were both at work and it wouldn't be right to-
"Yikes!"
They both froze in their steps as they saw a little boy standing there watching them curiously.
"K....Kotarou! How long have you been standing there?" Usaida exclaimed.
Kotarou continued to stand there in silence, staring at them blankly with his big, expressive grey eyes. He was wearing his black and white panda jacket today and clutching his favourite Mr Panda storybook. His brother Ryuuichi must have dropped him off in a hurry and not had time to read to him today.
"Kotarou-sama," Saikawa bowed slightly. "Allow me to explain. You see, Usaida-sama fell over and-"
"Um, Kei, he's two years old. He doesn't really know how to talk", Usaida reminded him. Kotarou continued to stare; he was an adorable kid but his quiet, studious nature and penchant for quiet observation sometimes creeped Usaida out. At least with the other kids they always let you know what they were thinking, with Kotarou it was impossible to figure out.
"Kotarou, do you want me to read to you?" Usaida offered. "Ugn!" The little boy nodded, offering the book to him.
With Kotarou now suitably distracted and the crisis seemingly averted, Saikawa heaved a sigh of relief.
"In that case, I will take my leave", he said with another bow. "Have a good day, Kotarou-sama, Usaida-sama".
Usaida stifled a snort; hearing Saikawa refer to him as 'Usaida-sama' will never be not funny. That stoic facade he puts up was quite annoying at the start, but now he found it quite endearing. But more than anything, he much preferred the face he shows him when they're both alone....
"I'M HERE!"
A loud voice announced the arrival of Taka Kamitani, who was dropped off by his older brother Hayato. Surprisingly, the Kamitani brothers were accompanied by Kirin Kumatsuka, who trotted in with her little backpack.
"Mama is busy so she asked Hayato Nii-chama to dwop me off!" Kirin said, bouncing excitedly on her feet. Her mother, Kumatsuka-sensei is the drama teacher. She was once again busy preparing for a big drama production and couldn't bring Kirin down to the babysitting room today.
"Ranger Red has arrived. Prepare to fight!" Taka shouted, waving his favourite toy sword. He usually waited until everyone had arrived before starting his favourite game, but he was clearly extremely eager today.
Kirin did not share his sentiments.
"I'm going to read!" Kirin replied in a huff. She hung her backpack up on her designated peg and pulled out the picture book her mother had packed for her. Just like young girls her age, she was obsessed with fairies, princesses and all things pretty and sparkly. She was currently obsessed with a picture book about a fairy princess and her prince, and she was looking forward to reading it again for the ten thousandth time.
Finding a comfy little corner, she settled down and opened her book. Kirin stared at the pages; something about the cover looked different today. Her story had a beautiful princess and a handsome prince in it, but as she flipped through the book there was no sign of the princess. Instead, there appears to be two princes instead!
Kirin was confused, but she thought the princes looked handsome, both of them. Luckily for her, she couldn't read and could only just look at the pictures. Soon, she was completely engrossed in the story. She didn't even notice when Takuma and Kazuma, the Mamizuka twins showed up. She didn't even notice when Taka insulted her favourite giraffe plushie. By that point, Usaida had nodded off as usual, alongside the youngest child in the daycare, baby Midori.
This carried on until lunchtime, when Usaida was woken up by his growling stomach. Kirin reluctantly put her book aside when Usaida announced that there were tako-san's to be shared around, but she barely tasted any of the rice balls her mother had packed for her. Her mind was just too enthralled by the handsome princes in her new book.
Taka was starting to get impatient. He wanted to play the Ranger game today and it wasn't fun if there wasn't anyone to play Ranger Pink; it just didn't seem right. He stormed up to Kirin.
"Whaddya reading?" he demanded, trying to snatch the book from her. Kirin pouted.
"I'm reading about the pwinces!" she cried out. "Don't touch!"
"What's so fun about princes? Ranger Red is much cooler!" Taka declared. "Don't you agree, Kotarou?"
