[fic] Second Chance - extra one-shot
Title: Second Chance - Side One-shot
Pairing: Akame
Rating: PG-13
Summary: one-shot side story to Second Chance. Tatsuya, Junno, Ryo and Pi go on vacation - leaving Kazuya and Jin in the care of Kusano and Uchi. And even only on the first day, the two children can manage to exhaust, confuse and amuse their babysitters.
Date finished: Feburary 17, 2009
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This was originally written for quinnsan's birthday =P
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Not for the first time, Tatsuya glanced apprehensively at the neat pile of papers and booklets on the table. He looked up when he heard footsteps padding into the room and couldn’t suppress the smile that crossed his face at the sight of his grandson fitted in pyjamas, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
“Tat-tat…” Kazuya mumbled, ambling over and expertly climbing onto Tatsuya’s lap. Soon, he was sitting against his grandfather’s chest and looking up with a thumb in his mouth.
“Kazu-chan?”
“Ju-Ju woke Kazu up” Kazuya said almost accusingly, “Tat-tat. Kazu want sleep”
Tatsuya chuckled, “Still sleepy Kazu-chan?”
Kazuya nodded, “Tell Ju-Ju t’leave Kazu ‘lone Tat-tat” he demanded imploringly.
“What makes you think I can?” Tatsuya asked, incredibly amused.
“Tat-Tat is Tat-Tat” Kazuya said with a shrug.
Tatsuya wasn’t quite sure if that was a compliment or not, but he laughed as he stroked a strand of Kazuya’s hair away from his eyes, “You can’t go back to sleep yet today Kazu-chan”
Kazuya’s lips immediately turned into a pout, “Why?” he demanded indignantly. Despite how it may have sounded if said by an adult, coming from the two year old’s lips, it merely sounded adorable.
“Don’t you remember what Ju-Ju and I talked to you about every night last week?” Tatsuya asked, shifting Kazuya so that he was facing Tatsuya, “About what’s happening today?”
Then again, he might not remember seeing as he had been distracted by the mention of Jin right after Tatsuya had finished explaining. It was highly likely that Kazuya had forgotten the conversation only a few moments after they had had it in favour of Jin.
Kazuya pouted as he blinked, obviously trying to remember what Tatsuya was even talking about.
Then he brightened.
“Jin-Jin!”
“…not quite” Tatsuya laughed, “But kind of close. Before that”
“Umm…” Kazuya mumbled as he put a thumb in his mouth, “Tat-Tat said…hole day?”
“Holiday” Tatsuya said with no little amusement.
“Oh” Kazuya just blinked. There was an expression on his face as he looked up at Tatsuya that plainly said ‘do I have to ask or are you going to explain it to me?’
“It means” Tatsuya said, lifting Kazuya up in his arms to bring him back upstairs, “Junno, Ryo, Yamapi and I are going to be going on a little trip”
He stopped in front of the door to his room where he saw Junno sulking a little as he tried to finish packing his bag. Obviously, he was a bit upset that Kazuya had gotten upset at him for waking him up. With a shake of his head and a grin, Tatsuya walked into the room, setting Kazuya on the large bed. Junno looked up curiously, listening as he added more things to their bags.
“Trip?” Kazuya asked.
“We’re going on a plane” Tatsuya said, “To a place across the ocean”
“Kazu go too!” Kazuya said excitedly.
Tatsuya winced, patting Kazuya on the head, “No, we explained this already Kazu-chan. You’re staying here”
“No plane?” Kazuya asked quietly.
“No plane. You get to stay here and play with your toys” he said brightly, wondering how the two year old could forget all the conversations they had to prepare him for this all week. They knew how Kazuya would react to not being able to go on the plane, or the fact that he would be separated from his grandfather - and the other three main adults in his life - for what would have seemed to Kazuya like months when it was really just a few weeks.
“But Kazu want to go too” Kazuya said with a pout adorning his lips.
“Kazu-chan” Tatsuya said firmly, “I know you remember talking about this all week. You can’t come, because we’ll be going somewhere where babies and little children won’t have fun. All you’d be able to do is stay at the day care in the hotel, and that’s no fun”
“But Kazu want Tat-Tat” Kazuya said sweetly.
Tatsuya swiftly and vigorously cursed Ryo in his head. That kind of thing had to have been taught by the smirking Osaka man. Resisting the urge to just melt and give into the baby, Tatsuya looked at the toddler who was staring up at him with hopeful eyes.
He turned to Junno, “You try” and swiftly took over the task of packing.
Junno gave a startled, “What?” as he turned to Tatsuya, “But you’re better than I am at making him do things he doesn’t want to!” he whined for a moment. Then realizing that Tatsuya wasn’t listening, Junno turned with a hopeful smile at Kazuya, “You don’t want to spend all your time in a stuffy hotel daycare do you Kazu-chan?”
“Kazu want to go with Tat-tat ‘n Ju-Ju! JU-JU!!!” he declared, flinging himself at Junno and looking up with pleading eyes, “Kazu go too?”
Junno had a panicked expression on his face, “I’m sorry Kazu-chan, but you really won’t have fun on this trip. We’ll be doing old people things” he said, trying to make the toddler feel better, “You’ll have much more fun here”
“Kazu want to go!!!!” the two year old began to cry, tears welling up in his eyes, “Noooo! Kazu go too!”
Junno winced as he tried to calm the baby down.
“Tat-tat!!! Tat-taaaaaat!!!!”
Tatsuya sighed as he walked over.
“Kazu-chan, you’ll have more fun here. Jin isn’t going either. And you have Akira here, and your daycare and your toys. You can’t bring all your toys on the plane you know”
“Then - then Tat-Tat ‘n Ju-Ju no go! Stay with Kazu!” Kazuya sniffled, looking up hopefully, “Stay with Kazu!”
