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It was still early in the morning when Akaashi decided to make a quick trip to the store after discovering they were out of a few things for breakfast. He knew he should have checked before he went to bed, but Bokuto was pestering him to come to bed so they, plus Eita, could cuddle. When he finished getting ready for the day, Bokuto and Butternut were still asleep so he didn’t bother to wake them up. He only shook his head as he listened to the soft snores and hoots coming from them. Akaashi made his way down the hall to a door that had a sign that read Eita’s Room ! Even though they had cuddled last night, Bokuto had put Eita to bed after the small child had fallen asleep in the middle of the movie the family was watching together. Since coming home, they tried to squeeze in a movie at the end of the day as some sort of bonding. Akaashi opened the door and poked his head in to see if Eita was awake.
“Eita, are you awake?” Akaashi softly asked. He received a groan in response as the child was awakened from his slumber, stretching as Akaashi walked over. “Did I wake you, sweet boy?”
“Mmmm…” Again, a groan as response. Akaashi could tell Eita was not a morning person, but it was so darn cute watching him wake up. The raven-haired man picked up the sleepy blond child, who curled up in Akaashi’s arms.
“I’m sorry if I woke you up, Eita. I just wanted to check if you were up yet.”
“Mmmm Eita up. Eita up.” The child mumbled, when clearly he wasn’t.
“Good morning Eita. Did you have sweet dreams?” Akaashi chuckled as he kissed the child’s forehead as Eita rubbed his eyes.
“Mmmhmm.”
“I have to go to the store to pick up a few things for breakfast, do you want to join me?”
“Mmm yeah.”
“Okay sounds like a plan.”
Eita was quickly dressed and by the time they were getting ready to head outside, the child was still sleepy and fell asleep on the way to the store. Akaashi didn’t mind since his son was still waking up and it did take at least half an hour for him to wake up. Plus food always helped too. Akaashi was in and out of the store within ten minutes and within those ten minutes, Eita woke up and snuggled closed to Akaashi as he finished his shopping.
“Oh what a beautiful little boy you have.” An elder women complimented as the two were getting ready to leave. Eita hide his face in the crook of Akaashi’s neck. “Oh, he’s a shy one.”
“Thank you, he is quite shy. My husband and I recently brought him home about a month ago and he’s still adjusting to the new environment.” Akaashi smiled as he rubbed his son’s back. The elder women smiled at them.
“Ah, congratulations to you and your husband. Oh, would the little one like a sticker?” She asked as she held out a few options, while Akaashi tapped Eita’s shoulder.
“Eita, do you want a sticker?” The child nodded. “You need to turn around and see which one you want.”
At first, the little blond didn’t move. Akaashi rubbed Eita’s back, comforting him that everything would be alright. Slowly, the child turned around and looked at the elder women, who had a soft smile on her face. He looked at the different stickers before pointing to a pumpkin.
“Oh, what a wonderful choice! Would you like it on your hand, dear?” The woman asked as Eita nodded and held his hand out to her. Akaashi noticed Eita’s hand was trembling just a little, even though this wouldn’t be such a big deal to another child, but Eita was scared. He had no idea what this woman was going to do to him or if the sticker was going to hurt him at all. Akaashi nuzzled against Eita’s cheek, reassuring him as the elder placed the sticker onto the child’s hand.
“There we go. Do you like it deary?” Eita nodded as he looked at the sticker.
“What do you say, Eita?”
“Thank you.” The child said as the women smiled again.
“Ah, you’re welcome deary. My, he has such beautiful eyes.” The women complimented as Eita hid again and held onto Akaashi.
“Thank you very much. He does have beautiful eyes. Thank you again for the sticker, have a nice day.” Akaashi smiled again as the women waved while they exited the store. While returning home, Eita stared at his sticker on his hand before looking at Akaashi, who smiled at his son as they continued home.
Something had caught Eita’s attention and made him look up. There were trees standing up and down the sidewalk and he had been down this sidewalk lots of times with Bokuto and Akaashi. But something had caught his attention about the colors of the trees. He clearly remembered them being green but suddenly, they were of various shades of red, orange, yellow, brown and very little green.
“Mommy.”
“Yes, Eita?”
“Why are the trees different colors? Eita thought trees are green.” The child asked as he pointed up to the trees. Akaashi stopped and looked up, before chuckling.
“Well you aren’t wrong. Typically the leaves are green, but the seasons are changing and so do the leaves. The fall leaves change to red, orange, yellow, brown and some leaves stay green. It’ll stay like this until December and they’ll change again.”
“Do they turn blue, purple and white?” Eita asked while tilting his head to the side. Akaashi blinked and let out a small laugh before patting his son’s head.
“No Eita, they don’t change to blue, purple and white.” Akaashi giggled as Eita titled his head to the other side.
“Eh? Then what do they change to?”
“They don’t change to anything in the winter, instead they fall off during this season and by the time winter arrives there aren’t anymore leaves. They come back in spring and they’ll be green again.” Akaashi explained as they returned home, Eita listened closely as it was explained to him.
“Ohhh. But does that hurt the trees?”
“No it doesn’t. It happens every year so it’s natural.” Akaashi said as he put Eita down and smiled at him. “Why don’t you go wake Daddy and Butternut up and show them your pretty sticker?”
“Mmm okay!”
“Ahh no need for that, Keiji!” A yawn came from the stairs. The two looked up to see Bokuto coming down the stairs with Butternut on his shoulder. Eita rushed up to Bokuto, right after he removed his shoes, and held up his hand.
“Look at my sticker, Daddy! It didn’t hurt!” Eita exclaimed as Bokuto picked him up and kissed his cheek.
“You did now? That’s great to hear! But stickers don’t hurt, they’re fun to wear!” Bokuto smiled as Akaashi walked into the kitchen while hearing the two of them start to talk about what they were going to do that day.
“Ah smells great as usual, Keiji.” Bokuto kissed Akaashi’s cheek after coming into the kitchen with Eita on his hip. Akaashi smiled and kissed Bokuto back and kissed Eita’s cheek.
“It’s almost ready. Just a few more minutes.” He chuckled. “Oh Koutarou, Eita asked a cute question earlier. Eita, do you remember when you asked me about the leaves and them changing colors?”
Eita nodded.
“Oh? What did our cutie say?” Bokuto asked as he poked the blond’s belly, getting a giggle out of him.
“He asked if the leaves changed to blue, purple and white in the winter since they change to red, orange, yellow and brown during the fall.” Akaashi explained as Bokuto blinked before he snuggled Eita close to him. Butternut having to fly over to Akaashi’s shoulder before he would be crushed.
“AWWW EITA THAT’S ADORABLE!” Bokuto exclaimed as Eita giggled when Bokuto held him close.
“Daddy! Butternut almost got squished!”
“Ah, he’s fine!” Akaashi chuckled as he petted the owl’s head, who huffed.
“You know how he is, Butternut.”
“Hoot.” The owl agreed while he turned to watch the father and son.