"Ugn", Kotarou (aka Ranger Blue) replied, showing his neutrality in the situation. He was still confused about what he saw that morning between Usaida and Saikawa and the Ranger or Prince debate was the least of his concerns.
"The Pwinces just kissed!" she cried out. "I can't stop reading now!"
Taka looked confused.
"What's 'kiss'?" he asked. Kirin smirked.
"Come and look!"
The kids gathered around her book excitedly. Kirin pointed at a panel.
"This is a 'kiss!'" she said triumphantly. "Mama said that this is what happens when the Pwince and Pwincess fall in love!"
"Ooooh Papa did this!" Takuma said excitedly. "Papa kished the pretty lady on TV!"
Kazuma, his more timid twin, nodded earnestly next to him. "Kazuma saw Papa kish too!"
The twins were referring to their father, Mamizuka Kousuke. An up and coming actor, he was recently cast as a dashing CEO in a TV series. He was quite embarrassed that the boys saw the multiple kissing scenes he has, but their mother Mamizuka Emi-sensei didn't see the issue.
Taka inspected the page carefully. He saw the princes arguing, then one of them slammed the other against the wall! They both stared each other down for a panel or two, then they did that kiss thing.
He didn't want to admit it, but he was starting to get invested too.
"So one prince puts his hands on the wall like this to defeat the other prince, and then they kiss?" he observed. Kirin nodded.
"Yes! That's how the top pwince defeated the bottom pwince!" Kirin said with a wide smile, pointing to each character.
Taka's eyes widened. Defeating someone? That sounded like a really heroic thing to do! And Ranger Red was the biggest hero there was!
"I want to play this game! I want to defeat the prince!" Taka shouted, raising his sword in the air. Takuma punched the air in solidarity.
"I want to play too!" he squealed. Kazuma raised his hand reluctantly while Kotarou continued to watch in silence.
"I wanna go first!" Taka declared, grabbing Kotarou by his arm. "Kotarou! You stand here!"
He dragged poor Kotarou aside and made him stand in front of the wall. Kotarou looked at Taka with a slightly concerned expression, wondering what his next move could be. The dark-haired boy approached Kotarou with a determined look on his face. "I will defeat you, Prince!" he shouted, running at Kotarou with his sword waving in the air.
"STOP!"
Kirin had stepped in between Taka's fierce charge and Kotarou's almost definite decimation.
"The top pwince is gentle with the bottom pwince!" Kirin declared. "He doesn't hurt him or yell at him at all!"
Takuma seemed to have understood, because it was his turn to drag his twin brother and put him against the wall.
"I'm gentle with Kazuma!" Takuma said, his eyes beaming. "Like this!"
Sure enough, Takuma put his hands against the wall and backed Kazuma into it. Kazuma's eyes immediately started watering and he whimpered nervously. That didn't faze Takuma; he was used to his brother's timid ways.
"Don't cry Kazuma", he comforted him with another big smile. "I'll kish it all away!"
He gave him a light peck on the cheek. Kirin's eyes sparkled and she started applauding. This was exactly like she imagined!
"Bah, this is lame", Taka sulked, throwing his sword aside.
"Can we play something else? Let's attack the evil Sleeping Monster!"
They turned towards Usaida, who had decided to take a post-lunch snooze. Midori, the baby he should have been watching raised her hands in glee, as if to give them the go ahead.
Taka grinned.
"Princess Midori needs help! Let's save her!"
The boys cheered. Just as they were all going to charge head-first into Usaida's stomach, the door opened.
"What are you all doing?"
Class was over and Ryuuichi had arrived. Kotarou dove into his brother's arms as the others started to clamour excitedly over him too. Kirin handed the book to him.
"We're playing 'Top Pwince and Bottom Pwince'!" she chattered excitedly.
Ryuuichi looked confused; the kids were known to come up with new games often but this one was especially new. He inspected the book curiously and immediately went red in embarrassment.
This was very clearly a Boys Love comic!
"Uhhh Kirin-chan, where did you get this book?" Ryuuichi asked anxiously.
