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“Papa! Daddy and I will have a competition on New Year!” Yuzuki runs over to Nirei with her little feet.
“Oh? What competition is it, Yucchan?” Nirei crouches down to match his daughter’s height. “You seem excited.”
“Making the prettiest decoration for new year’s dinner and the winner gets to kiss you first on the first day of the year!”
Nirei gives a side-eye to his husband, who stands behind Yuzuki with a smile pestering on his face. This is the first time for them to have a new year’s dinner as a family and he can see that Suo is trying to make Yuzuki happy with this arrangement. Nirei pats Yuzuki’s head lovingly, “Sure! Papa will be the judge. Good luck, Yucchan. Papa will cheer on you!” Suo walks closer, moving his head forward. Obviously wants to get the head pat too from the omega. Nirei gives in and Suo looks content with it.
“Just because you’re my child, it doesn’t mean that daddy will give up the prize that easily, Yuzu-chan.”
“Don’t worry, daddy! Yuzu is not going to lose!” Yuzuki sticks her tongue out. “Papa is mine. Bweee.”
Suo kneels in front of Yuzuki, pinches her cheek. “Okay, Yuzu-chan. Game on!”
So, the competition starts.
Both Suo and Yuzuki are prepared for their little contest. Nirei accompanied them to buy everything that they needed to make decorations, they bought it using Suo’s money. Suo said that it’s his responsibility to take care of Nirei and Yuzuki, though it’s a match between him and Yuzuki, but he’s the one who proposed it first to Yuzuki so it’s a fair share. Not only shopping for the competition, but they also bought ingredients for their new year’s dinner and fireworks on top of it. Suo wanted to buy a big one for Yuzuki but Nirei stopped him, for safety reasons. Nirei understands that Suo must be eager to make Yuzuki happy since Nirei and Yuzuki finally accepted him into the family after being separated for 6 years, but Yuzuki’s safety is still the top priority and Suo repented on his mistake.
They decided to buy sparklers, a lot of them so Yuzuki can play a lot of them later.
Arriving at home, Suo and Yuzuki begin working on their decoration, while Nirei goes straight to the kitchen to prepare their dinner. It’s a soba dish. Usually, Japanese people eat it on New Year’s eve. Nirei made it before for him and Yuzuki, when Suo heard about it, he wanted to try too. He never ate soba on New Year’s eve before so he got curious.
Nirei starts with making the soup for the soba noodle. First, he boils water in a pot with kombu (dry seaweed) in it. He removes the kombu before it bubbles, then adds bonito flakes and waits until the water boils for a bit. After that he strains the bonito flakes to get a clear broth. The next step is to give it flavor, Nirei adds kombucha, mirin, soy sauce and salt, he tastes it to correct the flavor. When he is about to do that, a pair of hands smoothly land around his waist.
“Aki-kun. Can I be the food taster?” Suo places his head on top of Nirei’s shoulder. He hugs Nirei from the back.
“Are you finished making the decoration, Hayato-san?”
Suo nods happily, “I’m not that serious with the competition, Aki-kun. I just want Yuzu to experience something different this year. Also, I can just kiss you after her.”
“Pfft. Of course. Very cunning as usual.”
“That’s one of my charms, no?”
“Yes, it is.” Nirei grabs his spoon, takes a bit of the broth, blows it to decrease the heat and feeds it to Suo. “Tell me if it is missing something, Hayato-san.”
Suo slurps the broth, he tastes it carefully. Nirei’s cooking always tastes delicate and Suo’s tastebud is loving it. “It’s delicious, Aki-kun. Only need sesame oil to make it more aromatic. Other than that, it’s perfect already. You did great, baby.” He kisses Nirei’s right cheek.
“You cheated, Hayato-san. You're supposed to kiss me tomorrow after the match ends.”
“Ey, it’s not on your lips, so it doesn’t count, Aki-kun. Hehehe.”
Suo breaks their hug and runs away before Nirei could scold him. He said that he wants to see Yuzuki’s progress with her DIY. It’s just an excuse, clearly. Nirei giggles, Suo is like that, stealing kisses here and there is his forte. Living with him for the past few months, Nirei has experienced a lot of them.
Nirei continues his cooking show, since making soba is too plain, he decided to add some tempura as the side dish. Yuzuki loves Ebi tempura so it’s perfect.
The clock shows 8 PM. The dinner is ready and the result from Suo and Yuzuki’s decorations is out too.
Suo chose to make a Chinese style decoration, with mini lampions hanging on a small tree inside a vase. He also made a happy new year with a red paper. This is his ‘not that serious’ and it’s a whole tree with lampion on it.
Meanwhile, Yuzuki stays on her roots. She made bird origamis, they had many variations of colors. She hangs them in a thread and then attaches them together like a curtain. She learnt to make this origami from Kiryu and since then she loves it. Not only birds, but Yuzuki also folded star origami and put it inside a jar. It’s more simple than Suo’s but for a 5 year old, Yuzuki did a great job and Nirei is proud of her.
“Daddy’s decorations are prettier than Yuzu’s...” Yuzuki sounds dejected.