“Kazu-chan, you’re being unreasonable” Tatsuya said sternly in his ‘I’m the adult so listen to me’ voice, “We’ve talked about this all week. No more crying”
Kazuya stilled, and then he hiccupped.
Then, the baby shot an angry and teary look at him before he turned his head away hand and dove beneath the covers and hid there, refusing to look at them. A lump that was obviously Kazuya moved from the edge of the bed to the middle, the blankets covering him as he sat presumably with his back facing the adults.
Tatsuya blinked and stared at the lump and patted it gently. Maybe he had been a little too stern. But really - they had been preparing Kazuya all week for this, and he knew the toddler understood. He was just upset that he didn’t get to go on the airplane too. It wasn’t like this was the first time Kazuya had stayed overnight without Tatsuya and Junno. Although, granted, that had been only just one night, while this time it was two weeks. And that time, Ryo and Pi had been the babysitters, who were really just like a second set of grandparents to Kazuya with how much time they spent with Kazuya. Alright, so it was a completely different situation, but Kazuya had never let his clinginess for his grandparents get in the way of having fun. In fact, when Jin was around, that clinginess never even existed.
“Kazu-chan, you get to go play with Notti and Uchi”
A sniffle.
“And you get to play with your friends at daycare, like Akira and Hari”
The lump hiccupped.
Tatsuya sighed, “Jin will be there”
There was another sniffle but to the adults’ relief, the lump began to move and a small head poked itself out of the covers, “JinJin?” Kazuya asked in a tiny voice.
* * *
It was almost nine o’clock when the doorbell rang. Kusano and Uchi both perked up, eyes lighting as they looked at each other and proceeded to run from the living room to the front door of the apartment. Flinging the door open, Uchi came upon the sight of Jin standing there, a bag nearly his size next to him. He looked up with curiosity at Uchi and Kusano, and then looked at Ryo who was standing behind him.
“Ri-Ri said we were going to Kazu” Jin scowled accusingly, “They’re not Kazu. They’re Notti and Roki-Roki” he pointed.
Ryo sighed and patted the four year old’s head, “I said Kazu was going to be here” he corrected Jin, “Of course Notti and Uchi aren’t Kazu. Don’t be rude Jin”
Jin pouted, “But Jin got up early ‘cause Jin wanted to see Kazu”
“You won’t have to wait long” Yamapi said as he lugged a second bag into view. Uchi blinked at the two huge bags that Jin supposedly needed for a two week long stay.
“I just saw them park their car downstairs”
Jin perked up, “Kazu!” he chanted excitedly, running around his bag and then jumping up and down on the ground. Kusano couldn’t help but grin at that, especially when Ryo let out a sigh.
“You’ve sighed a lot today Ryo-chan; missing him already?” he teased.
Ryo threw him a glare, “Am not. I…I’m just wondering where he gets all that energy from” he said turning his head. Behind him, Pi rolled his eyes and sent Kusano and Uchi a ‘don’t believe a word he says’ look. The two younger ones grinned at each other, knowing very well that Ryo would probably start crying and denying that he was crying once they were in the airport.
Jin suddenly let out an excited screech of, “Kazu-chan!!!!!”
He ran straight for the two adults and the baby who were heading in their direction. Junno had a tired expression on his face and it looked as though his hair had been pulled at least once by a certain baby in Tatsuya’s arms who was pouting up at Junno.
Ryo snickered, “What happened to you?”
“Kazuya didn’t take kindly to being told that not only wasn’t going to be on the plane, he wasn’t even going to get to go to the airport to see the plane take off”
Pi laughed as he patted Kazuya on the head, “Kazu-chan, who’s that looking up at you like you’re made of chocolate?” he pointed down at Jin, who was looking up at Kazuya with wide, shining eyes. Ryo made a choking sound at his question.
Kazuya, however, beamed instantly, “JinJin!” he called happily, trying to reach Jin, “Down Tat-Tat!” he demanded. Tatsuya rolled his eyes at the sudden change in mood and put his grandson down.
It was to a chorus of ‘awww’ - although Ryo would of course deny that he had done it - that Jin immediately hugged the baby.
“You know, you’d think it’s been two years since they saw each other instead of two days” Pi remarked.
“You and your chocolate analogy are not allowed to talk” Ryo retorted.
Uchi laughed, “They’re so cute!” he declared, looking at the two children who blinked innocently back at him..
Kusano nodded in agreement as he leaned down to talk to the children, “Are you excited to stay over?” he asked, grinning at them.
Jin looked pensive as he nodded, “I like sleepovers” he declared, “’specially ones with Kazu”
Kazuya pouted at Kusano, “Kazu wanted t’go with Tat-Tat ‘n Ju-Ju” he sighed in a suffering tone. But seeing Kusano’s face fall, he beamed and hugged the man, “But Kazu glad Kazu is staying with Notti and Roki-Roki!” he squealed, “Can we go to the fun park again?” he asked happily remembering the last time Kusano and Uchi had babysat.
Kusano beamed, “Of course! Anything you want Kazu-chan. Let’s go put your stuff away okay?” he asked, grabbing one of Jin’s bags and Kazuya’s bag. The two children giggled as they followed Kusano, running around him as he dragged the heavy bags further into the apartment.
Uchi merely looked amused, “His face went from delighted to disappointed to delighted again in three seconds flat”
“Kazu-chan has that effect on people” Ryo said dryly, “You should try watching Jin’s face next time”
Uchi grinned, “I’ll keep that in mind” he glanced at the last bag of Jin’s, “And you know, I’d have thought Kazuya would be the one to more bags, as well as bigger bags, not Jin”
“You forget who packs the bags” Ryo rolled his eyes, jabbing a finger in the direction of Pi, “Overreacting and overprotective and panics a lot” he then pointed at Tatsuya, “Reasonably overprotective and doesn’t panic”
“Hey!” Pi protested.