"It was in my bag", Kirin told him.
"Your bag? Surely not!" Ryuuichi replied in disbelief. He nudged Usaida, who had not even stirred since he entered. He awoke with a jerk.
"Usaida-san, do you know how this got into Kirin's backpack?" he asked, trying to be discreet.
"Huh, wha?" Usaida asked groggily as he took the comic off Ryuuichi's hands. His eyes widened.
"Ah.....Sasami & Miyato? That's BL!" he muttered to himself, flipping through the pages. "Oooooh there's the famous Kabe-don scene too-"
"Usaida-san, please don't talk about these things in front of the kids!" Ryuuichi begged. The last thing he wanted was for the kids to ask him questions, but it looked like it was too late.
"Ryuuichi Nii-chama, what's a 'kare-don'?" Kirin asked.
"Kare-don? Um, that's rice with curry isn't it?" Ryuuichi replied in confusion.
"No, what Usa-chan said just now. Kare-don", she replied.
Usaida howled with laughter.
"She meant 'Kabe-don'!" Usaida sputtered, doubled over with laughter. Ryuuichi blushed; he damn well knew what that was and he sure as hell wasn't going to explain it to a group of toddlers.
The door opened. It was Hayato Kamitani, Taka's older brother.
"Why is it so noisy in here?" he complained. "I could hear you all down the corrid-"
Hayato did not get to finish his sentence because he had immediately tripped over Taka's carelessly discarded sword. He hurtled towards Ryuuichi, who closed his eyes and put his hands up to protect himself. He braced himself for the impact but instead, there was a loud bang.
Ryuuichi opened his eyes. Hayato had managed to put his hands out in time, preventing himself from colliding into Ryuuichi but also pinning him against the wall. Their faces were mere inches apart and he could feel Kamitani's breath on his face.
A loud squeal, courtesy of Kirin, sounded out.
"K....KARE-DON!!!!" the little girl screamed, pointing at the boys and beside herself with excitement. Even Usaida was watching on with a stupid, glazed smile on his face.
"I-I-I,um...Kamitani can you please get off me?" Ryuuichi stammered, his face looking like he was going to explode. Hayato withdrew in silence, acting completely unfazed.
"Who left the sword here?" he demanded grumpily.
Taka walked up to him, his cheeks puffed.
"You broke it!" he shouted, pointing at the small dent on the sword. "Nii-chan, you're such a poopie-"
A soft smack rang across the room; Hayato had bonked his brother over the head. As expected, Taka erupted in noisy tears, which Hayato ignored as he scooped him up under his arm.
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't left your sword lying around", Hayato said flatly over his crying. Both brothers left the room, but Usaida couldn't help but realize that Hayato's face had gone very pink.
"Are you ok, Ryuuichi?" Usaida asked cheekily, realizing that his face was redder than it was before".
"I.... I'm ok", he stammered, holding Kotarou's hand as the younger boy reached out in concern. "I still don't know how that comic got here-"
"Ah, it's my fault", an ethereal-sounding voice said, making Ryuuichi jump.
"Mama!" Kirin cried out, leaping into her mother's arms. Kumatsuka-sensei was a slim, pretty woman with long black hair who walked so gracefully she often looked like she was floating.
"We're adapting 'Sasami & Miyato' for the next drama production. I must have accidentally left my copy of the book in Kirin's backpack", she revealed. Ryuuichi groaned.
"Kumatsuka-sensei, I..I don't think Kirin-chan should be reading this", Ryuuichi whispered. "She's been asking all sorts of strange questions-"
Kumatsuka-sensei smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry, I'll make sure I'll keep my BL stash away properly next time", she said, sailing away with her daughter.
Ryuuichi stared at the retreating backs of both mother and daughter in disbelief.
Did she say BL stash? Was Kumatsuka-sensei a fujoshi?!
Ryuuichi blinked as Usaida sniggered at him in the background. He has had quite enough Boys Love references for the day.