“Hm, I don’t think so, Yuzu-chan. Daddy only needs to put the lampion we got from the supermarket on the branch while Yuzu-chan made everything from scratch. It’s amazing. Papa will agree with me, right, Aki-kun?”
Nirei quickly bobs his head in agreement with Suo’s words. “Yucchan is awesome! Because you made a lot of origami in such a short period of time! Daddy is older than Yucchan so it’s not surprising that his idea is better than Yucchan but that doesn’t mean that Yucchan’s decorations are bad. It’s the prettiest, papa has ever seen!”
“Really? Is this pretty, Papa?”
“Of course, my baby!!” Nirei hugs Yuzuki, tries his best not to cry. “Yucchan is the winner for this competition! Yeay!!”
Yuzuki stretches her arms up in the air, “Yeay!!”
“Congratulations, Yuzu-chan. The prize is yours and you can claim it tomorrow morning.” Suo gives Yuzuki a kiss on her forehead.
“Hehe, thank you, Daddy!” It’s Yuzuki’s turn to give a kiss on Suo’s cheek. “Can we put the decoration on the table now, Papa?”
“Yes, let’s decorate it, Yucchan and then we can eat dinner. Before it turns cold.”
Suo, Nirei and Yuzuki place everything on the table, except for the new year words, Suo sticks it on the wall. Nirei also adds a couple of scented candles on the dinner table. After that, he serves the soba noodles and tempura for Suo, Yuzuki and himself. They pray before eating it. Suo leads the prayer, Nirei and Yuzuki follow along.
Suo asks why Nirei loves to make soba on New Year’s Eve and the reason is just like any other Japanese people out there, because it symbolizes letting go of the past year’s hardships and welcoming a fresh start in the coming year with strength, endurance, good fortune, and prosperity. It’s also easy for Yuzuki to eat since it’s not spicy, which is also the second reason why Nirei chose to make this dish. They then talk about the plan to visit a shrine tomorrow morning to pray and to check their luck for the coming year with omikuji.
“I just hope my New Year’s resolution will go smoothly next year.” Nirei suddenly brought up a new topic.
“Resolution? Do you also have that, Aki-kun?” Suo wipes his mouth with tissue.
“I do have some, Hayato-san. But, it’s surprising to hear that you also have it.”
“Resolution? What is that, Papa?” Yuzuki pulls on Nirei’s shirt.
“Ah, it’s something that Yucchan wants to do or is hoping to come true next year.”
Yuzuki shuts her eyes, thinking hard. A minute later, she opens her eyes. Suo and Nirei wait patiently to hear something from her. “Then, Yuzu has one! I hope Daddy will stay with us and love Papa, also Yuzu forever!”
It was an innocent remark from a 5 year old kid but those words left a big impression on Suo and Nirei, especially on Suo since her words implied explicitly for Suo. Nirei doesn’t expect his daughter to be so blunt, after all Suo was trying his best to win over Yuzuki’s heart for the past year, she finally opens her heart for Suo and believes that Suo will protect this family. Yuzuki’s hope proves it more to Nirei that Suo has a special place already in Yuzuki’s heart. He can see a smile slowly blooming on Suo’s face. Suo must be thinking the same like Nirei. All of his hard work pays off with this.
“Yes, I’ll gladly do that, Yuzu-chan. Daddy will always love Papa and Yuzuki. That won’t ever change until forever.”
Suo and Nirei take turns on saying their New Year's resolution and Suo suddenly gets an idea to make a time-capsule with all of their resolutions, including Yuzuki’s. Nirei writes it all in a small paper and hides it inside the jar full of stars that Yuzuki made for the match. They promise to read it at the end of the year in one year.
Time passes quickly. It’s already 11.30 PM. 30 minutes before New Year.
Yuzuki is still full of energy. Suo lights up the fireworks for her, while Nirei records everything from the side. Yuzuki runs around the backyard, holding the sparklers.
“Thank you for making her happy, Hayato-san.”
Suo steps aside, stands beside Nirei as they watch Yuzuki plays with the sparklers in her hands.
The alpha puts his arms around Nirei’s waist, “I will make you and Yuzuki happy every day until the day I die, Aki-kun. Your and her happiness is my happiness. Thank you for accepting me to this family after all the mistakes I did to you and Yuzuki.”
“The past is already behind us, Hayato-san. No need to bring that up again. All we have to do now is look at the present and the future that is waiting for us. I will be needing you to help me to raise Yuzuki, I know I can count on you, Hayato-san.”
“Yeah. I’m up for the task, Aki-kun. I’m her father, of course it’s my job to support you.”
“Thank you. It’s reassuring to hear it. I love you, Hayato-san.”
“I love you a lot more, Aki-kun.”
Suo almost closes the gap between him and Nirei but he remembers that he had a promise to Yuzuki about the kiss as the reward. If Yuzuki sees it, she will be mad at him. So instead, Suo drags Nirei to join Yuzuki to play with the sparklers and count down the time until the New Year. Hoping this new life will bring a lot of happiness and fortune to their little family.