Uchi grinned, “I notice you didn’t include yourself in the bag packing Ryo-chan”
“Of course not. Why would I ever do something like that?”
Pi grinned, “Don’t believe him” he whispered conspiratorially, “He spent four hours yesterday helping Jin pack his toys”
Uchi snickered and Ryo pointedly glared at Pi.
Tatsuya shook his head in amusement, “As interesting as the image of Nishikido packing a four year old’s toys for four hours is…we should get going if we want to make that flight” he said glancing at his watch, “Let’s go say goodbye to the children” he suggested.
Not even Uchi in his excitement at being able to baby-sit for two whole weeks could miss the slight hitch in the older man’s voice. Obviously, it wasn’t only going to be the children who wanted to cry once the adults left. Of course, this was probably going to be the longest time that they would be apart, something new for both sides.
He shot Tatsuya a sympathetic look, “We’ll take good care of him, don’t worry”
Tatsuya nodded absently before calling out for Kazuya. It wasn’t long before small running feet could be heard.
“Tat-Tat!” Kazuya said, face flushed with happiness, “Notti and Roki-Roki have bunk bed for Kazu and JinJin!” he said bouncing around happily, “JinJin gonna sleep in top bunk but - Notti showed Kazu how to climb up!”
Tatsuya raised an eyebrow.
“It was cheap and looked fun in the display” Notti said defensively at the eyebrow.
Uchi laughed, “What’re you talking about, ‘it looked fun’? You tested it out for half an hour before you came looking for me to convince me to buy it”
Notti grinned sheepishly.
“Kazu-chan, it’s time to say goodbye to Tat-Tat and Junno now” Uchi said gently, “They’ll be back in two weeks, okay?”
Kazuya stilled and then nodded solemnly. Then he flung himself at Tatsuya, who picked him up easily. Kazuya’s lip quivered as he hugged Tatsuya’s neck, “Notti said Kazu should tell Tat-Tat t’have a safe trip. Have a safe trip Tat-Tat” he mumbled.
And Tatsuya melted at that, smiling as Kazuya hugged Junno as well, mumbling a, “Kazu’ll miss Ju-Ju too”
Then, to resist the urge to just drag Kazuya to the airport and bring him on the trip with them anyways, the two of them said a, “Be good” to Kazuya as they hugged him and then left the apartment with a goodbye to Uchi and Kusano. The two babysitters smiled understandingly, watching as Ryo said a gruff “don’t be a brat, okay?” to Jin, while Pi began to list the top ten things Jin was not allowed to do or even think about doing, for good measure in case the four year old ‘forgot’ since half an hour ago. Then, he grabbed Jin in a hug and tried to dismiss the urge to bring Jin with them. In the end, Tatsuya and Junno had to come back into the apartment to drag Ryo and Pi out again.
Then, it was the two adults and the two children left in the apartment. Both Jin and Kazuya stared up at the two adults, and Kazuya’s lips began to quiver as he realized his grandfather was gone and wouldn’t be back for two weeks.
Trying to divert the crisis of Kazuya crying, Kusano quickly grinned, “Park?”
Kazuya blinked, his lips stopped quivering and both children squealed, “Park!”
* * *
It had probably been a very good idea to suggest something fun to do to distract the two children from their grandparents’ departure. Kusano grinned as he watched Jin racing toward the swings, where Kazuya had ambled to and the four year old was shouting, “No Kazu! I’ll help! JinJin wants to help!” he said, trying to stop Kazuya from climbing onto the swing himself.
Kazuya paused, glancing at Jin, “’kay” he agreed, waiting for Jin to get there.
Jin beamed.
“They are so cute” Kusano found himself repeating for what must have been the tenth time that day. Next to him, Uchi grinned, “C’mon” he pointed, “There’s some free swings next to them”
Kusano looked delighted as he ran for the swings as well. The two children looked up curiously as Kusano sat on the swing next to him.
“Notti swing-swing?” Kazuya asked in surprise and curiosity. Uchi grinned as he stood behind Kazuya’s swing and pushed the swing gently, “Notti’s like a little kid Kazu-chan”
“Hey!” Kusano protested.
“Higher~” Kazuya giggled at Uchi, who happily obliged. Jin pouted for a moment, wishing he’d thought of pushing Kazuya but then he turned pleading eyes on Kusano, “Me too?”
Two seconds later, he was squealing happily as Kusano got off his swing and started pushing him. Jin started yelling out to Kazuya that he was getting higher.
“Higher, higher!” Kazuya called insistently in return, “Beat JinJin, Roki-Roki!”
Uchi exchanged a grin with Kusano, “A competition it is” he said, giving Kazuya another light push, “Blow JinJin and Notti a victory kiss Kazu”
Kazuya looked confused but did it anyways.
“Hey! You haven’t won yet” Kusano protested, pushing Jin to go faster as well. The two adults stared at each other determinedly before concentrating on making the children’s swings go faster. The two children, of course, were absolutely delighted and squealing happily.
“I won! Um…I mean Jin won!” Kusano quickly corrected himself.
“Not fair” Uchi sulked, “Kazu’s two years younger and it was dangerous to let him go any higher”
From where he was safely being held in Uchi’s arms as they walked back to the apartment (after many cries of “Nooooo! Park! Park!!! Want park!!”), Kazuya gave a muffled, “Kazu can so go higher!”
The two year old jutted his lips out, “Let’s do swing-swing again!” he clapped delightedly, “Beat JinJin this time Roki-Roki!” he wheedled.
Uchi grinned, “Nice try, Kazu-chan. We’re not going back to the park today”
Kazuya pouted.
Seeing Kazuya pout, Jin pouted as well.
Kusano merely laughed at the expression on Uchi’s face, “Still can’t deal with crying or pouting children Hiroki?”
This time, Uchi started to pout as well.
Kusano only laughed harder at that.
* * *
“They’re cute”
This time, it was Uchi.
