{ONESHOT} You're my rhinoceros [PART 2]
Ryo had no idea how to look after a child. He realised this as he was standing in the doorway, waving goodbye to Yoshiko as her car drove away down the street.
“What should we do now?” she asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Ryo cast a look over to the stack of wooden planks that now sat on his doorstep, and sighed.
“I suppose I should set your bed up, huh,” he said, and she nodded happily, rushing forward to grab the smallest pieces she could carry.
The bed was difficult to set up; it was old, so it came with no instructions. Ryo spent most of the time cursing Yoshiko for dumping Yuki with him, for being a horrible grandmother who apparently didn’t have enough time or money to take care of her anymore. “So she leaves her grandchild with a complete stranger…” Ryo muttered, cursing as two of the wooden panels fell on his foot.
“Grandma is going to come and see me every day,” Yuri said, sitting cross-legged on the floor and handing Ryo screws he didn’t need. “That’s what she said.”
“Did she now,” Ryo murmured, eyebrows furrowed as he realised he had just attached the foot of the bed upside-down. “Fuc-dge. Fudge. I meant to say fudge.” Ryo was going to have to learn to swear less.
“What do you like, Nishikido-san?” Yuki asked suddenly, giving up on handing Ryo things and resorting to playing with her braids.
“Huh?”
“Do you like cookies, or butterflies, or unicorns?” she asked, holding up her stuffed toy. Ryo just stared.
“No.”
“…oh.”
They were quiet for a while, as Ryo struggled with the bed frame, and Yuki hugged her unicorn. “What’s for lunch?”
“…lunch?” Ryo looked over to her, then down to his watch. It read 7.30 in the afternoon. Ryo leapt up, and rushed to the kitchen, flinging open cupboards to see what he had to give her. There was nothing in the cupboard, and barely anything adequate for a child to eat in the fridge. The loaf of bread he had was turning green.
“Can I have fairy bread?” Yuki asked, clambering up onto a stool and swinging her legs.
“Uuh… no…” Ryo answered distractedly. He didn’t even know what fairy bread was. “Alright, let’s just order something…”
He detached one of the flyers from the fridge and looked over to Yuki. “What do you want for dinner?”
“I don’t mind,” she said politely, looking completely bored with this conversation now.
“What do kids have for dinner...” he mumbled to himself. Then-“Did you have lunch?” When Yuki shook her head, his eyes went wide. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“You were busy,” she said.
“I knew it! I knew I would forget to feed you-where’s my phone?” Ryo practically flew about the kitchen, until he found his phone stashed under a pile of bills. “Jin? Jin! What do small children eat?” he asked into the receiver.
“I…what?” came the fuzzy answer.
“Kids, Jin! What do they eat for dinner?”
“Wh…Ryo, it’s three in the morning over here.”
“I don’t give a shit; now tell me!”
“Ugh-just… why don’t you just get takeout?” Jin said, and promptly hung up.
Ryo sighed and slammed the phone down, glaring at it as if Jin could feel his anger across the sea in America. “I’ll get pizza, then.”
Yuki looked confused as Ryo dialled the number into his phone and pressed it to his ear. He cast her a look, before focusing on the voice in his ear, and ordered two pizzas for the both of them.
“Pizza should be here in about twenty minutes,” he said, slumping against the kitchen bench. Yuki nodded. “What time do you go to bed?”
“Grandma says that I have to go to sleep at eight-thirty,” she explained. “And dinner is at six.”
“…whoops.” Ryo chuckled. “We should probably finish your bed, then.”
They spent the next half an hour trying to finish the bed - the pizza was running late - and Ryo actually managed to get it set up. It looked out of place in his study, bright purple against stark whites and greys, but he was proud of himself for finally finishing it. It only took him a few hours.
The doorbell rang and he ran to answer it before Yuki could, practically slamming the door in the delivery guy’s face before he could see her. He didn’t need rumours right now. Not after that bitch took those photos of him and sold him out to Friday. He never liked her, anyway.