*
It was dinnertime at the Morinomiya house. Saikawa had outdone himself again with a feast of roast beef served with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Kotarou had a separate meal with tomato-based ground beef stew served with mashed potatoes, which he ate happily.
"We have chocolate pudding for dessert", Saikawa announced as he started to clear the table. Kotarou's eyes lit up excitedly at the sound of chocolate. Ryuuichi smiled.
"That's another one of Kotarou's favorites, isn't it?" he asked. The little boy nodded.
"Did you have a good day today?" Ryuuichi continued, patting his head affectionately.
"Ugn!" Kotarou nodded, looking more serious than he usually did. From the corner of his eye, Saikawa felt like the young boy was staring intently at him.
Much too intently.
"Sai-cha," he said in that soft whispery voice of his, pointing at Saikawa.
"Sai-cha, Usa-cha, KISSSSH!"
Crash!!!
Everyone turned and stared; Saikawa had suddenly dropped the stack of plates he had been expertly balancing along his arm. The Chairwoman glared at him.
"Saikawa! What's gotten over you", she snapped. "You've never fumbled like this before."
Saikawa bowed so low his back was parallel to the ground.
"I am sorry, Chairwoman, Ryuuichi-sama, Kotarou-sama", he apologized. He kept his head low so none of them could see how red he had gotten.
"Get out of here," the Chairwoman ordered. "I don't want to see you until you are ready to serve dessert."
Saikawa retreated without a word. Ryuuichi looked at the chairwoman uncomfortably.
"Obaasan, wasn't that a bit...harsh?" he asked. "It was just some empty plates-"
"Just some empty plates! What would it be next time? Sharp knives? Hot soup?" the Chairwoman replied sharply. "He could have hurt either of you! Saikawa will reflect on his actions out the back."
Ryuuichi lowered his head, there was no use arguing with her. He hoped that Saikawa was ok, he was usually so unflappable.
Saikawa slinked out the back and started dessert prep in silence, his insides burning with embarrassment. He didn't like disappointing the Chairwoman; she had high standards and expectations which he relished in exceeding. Seeing the harsh look in her eyes made him feel worse than ever. He couldn't believed he had slipped up like that; in all his years working there he had never as much as dropped a grain of rice on the table.
As far as he was concerned, he might as well have knocked over the Tokyo Tower.
Yoshihito Usaida. It was all that pink-haired idiot's fault for distracting him.
"Stupid Yoshihito," he muttered as he piped cream onto the chocolate puddings. "Told you not to so that in school-"
"Do what, Saikawa?" a stern voice rang out. Saikawa stumbled, accidentally stabbing the pudding with the piping bag.
"Chairwoman," he greeted her again with a low bow. "Dessert will be served in a min-"
"I think you're overworked, Saikawa."
His voice trailed away into nothingness. The Chairwoman looked at him, her face still wearing a fierce frown.
"From now on, you will have every Sunday off," she said in a voice that suggested that she won't accept any objections.
That came out of nowhere. Saikawa was shocked, but perhaps he didn't need to be. He knew first-hand how kind the Chairwoman was; maybe he just wasn't expecting her kindness to be offered to him to this extent. Despite this, he smiled.
Yoshihito will be happy about this.
Saikawa took a step back and bowed again, his heart jumping with joy.
"Thank you, Chairwoman," he said again. "I...I'll get back to preparing dessert!"
The Chairwoman's face twitched for a millisecond before she grunted impatiently and turned to walk back towards the dining room. Saikawa smiled another secret smile to himself as he finished piping the cream and started to load the puddings onto a large serving tray alongside some small dessert spoons.
Yup, that was a smile he saw on the Chairwoman's face alright!
"Take Usaida-kun some place nice this Sunday, won't you?"
Another loud crash echoed around the kitchen, a noise so loud even Ryuuichi and Kotarou winced from where they were sitting in the dining room.
"Um, Kotarou," Ryuuichi said cautiously, looking at his younger brother in slight disappointment.
"I don't think we're getting any chocolate pudding for dessert tonight!"