Kusano grinned, “I know; how many times have you said it?”
“How many times have you said it?” Uchi shot back as he leaned against Kusano. They were both standing in the frame of the doorway to the guest room, which for the next two weeks would be dubbed the ‘children’s room’. The children in question were taking a nap.
Or more precisely, Kazuya had climbed up into Jin’s bunk at the top of the bed and had laid down to sleep against Jin while Jin had a pad of paper and a crayon in his hand and was slowly starting to drift off as well.
Obviously, Jin would find it very hard to finish his ‘surprise’ for Kazuya before the baby woke up.
Kusano couldn’t help the ‘aww’ as Jin finally fell asleep as well. The pad of paper was on his stomach and the crayon was lost somewhere under the blankets. Kazuya buried himself deeper into Jin’s side, murmuring a, “JinJin” as he did.
“So cute”
It was Kusano this time.
“We should probably be doing something other than watching them obsessively while they sleep” Uchi commented idly, but he made no move to leave the room.
“We should” Kusano agreed with a nod.
There was a long pause in which both of them sighed just a little as they watched the children.
“We’re not going to move are we?”
“Probably not”
“We speak to no one about this”
“Yeah, I don’t want to see the look on Ryo’s face if he finds out we did this”
“Huh?”
“Well, after all the teasing I gave him about how he would just stand there and watch Jin sleep in his crib after Jin started living with Yamapi and Ryo - do you think he’ll ever stop teasing us?”
“We teased him about how he kinda did that with Kazuya too. That ‘watching Jin to make sure he didn’t fall into the crib and crush the baby’ thing was so a lie”
“Everyone knew that”
“Except Ryo-chan”
“Poor Ryo-chan. He’ll never figure out why we spent those months smiling at him like that every time he walked into a room. He thought we were pranking him”
“Poor Ryo-chan”
Then the two promptly started burst out laughing, hands covering their mouths, muffling the laughter. Kusano buried his head in Uchi’s as his shoulders shook from the memory of Ryo’s confusion and confusion induced yelling at the time.
When they calmed down, they let out a content sigh again. Kazuya took that moment to fling his little leg across Jin’s stomach. Then, his thumb found its way to his mouth.
“So cute”
“…we’re never going to leave”
“…I want a baby”
* * *
The good thing about children that young was that they didn’t find it strange at all to have adults there already after they woke up from sleeping. It was as though children that young thought it was normal to have their parents, grandparents, great uncle twice removed, or whoever else standing there possibly watching them as they slept.
Which, luckily for Kusano and Uchi, was probably the reason Jin never got into the habit of calling them ‘weirdos’ each time they babysat.
When his eyes opened, Jin sat up blearily and then fell back onto the bed again when he realized there was a leg on his stomach. Then he looked over in confusion and smiled when he saw that Kazuya was using him as a teddy bear in his sleep. A small fist was even clutching at Jin’s shirt.
“Kazu-chan” Jin whispered.
Kazuya made a whimpering sound, “No wakey” he mumbled, burying him face deeper into Jin’s side, “Too early. Go ‘way Ju-Ju”
Neither adult had any doubt that Kazuya had learned those words and picked up his reluctance to get up from Tatsuya.
“Kazu” Jin whined, trying again.
Ears perking up at the voices, Kusano and Uchi quickly made the way over to the bunk bed, “Kazu-chan” they joined in on Jin’s wheedling.
“Go ‘way!” Kazuya muttered irritably, “Ju-Ju no wakey Kazu”
“It’s not Junno, Kazu-chan” Uchi tried to point out. Kazuya rolled over in his sleep, eyes scrunched as he tried to stay asleep but failing. Letting out a cross between a frustrated cry and an angry wail, a little fist shot out in the direction of what was waking him up.
And thus, hit Uchi right on the nose.
“Ow!” Uchi couldn’t help but cry out. Little fist or not, it hurt to be hit on the nose.
Kazuya’s eyes fluttered open reluctantly at the loud shout. Jin’s eyes widened in surprise and he looked between Kazuya and Uchi. Uchi stumbled back, holding his nose. Kusano blinked. Then, Kazuya blinked as well, before his eyes widened in shock as he stared at Uchi.
Then there was a loud noise as Kazuya burst into tears two seconds later, “Kazu sorry Roki-Roki!” he wailed, “Kazu sorry! Kazu sorry!” he cried, rubbing his eyes as he apologized.
“It’s okay” Uchi managed to say, although it was a bit muffled as he had a hand clamped on his nose. It wasn’t as though the baby could hit hard yet but any blow on the nose would still hurt, as Uchi found out quickly.
“KAZU SORRY!” Kazuya cried in distress at hurting Uchi, “KAZU REALLY SORRY!”
Jin, seeing Kazuya cry, began to hug the baby and started sniffling out of sympathy too.
“Kazu is sorry Roki-Roki, don’t be mad at Kazu?” Jin said loudly as he hugged Kazuya tighter.
Kazuya gave an incomprehensible wail.
“Kazu didn’t mean it!” Jin added, obviously interpreting Kazuya’s wail correctly for the baby nodded with a hiccup. Despite the crying, Kusano couldn’t help a feeling of amusement rush through him. Jin, the Kazuya translator. Then it was followed by panic, “Oh crap - I mean…oh…no…Kazu’s crying Hiroki!”
“I...” the older man had a hand clamped over his nose still, “Know. Crap - I mean…ughh, it hurts and Kazu’s crying! And it - Notti, do something” Uchi cried in panic as the baby’s cries grew louder.
“What do I do?” Kusano asked frantically.
“I don’t know - calm him down!”
Kusano picked Kazuya up easily. Jin began climbing down from the bunk bed in concern at his crying best friend.
“Don’t cry Kazu-can, don’t cry” Kusano pleaded, bouncing the baby up and down in his arms. Kazuya wailed. Neither adult could understand what he said.