“Dinner’s here!” he called, and Yuki came running out of the room, eagerly sitting at the table and looking up at him.
“Should I get plates?” she asked, and Ryo paused.
“Uuh. Yeah. Sure,” he answered, and she bounded into the kitchen, fishing around in the cupboards for the things she needed. Ryo normally just ate the thing from the box.
Yuki placed two plates on the table, pressing her hands together before taking a piece from the box. “Are you eating too, Nishikido-san?” she asked, in that tiny voice of hers.
“Yes, sorry,” he said, rushing to grab a slice of pizza. He watched as she wrinkled her nose a little, carefully removing the pieces of mushroom on the top of the pizza. “You don’t like mushrooms?”
She froze, slowly looking up at him. “Is…is that okay?” she asked, worriedly.
Ryo rushed to answer. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I don’t like fish,” he shared, and laughed at the way her eyes widened.
“No fish? What do you eat, then?”
“Food,” he answered, far too used to these kinds of questions. She seemed to think that his answer was adequate, and continued to pick at her pizza. They finished quickly, and a quarter of the second pizza was thrown into the fridge for lunch tomorrow.
If Ryo remembered it.
“Is it bedtime yet?” Yuki yawned. Ryo nodded, glancing at the time.
“Yeah, let’s get you to bed.”
She changed herself into her pyjamas, her unicorn tucked under her arm as she clambered into the bed. Ryo really hoped he had tightened those screws enough. Yuki wiggled under the covers, and smiled up at him. “Goodnight, Nishikido-san,” she said sleepily, her eyes already closing.
“Goodnight, Yuki.”
An hour later, Ryo had Jin screaming in his ear, demanding to know about this child that Ryo was looking after. Ryo hung up on him.
>>><<<
The next few days were madness. Ryo had to tell Johnny, who just sat there with this expression caught between amusement and anger. Johnny didn’t say that much normally, and he just kind of nodded at Ryo, who supposed that he wasn’t in too much trouble.
Which was strange, because he’d gotten into trouble for merely sneezing one day. But that was Takizawa’s fault, and they never mentioned it again.
Ryo had to drag Yuki around with him when he was at work, leaving her in the dressing room as he had photos taken and was interviewed. She didn’t seem to mind much, too distracted by her colouring book, but Ryo felt his mind wandering as the photographer barked orders at him, telling him to focus.
Was she okay? Was she still in the room he left her in? Was Yoko still in there with h--
Oh God. Why did he leave her with Yoko.
“Yokoyama!” he yelled, when he was finally done, rushing down the hallway and wrenching the door open, “What have you done?!”
“I haven’t done anything!” Yoko screeched, eyes wide. “Was I meant to have done something?!”
“Nishikido-san!” Yuki said happily, waving. “Yokoyama-san helped me colour in!”
Ryo ignored both of them, marching over to her book and flipping through it.
No penises. Good.
“This is… pretty good, Yuki…” he said, supposing he should say something about the horrid colouring. He didn’t know why Rapunzel had badly drawn antlers atop her head, or why her chameleon was bright pink.
“Yokoyama-san did that page,” she explained, and Yoko beamed. Ryo stared. “I did this page!”
“Well, that… that is actually quite good,” Ryo said, impressed. Then, “You take after your father.”
His eyes widened - he didn’t mean to say that; it had just slipped out; what was he thinking - but then Yuki was grinning up at him, her eyes shining happily, and his heart calmed.
Yoko clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re sweet, kid,” he said, leaning down to ruffle Yuki’s already messy hair, “But I colour better than you do.”
Yuki glared up at him. “She has green hair. And red skin,” she said. Ryo snorted. His kid had attitude.
Yoko looked down at her for a while. “Yep, that settles it,” he sighed, walking out of the room.
“Settles what?”
“She’s definitely your kid.”
PART 3