Nagase's family stories (Part 34)
“Tomo!”
“Yes, Kazu?” Nagase asked as he looked at the boy at the table. Kazu was swinging his legs slightly as he nibbled on the top of the pen he was using to copy the letters he had to learn for school today. “Do you have any problems?”
“It doesn’t look the same,” he mumbled and pointed at the letter ‘N’ he was writing.
Nagase chuckled and ruffled his hair. “It’s turned around,” he explained and then carefully showed him how to do it right until Kazu grinned happily at him and continued to write about the new set of pencils Satoshi had gotten the day before and the picture he had drawn for him of Yuki.
Nagase smiled and dropped a kiss to the top of his hair as he stretched. “I should start with lunch. Are you okay staying behind, or do you want to move your things to the kitchen?” he asked.
“I will finish here. I’m big. I can work in an office!” Kazu declared with a toothy grin, and Nagase nodded in agreement. He left to check on Satoshi for a second, but the boy was focused on a virtual lesson and waved him away without even looking up.
Nagase grinned, thinking for a second to barge in fully but then deciding that it was too early in the homeschooling sessions to embarrass Satoshi like other parents had probably already done either on purpose or without. He was just glad that Satoshi got along with the new kind of lessons and was not necessarily thriving through it but dealing with it well. For Kazu, he sometimes already feared the moment the boy would have to go back to school and into a whole classroom since he did so well to be able to do things at his own pace and in silence. But that was something they could deal with later. There was nothing to change it now, after all.
He hummed as he prepared the sauce for lasagna and doubled it. The sauce was great with pasta, and he could freeze it for times he didn’t feel like cooking or could not cook. He prepared the vegetables and was about to cut up the onions and mushrooms when Kazu entered the kitchen.
“I finished! I finished before the timer pinged!!!” he yelled and wrinkled his nose. “No onions. I don’t like them,” he said with a pout.
“You like them in pasta sauce,” Nagase disagreed. “You don’t like them in salads where I won’t put them.”
“Onions hurt,” Kazu said and climbed on the chair to check the rest. His eyes brightened at the minced meat. He liked that in all variations. “What are we eating?”
“Lasagna. I will make a big pot of pasta sauce,” Nagase explained and washed his hands.
Kazu smiled and hummed the song Masaki had sung on their last call and then gasped. “Tomo, you wanna read my diary?”
“If you want me to.”
“I changed my ‘n’. They are the right way now,” he explained. “But it might be boring for you to read. You saw the picture already.”
“I still will read it happily if you allow me to do so.”
Kazu smiled and nodded. He would like that. “Now?”
“After I put the lasagna in the oven. Do you want to help?”
“Can I video call with Masaki?”
“On Saturday,” Nagase said with a smile. “Until then, you have to wait since Masaki is busy with school as well.”
“Oh… But okay. He told me that he wanted to show me a video! We will watch something together,” he grinned. “I wonder if it is again a song. The last one was fun.”
“You were giggling like madly at least,” Nagase said with a chuckle. It had been amusing to hear all the laughter and giggles coming suddenly from his office where Kazu was chatting with Masaki. They had agreed on him being in a room on his own to have all the privacy he needed to feel comfortable to catch up with Masaki.
Nagase had checked on the boy since he had wanted to make sure they didn’t do anything wrong (and of course, to make sure that nothing bad happened. He always tried to make their online experience as secure as possible, but he knew that there were some very strange people out there).
Kazu had almost fallen off the chair because he laughed so hard before he jumped off and whatever they watched started again. Nagase had checked on the screen to see a boy group singing and doing a little dance that the boys had copied. From the explanations later, he had gathered that it was a song for washing their hands, and since then, he had been humming it every time he had to wash his hands or watched others do so.
“Then, I help?” Kazu offered and sat properly on the chair. “I can cut the tomatoes?”
Nagase hummed and agreed as he pulled out another set of knives and cutting boards for the boy to cut the fresh tomatoes he added to the sauce while cutting the carrots and onions. Kazu was then allowed to cut the zucchini and mushrooms while he started to brown the meat. Once that was finished, Kazu helped fill the baking dish with the lasagna and then watched a cartoon while Nagase checked on his work. Not that he would force Kazu to redo any of it if there were minor mistakes. The only time one of the boys had to redo work was when Nagase could see they had been too lazy to do it properly.
And that did not mean that they had to redo stuff if there was a good reason why the work ended up the way it was. When he came up, Kazu looked up curiously, and he smiled.
“You did well,” Nagase praised, chuckling when Kazu hid his happy face behind a cushion before looking back at the TV. For a while, Nagase settled down beside him, smiling when Kazu snuggled up to him with a happy sigh. Nagase ruffled his hair since he was just glad that the boy trusted him so much that he didn’t even think twice about coming close to him.
-
“Thank you for agreeing to stay,” Nagase said with a sigh as Samantha entered their home. She squatted down to greet Yuki and ruffled his fur with a chuckle.
“Sure, I told you already on the phone it’s fine. I can stay and help out, however.”