“Kazu said he’s sorry that he hit Roki-Roki; he didn’t mean to. It was an accident” Jin piped up, “Kazu-chan, no cry. Notti says Roki-Roki not mad!”
Another incomprehensible wail.
“Yes, JinJin is sure!” Jin said crossly, “Roki-Roki not mad! Roki-Roki’s being like Pi-Pi and not knowing what to do when Kazu cries”
Kazuya’s wails began to fade, turning into sniffles.
Unbeknownst to that, the two adults were still panicking, “He’s crying - I don’t know what to do” Kusano wailed in a manner very similar to Kazuya, “Hiroki, do something!”
Before Uchi could retort, there was a tug on Kusano’s leg. Kusano looked down to see Jin peering up at him.
“JinJin made Kazu-chan stop crying. Kazu-chan’ll want cookies now after crying. Can we get cookies?”
The two men stared in bewilderment at each other, at Kazuya who had indeed stopped crying, and at Jin who was blinking curiously up at them.
“…oh…” Kusano said weakly, “Good job Jin”
Uchi, with his hand still clamped over his nose, remarked, “Now I know why Ryo wanted a rotating schedule of babysitters instead of just two people when we suggested that we’d babysit”
“Because you and I are absolutely useless when they cry?”
“Yeah, that…”
“Cookies!” Jin squealed, which was followed by Kazuya giggling.
“But they’re so cute”
* * *
It was at nine o’clock that night that the two adults collapsed onto the couches in the living room.
“They’re asleep?” Uchi asked, mumbling into Kusano’s shoulder.
“Yeah”
“I didn’t know kids could have that much energy” Uchi muttered, “No wonder Ryo-chan always beats me at tennis”
Kusano couldn’t help but laugh, “I don’t think that’s the reason why”
“What’re we doing tomorrow then?”
Kusano shrugged, “Take them to the mall?”
“…you do remember the last time we did that”
“…right, not the mall then. I don’t want Ryo and Tat-Tat yelling ‘cause we lost them when they ran off by themselves to look at something pretty”
“Let’s…” Uchi was cut off by a yawn, “Just wing it”
“Yeah…” Kusano agreed, yawning as well. They tiredly made their way back to their bedroom and quickly changing into pyjamas, collapsed onto the bed.
“Hiroki?” Kusano’s voice broke the silence.
“Hmm?”
“I still want a baby though”
Uchi laughed softly, hitting the younger man with a pillow, “Just go to sleep. Then you can tell me about any possible illegitimate grandchildren you might have. I might forgive you if they’re young enough to be cute” he teased.
“Hmm, I was hoping you were the one with illegitimate grandchildren”
“You wish”
“Oh, I do wish. I wish for a cute grandbaby”
“Too bad Tat-Tat would kill us if we tried to kidnap Kazuya”
“Yeah, and Ryo would maim us and then kill us if we tried to kidnap Jin”
“Plan B?”
“You mean Plan: baby-sit as much as possible even if we suck at calming them down when they cry?”
“Yeah, that plan”
“I like that plan”
“Me too”
“…I still want a baby...”
“Oh, go to sleep” Uchi said but he was grinning, “You know they’re gonna exhaust us tomorrow”
Kusano grinned back, knowing Uchi was right. It was going to be a long and exhausting week, if today was anything to go by. Kusano had no doubt, however, if today was anything to go by, there would be a lot more ‘awww’ moments, which was why they always volunteered to baby-sit at every chance they got.
“Great, can’t wait” he announced. It wasn’t long before the exhaustion caught up to him and he fell asleep, a grin on his face.
Uchi was almost asleep when he felt Kusano’s hand grab his in his sleep, holding it tightly. A content smile was on his face as he fell asleep.
The adults would be very amused later in the morning when they went to check on the children to find Kazuya in Jin’s bed in this exact position, the children’s hands clasped together just like theirs were right now.
--- END ----
Pairing: Akame
Rating: PG-13
Summary: one-shot side story to Second Chance. Tatsuya, Junno, Ryo and Pi go on vacation - leaving Kazuya and Jin in the care of Kusano and Uchi. And even only on the first day, the two children can manage to exhaust, confuse and amuse their babysitters.
Date finished: Feburary 17, 2009
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This was originally written for quinnsan's birthday =P
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Not for the first time, Tatsuya glanced apprehensively at the neat pile of papers and booklets on the table. He looked up when he heard footsteps padding into the room and couldn’t suppress the smile that crossed his face at the sight of his grandson fitted in pyjamas, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
“Tat-tat…” Kazuya mumbled, ambling over and expertly climbing onto Tatsuya’s lap. Soon, he was sitting against his grandfather’s chest and looking up with a thumb in his mouth.
“Kazu-chan?”
“Ju-Ju woke Kazu up” Kazuya said almost accusingly, “Tat-tat. Kazu want sleep”
Tatsuya chuckled, “Still sleepy Kazu-chan?”
Kazuya nodded, “Tell Ju-Ju t’leave Kazu ‘lone Tat-tat” he demanded imploringly.
“What makes you think I can?” Tatsuya asked, incredibly amused.
“Tat-Tat is Tat-Tat” Kazuya said with a shrug.
Tatsuya wasn’t quite sure if that was a compliment or not, but he laughed as he stroked a strand of Kazuya’s hair away from his eyes, “You can’t go back to sleep yet today Kazu-chan”
Kazuya’s lips immediately turned into a pout, “Why?” he demanded indignantly. Despite how it may have sounded if said by an adult, coming from the two year old’s lips, it merely sounded adorable.
“Don’t you remember what Ju-Ju and I talked to you about every night last week?” Tatsuya asked, shifting Kazuya so that he was facing Tatsuya, “About what’s happening today?”
Then again, he might not remember seeing as he had been distracted by the mention of Jin right after Tatsuya had finished explaining. It was highly likely that Kazuya had forgotten the conversation only a few moments after they had had it in favour of Jin.
Kazuya pouted as he blinked, obviously trying to remember what Tatsuya was even talking about.
Then he brightened.
“Jin-Jin!”
“…not quite” Tatsuya laughed, “But kind of close. Before that”
“Umm…” Kazuya mumbled as he put a thumb in his mouth, “Tat-Tat said…hole day?”
“Holiday” Tatsuya said with no little amusement.
“Oh” Kazuya just blinked. There was an expression on his face as he looked up at Tatsuya that plainly said ‘do I have to ask or are you going to explain it to me?’
“It means” Tatsuya said, lifting Kazuya up in his arms to bring him back upstairs, “Junno, Ryo, Yamapi and I are going to be going on a little trip”
He stopped in front of the door to his room where he saw Junno sulking a little as he tried to finish packing his bag. Obviously, he was a bit upset that Kazuya had gotten upset at him for waking him up. With a shake of his head and a grin, Tatsuya walked into the room, setting Kazuya on the large bed. Junno looked up curiously, listening as he added more things to their bags.
“Trip?” Kazuya asked.
“We’re going on a plane” Tatsuya said, “To a place across the ocean”
“Kazu go too!” Kazuya said excitedly.
Tatsuya winced, patting Kazuya on the head, “No, we explained this already Kazu-chan. You’re staying here”
“No plane?” Kazuya asked quietly.
“No plane. You get to stay here and play with your toys” he said brightly, wondering how the two year old could forget all the conversations they had to prepare him for this all week. They knew how Kazuya would react to not being able to go on the plane, or the fact that he would be separated from his grandfather - and the other three main adults in his life - for what would have seemed to Kazuya like months when it was really just a few weeks.
“But Kazu want to go too” Kazuya said with a pout adorning his lips.
“Kazu-chan” Tatsuya said firmly, “I know you remember talking about this all week. You can’t come, because we’ll be going somewhere where babies and little children won’t have fun. All you’d be able to do is stay at the day care in the hotel, and that’s no fun”
“But Kazu want Tat-Tat” Kazuya said sweetly.
Tatsuya swiftly and vigorously cursed Ryo in his head. That kind of thing had to have been taught by the smirking Osaka man. Resisting the urge to just melt and give into the baby, Tatsuya looked at the toddler who was staring up at him with hopeful eyes.
He turned to Junno, “You try” and swiftly took over the task of packing.
Junno gave a startled, “What?” as he turned to Tatsuya, “But you’re better than I am at making him do things he doesn’t want to!” he whined for a moment. Then realizing that Tatsuya wasn’t listening, Junno turned with a hopeful smile at Kazuya, “You don’t want to spend all your time in a stuffy hotel daycare do you Kazu-chan?”
“Kazu want to go with Tat-tat ‘n Ju-Ju! JU-JU!!!” he declared, flinging himself at Junno and looking up with pleading eyes, “Kazu go too?”
Junno had a panicked expression on his face, “I’m sorry Kazu-chan, but you really won’t have fun on this trip. We’ll be doing old people things” he said, trying to make the toddler feel better, “You’ll have much more fun here”
“Kazu want to go!!!!” the two year old began to cry, tears welling up in his eyes, “Noooo! Kazu go too!”
Junno winced as he tried to calm the baby down.
“Tat-tat!!! Tat-taaaaaat!!!!”
Tatsuya sighed as he walked over.
“Kazu-chan, you’ll have more fun here. Jin isn’t going either. And you have Akira here, and your daycare and your toys. You can’t bring all your toys on the plane you know”
“Then - then Tat-Tat ‘n Ju-Ju no go! Stay with Kazu!” Kazuya sniffled, looking up hopefully, “Stay with Kazu!”
“Kazu-chan, you’re being unreasonable” Tatsuya said sternly in his ‘I’m the adult so listen to me’ voice, “We’ve talked about this all week. No more crying”
Kazuya stilled, and then he hiccupped.
Then, the baby shot an angry and teary look at him before he turned his head away hand and dove beneath the covers and hid there, refusing to look at them. A lump that was obviously Kazuya moved from the edge of the bed to the middle, the blankets covering him as he sat presumably with his back facing the adults.
Tatsuya blinked and stared at the lump and patted it gently. Maybe he had been a little too stern. But really - they had been preparing Kazuya all week for this, and he knew the toddler understood. He was just upset that he didn’t get to go on the airplane too. It wasn’t like this was the first time Kazuya had stayed overnight without Tatsuya and Junno. Although, granted, that had been only just one night, while this time it was two weeks. And that time, Ryo and Pi had been the babysitters, who were really just like a second set of grandparents to Kazuya with how much time they spent with Kazuya. Alright, so it was a completely different situation, but Kazuya had never let his clinginess for his grandparents get in the way of having fun. In fact, when Jin was around, that clinginess never even existed.
“Kazu-chan, you get to go play with Notti and Uchi”
A sniffle.
“And you get to play with your friends at daycare, like Akira and Hari”
The lump hiccupped.
Tatsuya sighed, “Jin will be there”
There was another sniffle but to the adults’ relief, the lump began to move and a small head poked itself out of the covers, “JinJin?” Kazuya asked in a tiny voice.
* * *
It was almost nine o’clock when the doorbell rang. Kusano and Uchi both perked up, eyes lighting as they looked at each other and proceeded to run from the living room to the front door of the apartment. Flinging the door open, Uchi came upon the sight of Jin standing there, a bag nearly his size next to him. He looked up with curiosity at Uchi and Kusano, and then looked at Ryo who was standing behind him.
“Ri-Ri said we were going to Kazu” Jin scowled accusingly, “They’re not Kazu. They’re Notti and Roki-Roki” he pointed.