“Yeah, but I thought that you only had to deal with Kazu for a few hours during the afternoons,” he sighed. “Not a whole Saturday.”
She shrugged and stood to kiss his cheek to calm him down. “It’s fine, I agreed, and you don’t have to feel bad. It’s not as if I had planned anything for today or as if they are hard to look after. Hell, they are grown enough to look after themselves mostly,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
Nagase sighed and closed his eyes for a second. He knew she was right in a way, and he knew that they had already talked so much about the children and them, but still, somehow, it was scary to ask her for so much when they did not live together yet. But that was again primarily due to the pandemic now, and because of how slow and careful Nagase wanted to be with the boys. Maybe he did too much to make sure not to stress them or traumatise them again, but it was hard to change that.
“It’s not as if I don’t trust you,” he said slowly, and she laughed.
“God, your mind goes to the strangest places. I know. You are just a worrywart and as much as I love your care for all the people around you, try to let it not overwhelm you. We’re going to be fine. I promised Kazu to show him how to play a new song on his keyboard, and Satoshi asked if we could make pizza for dinner and have a movie night if you need to stay out for longer than you thought. Which is fine with me… Even if it is a bit scary to bake pizza in your high-tech oven.”
Nagase snorted and cupped her face to kiss her again. “Just try to turn it on and not just the cleaning cycle, or nothing will get cooked,” he teased her.
“Kazu has a video call with Masaki in around thirty minutes. Remind him and maybe help him if he can’t start it properly. He sometimes still has problems with that. Satoshi has probably gone back to sleep after Kazu dragged him out for breakfast and a walk with Yuki at seven am.”
“Poor boy,” Samantha laughed. “Having to be up early on his free weekend.”
Nagase smirked but then nodded as he went to the living room to remind Kazu to listen to Samantha and that he was gone now for work. Kazu nodded and waved at him before concentrating back on the cartoons he was watching, now patting Yuki, who had followed them to find his master, and Nagase rolled his eyes. Weekends were slow for them, and it was okay but also a little bit funny if he compared it to their regular days.
Samantha chuckled, and Nagase left after another kiss before getting to the case he was suddenly called in. He usually wouldn’t have agreed, but the boy had been one of his cases early on and trusted Nagase to help him out, and Nagase wanted only the best for him.
Samantha sighed as she rechecked the clock and decided to prepare herself a coffee and clean the kitchen a bit before ushering Kazu to the office so that he could talk with his friend.
A/N: Okay, end it here for now… Maybe more about the pizza baking and all in the next chapter.
“Yes, Kazu?” Nagase asked as he looked at the boy at the table. Kazu was swinging his legs slightly as he nibbled on the top of the pen he was using to copy the letters he had to learn for school today. “Do you have any problems?”
“It doesn’t look the same,” he mumbled and pointed at the letter ‘N’ he was writing.
Nagase chuckled and ruffled his hair. “It’s turned around,” he explained and then carefully showed him how to do it right until Kazu grinned happily at him and continued to write about the new set of pencils Satoshi had gotten the day before and the picture he had drawn for him of Yuki.
Nagase smiled and dropped a kiss to the top of his hair as he stretched. “I should start with lunch. Are you okay staying behind, or do you want to move your things to the kitchen?” he asked.
“I will finish here. I’m big. I can work in an office!” Kazu declared with a toothy grin, and Nagase nodded in agreement. He left to check on Satoshi for a second, but the boy was focused on a virtual lesson and waved him away without even looking up.
Nagase grinned, thinking for a second to barge in fully but then deciding that it was too early in the homeschooling sessions to embarrass Satoshi like other parents had probably already done either on purpose or without. He was just glad that Satoshi got along with the new kind of lessons and was not necessarily thriving through it but dealing with it well. For Kazu, he sometimes already feared the moment the boy would have to go back to school and into a whole classroom since he did so well to be able to do things at his own pace and in silence. But that was something they could deal with later. There was nothing to change it now, after all.
He hummed as he prepared the sauce for lasagna and doubled it. The sauce was great with pasta, and he could freeze it for times he didn’t feel like cooking or could not cook. He prepared the vegetables and was about to cut up the onions and mushrooms when Kazu entered the kitchen.
“I finished! I finished before the timer pinged!!!” he yelled and wrinkled his nose. “No onions. I don’t like them,” he said with a pout.
“You like them in pasta sauce,” Nagase disagreed. “You don’t like them in salads where I won’t put them.”
“Onions hurt,” Kazu said and climbed on the chair to check the rest. His eyes brightened at the minced meat. He liked that in all variations. “What are we eating?”
“Lasagna. I will make a big pot of pasta sauce,” Nagase explained and washed his hands.
Kazu smiled and hummed the song Masaki had sung on their last call and then gasped. “Tomo, you wanna read my diary?”
“If you want me to.”
“I changed my ‘n’. They are the right way now,” he explained. “But it might be boring for you to read. You saw the picture already.”
“I still will read it happily if you allow me to do so.”