Ryo sighed and patted the four year old’s head, “I said Kazu was going to be here” he corrected Jin, “Of course Notti and Uchi aren’t Kazu. Don’t be rude Jin”
Jin pouted, “But Jin got up early ‘cause Jin wanted to see Kazu”
“You won’t have to wait long” Yamapi said as he lugged a second bag into view. Uchi blinked at the two huge bags that Jin supposedly needed for a two week long stay.
“I just saw them park their car downstairs”
Jin perked up, “Kazu!” he chanted excitedly, running around his bag and then jumping up and down on the ground. Kusano couldn’t help but grin at that, especially when Ryo let out a sigh.
“You’ve sighed a lot today Ryo-chan; missing him already?” he teased.
Ryo threw him a glare, “Am not. I…I’m just wondering where he gets all that energy from” he said turning his head. Behind him, Pi rolled his eyes and sent Kusano and Uchi a ‘don’t believe a word he says’ look. The two younger ones grinned at each other, knowing very well that Ryo would probably start crying and denying that he was crying once they were in the airport.
Jin suddenly let out an excited screech of, “Kazu-chan!!!!!”
He ran straight for the two adults and the baby who were heading in their direction. Junno had a tired expression on his face and it looked as though his hair had been pulled at least once by a certain baby in Tatsuya’s arms who was pouting up at Junno.
Ryo snickered, “What happened to you?”
“Kazuya didn’t take kindly to being told that not only wasn’t going to be on the plane, he wasn’t even going to get to go to the airport to see the plane take off”
Pi laughed as he patted Kazuya on the head, “Kazu-chan, who’s that looking up at you like you’re made of chocolate?” he pointed down at Jin, who was looking up at Kazuya with wide, shining eyes. Ryo made a choking sound at his question.
Kazuya, however, beamed instantly, “JinJin!” he called happily, trying to reach Jin, “Down Tat-Tat!” he demanded. Tatsuya rolled his eyes at the sudden change in mood and put his grandson down.
It was to a chorus of ‘awww’ - although Ryo would of course deny that he had done it - that Jin immediately hugged the baby.
“You know, you’d think it’s been two years since they saw each other instead of two days” Pi remarked.
“You and your chocolate analogy are not allowed to talk” Ryo retorted.
Uchi laughed, “They’re so cute!” he declared, looking at the two children who blinked innocently back at him..
Kusano nodded in agreement as he leaned down to talk to the children, “Are you excited to stay over?” he asked, grinning at them.
Jin looked pensive as he nodded, “I like sleepovers” he declared, “’specially ones with Kazu”
Kazuya pouted at Kusano, “Kazu wanted t’go with Tat-Tat ‘n Ju-Ju” he sighed in a suffering tone. But seeing Kusano’s face fall, he beamed and hugged the man, “But Kazu glad Kazu is staying with Notti and Roki-Roki!” he squealed, “Can we go to the fun park again?” he asked happily remembering the last time Kusano and Uchi had babysat.
Kusano beamed, “Of course! Anything you want Kazu-chan. Let’s go put your stuff away okay?” he asked, grabbing one of Jin’s bags and Kazuya’s bag. The two children giggled as they followed Kusano, running around him as he dragged the heavy bags further into the apartment.
Uchi merely looked amused, “His face went from delighted to disappointed to delighted again in three seconds flat”
“Kazu-chan has that effect on people” Ryo said dryly, “You should try watching Jin’s face next time”
Uchi grinned, “I’ll keep that in mind” he glanced at the last bag of Jin’s, “And you know, I’d have thought Kazuya would be the one to more bags, as well as bigger bags, not Jin”
“You forget who packs the bags” Ryo rolled his eyes, jabbing a finger in the direction of Pi, “Overreacting and overprotective and panics a lot” he then pointed at Tatsuya, “Reasonably overprotective and doesn’t panic”
“Hey!” Pi protested.
Uchi grinned, “I notice you didn’t include yourself in the bag packing Ryo-chan”
“Of course not. Why would I ever do something like that?”
Pi grinned, “Don’t believe him” he whispered conspiratorially, “He spent four hours yesterday helping Jin pack his toys”
Uchi snickered and Ryo pointedly glared at Pi.
Tatsuya shook his head in amusement, “As interesting as the image of Nishikido packing a four year old’s toys for four hours is…we should get going if we want to make that flight” he said glancing at his watch, “Let’s go say goodbye to the children” he suggested.
Not even Uchi in his excitement at being able to baby-sit for two whole weeks could miss the slight hitch in the older man’s voice. Obviously, it wasn’t only going to be the children who wanted to cry once the adults left. Of course, this was probably going to be the longest time that they would be apart, something new for both sides.
He shot Tatsuya a sympathetic look, “We’ll take good care of him, don’t worry”
Tatsuya nodded absently before calling out for Kazuya. It wasn’t long before small running feet could be heard.
“Tat-Tat!” Kazuya said, face flushed with happiness, “Notti and Roki-Roki have bunk bed for Kazu and JinJin!” he said bouncing around happily, “JinJin gonna sleep in top bunk but - Notti showed Kazu how to climb up!”
Tatsuya raised an eyebrow.
“It was cheap and looked fun in the display” Notti said defensively at the eyebrow.
Uchi laughed, “What’re you talking about, ‘it looked fun’? You tested it out for half an hour before you came looking for me to convince me to buy it”
Notti grinned sheepishly.
“Kazu-chan, it’s time to say goodbye to Tat-Tat and Junno now” Uchi said gently, “They’ll be back in two weeks, okay?”
Kazuya stilled and then nodded solemnly. Then he flung himself at Tatsuya, who picked him up easily. Kazuya’s lip quivered as he hugged Tatsuya’s neck, “Notti said Kazu should tell Tat-Tat t’have a safe trip. Have a safe trip Tat-Tat” he mumbled.