Kazu smiled and nodded. He would like that. “Now?”
“After I put the lasagna in the oven. Do you want to help?”
“Can I video call with Masaki?”
“On Saturday,” Nagase said with a smile. “Until then, you have to wait since Masaki is busy with school as well.”
“Oh… But okay. He told me that he wanted to show me a video! We will watch something together,” he grinned. “I wonder if it is again a song. The last one was fun.”
“You were giggling like madly at least,” Nagase said with a chuckle. It had been amusing to hear all the laughter and giggles coming suddenly from his office where Kazu was chatting with Masaki. They had agreed on him being in a room on his own to have all the privacy he needed to feel comfortable to catch up with Masaki.
Nagase had checked on the boy since he had wanted to make sure they didn’t do anything wrong (and of course, to make sure that nothing bad happened. He always tried to make their online experience as secure as possible, but he knew that there were some very strange people out there).
Kazu had almost fallen off the chair because he laughed so hard before he jumped off and whatever they watched started again. Nagase had checked on the screen to see a boy group singing and doing a little dance that the boys had copied. From the explanations later, he had gathered that it was a song for washing their hands, and since then, he had been humming it every time he had to wash his hands or watched others do so.
“Then, I help?” Kazu offered and sat properly on the chair. “I can cut the tomatoes?”
Nagase hummed and agreed as he pulled out another set of knives and cutting boards for the boy to cut the fresh tomatoes he added to the sauce while cutting the carrots and onions. Kazu was then allowed to cut the zucchini and mushrooms while he started to brown the meat. Once that was finished, Kazu helped fill the baking dish with the lasagna and then watched a cartoon while Nagase checked on his work. Not that he would force Kazu to redo any of it if there were minor mistakes. The only time one of the boys had to redo work was when Nagase could see they had been too lazy to do it properly.
And that did not mean that they had to redo stuff if there was a good reason why the work ended up the way it was. When he came up, Kazu looked up curiously, and he smiled.
“You did well,” Nagase praised, chuckling when Kazu hid his happy face behind a cushion before looking back at the TV. For a while, Nagase settled down beside him, smiling when Kazu snuggled up to him with a happy sigh. Nagase ruffled his hair since he was just glad that the boy trusted him so much that he didn’t even think twice about coming close to him.
-
“Thank you for agreeing to stay,” Nagase said with a sigh as Samantha entered their home. She squatted down to greet Yuki and ruffled his fur with a chuckle.
“Sure, I told you already on the phone it’s fine. I can stay and help out, however.”
“Yeah, but I thought that you only had to deal with Kazu for a few hours during the afternoons,” he sighed. “Not a whole Saturday.”
She shrugged and stood to kiss his cheek to calm him down. “It’s fine, I agreed, and you don’t have to feel bad. It’s not as if I had planned anything for today or as if they are hard to look after. Hell, they are grown enough to look after themselves mostly,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
Nagase sighed and closed his eyes for a second. He knew she was right in a way, and he knew that they had already talked so much about the children and them, but still, somehow, it was scary to ask her for so much when they did not live together yet. But that was again primarily due to the pandemic now, and because of how slow and careful Nagase wanted to be with the boys. Maybe he did too much to make sure not to stress them or traumatise them again, but it was hard to change that.
“It’s not as if I don’t trust you,” he said slowly, and she laughed.
“God, your mind goes to the strangest places. I know. You are just a worrywart and as much as I love your care for all the people around you, try to let it not overwhelm you. We’re going to be fine. I promised Kazu to show him how to play a new song on his keyboard, and Satoshi asked if we could make pizza for dinner and have a movie night if you need to stay out for longer than you thought. Which is fine with me… Even if it is a bit scary to bake pizza in your high-tech oven.”
Nagase snorted and cupped her face to kiss her again. “Just try to turn it on and not just the cleaning cycle, or nothing will get cooked,” he teased her.
“Kazu has a video call with Masaki in around thirty minutes. Remind him and maybe help him if he can’t start it properly. He sometimes still has problems with that. Satoshi has probably gone back to sleep after Kazu dragged him out for breakfast and a walk with Yuki at seven am.”
“Poor boy,” Samantha laughed. “Having to be up early on his free weekend.”
Nagase smirked but then nodded as he went to the living room to remind Kazu to listen to Samantha and that he was gone now for work. Kazu nodded and waved at him before concentrating back on the cartoons he was watching, now patting Yuki, who had followed them to find his master, and Nagase rolled his eyes. Weekends were slow for them, and it was okay but also a little bit funny if he compared it to their regular days.
Samantha chuckled, and Nagase left after another kiss before getting to the case he was suddenly called in. He usually wouldn’t have agreed, but the boy had been one of his cases early on and trusted Nagase to help him out, and Nagase wanted only the best for him.
Samantha sighed as she rechecked the clock and decided to prepare herself a coffee and clean the kitchen a bit before ushering Kazu to the office so that he could talk with his friend.
A/N: Okay, end it here for now… Maybe more about the pizza baking and all in the next chapter.