And Tatsuya melted at that, smiling as Kazuya hugged Junno as well, mumbling a, “Kazu’ll miss Ju-Ju too”
Then, to resist the urge to just drag Kazuya to the airport and bring him on the trip with them anyways, the two of them said a, “Be good” to Kazuya as they hugged him and then left the apartment with a goodbye to Uchi and Kusano. The two babysitters smiled understandingly, watching as Ryo said a gruff “don’t be a brat, okay?” to Jin, while Pi began to list the top ten things Jin was not allowed to do or even think about doing, for good measure in case the four year old ‘forgot’ since half an hour ago. Then, he grabbed Jin in a hug and tried to dismiss the urge to bring Jin with them. In the end, Tatsuya and Junno had to come back into the apartment to drag Ryo and Pi out again.
Then, it was the two adults and the two children left in the apartment. Both Jin and Kazuya stared up at the two adults, and Kazuya’s lips began to quiver as he realized his grandfather was gone and wouldn’t be back for two weeks.
Trying to divert the crisis of Kazuya crying, Kusano quickly grinned, “Park?”
Kazuya blinked, his lips stopped quivering and both children squealed, “Park!”
* * *
It had probably been a very good idea to suggest something fun to do to distract the two children from their grandparents’ departure. Kusano grinned as he watched Jin racing toward the swings, where Kazuya had ambled to and the four year old was shouting, “No Kazu! I’ll help! JinJin wants to help!” he said, trying to stop Kazuya from climbing onto the swing himself.
Kazuya paused, glancing at Jin, “’kay” he agreed, waiting for Jin to get there.
Jin beamed.
“They are so cute” Kusano found himself repeating for what must have been the tenth time that day. Next to him, Uchi grinned, “C’mon” he pointed, “There’s some free swings next to them”
Kusano looked delighted as he ran for the swings as well. The two children looked up curiously as Kusano sat on the swing next to him.
“Notti swing-swing?” Kazuya asked in surprise and curiosity. Uchi grinned as he stood behind Kazuya’s swing and pushed the swing gently, “Notti’s like a little kid Kazu-chan”
“Hey!” Kusano protested.
“Higher~” Kazuya giggled at Uchi, who happily obliged. Jin pouted for a moment, wishing he’d thought of pushing Kazuya but then he turned pleading eyes on Kusano, “Me too?”
Two seconds later, he was squealing happily as Kusano got off his swing and started pushing him. Jin started yelling out to Kazuya that he was getting higher.
“Higher, higher!” Kazuya called insistently in return, “Beat JinJin, Roki-Roki!”
Uchi exchanged a grin with Kusano, “A competition it is” he said, giving Kazuya another light push, “Blow JinJin and Notti a victory kiss Kazu”
Kazuya looked confused but did it anyways.
“Hey! You haven’t won yet” Kusano protested, pushing Jin to go faster as well. The two adults stared at each other determinedly before concentrating on making the children’s swings go faster. The two children, of course, were absolutely delighted and squealing happily.
“I won! Um…I mean Jin won!” Kusano quickly corrected himself.
“Not fair” Uchi sulked, “Kazu’s two years younger and it was dangerous to let him go any higher”
From where he was safely being held in Uchi’s arms as they walked back to the apartment (after many cries of “Nooooo! Park! Park!!! Want park!!”), Kazuya gave a muffled, “Kazu can so go higher!”
The two year old jutted his lips out, “Let’s do swing-swing again!” he clapped delightedly, “Beat JinJin this time Roki-Roki!” he wheedled.
Uchi grinned, “Nice try, Kazu-chan. We’re not going back to the park today”
Kazuya pouted.
Seeing Kazuya pout, Jin pouted as well.
Kusano merely laughed at the expression on Uchi’s face, “Still can’t deal with crying or pouting children Hiroki?”
This time, Uchi started to pout as well.
Kusano only laughed harder at that.
* * *
“They’re cute”
This time, it was Uchi.
Kusano grinned, “I know; how many times have you said it?”
“How many times have you said it?” Uchi shot back as he leaned against Kusano. They were both standing in the frame of the doorway to the guest room, which for the next two weeks would be dubbed the ‘children’s room’. The children in question were taking a nap.
Or more precisely, Kazuya had climbed up into Jin’s bunk at the top of the bed and had laid down to sleep against Jin while Jin had a pad of paper and a crayon in his hand and was slowly starting to drift off as well.
Obviously, Jin would find it very hard to finish his ‘surprise’ for Kazuya before the baby woke up.
Kusano couldn’t help the ‘aww’ as Jin finally fell asleep as well. The pad of paper was on his stomach and the crayon was lost somewhere under the blankets. Kazuya buried himself deeper into Jin’s side, murmuring a, “JinJin” as he did.
“So cute”
It was Kusano this time.
“We should probably be doing something other than watching them obsessively while they sleep” Uchi commented idly, but he made no move to leave the room.
“We should” Kusano agreed with a nod.
There was a long pause in which both of them sighed just a little as they watched the children.
“We’re not going to move are we?”
“Probably not”
“We speak to no one about this”
“Yeah, I don’t want to see the look on Ryo’s face if he finds out we did this”
“Huh?”
“Well, after all the teasing I gave him about how he would just stand there and watch Jin sleep in his crib after Jin started living with Yamapi and Ryo - do you think he’ll ever stop teasing us?”
“We teased him about how he kinda did that with Kazuya too. That ‘watching Jin to make sure he didn’t fall into the crib and crush the baby’ thing was so a lie”
“Everyone knew that”
“Except Ryo-chan”
“Poor Ryo-chan. He’ll never figure out why we spent those months smiling at him like that every time he walked into a room. He thought we were pranking him”
“Poor Ryo-chan”
Then the two promptly started burst out laughing, hands covering their mouths, muffling the laughter. Kusano buried his head in Uchi’s as his shoulders shook from the memory of Ryo’s confusion and confusion induced yelling at the time.
When they calmed down, they let out a content sigh again. Kazuya took that moment to fling his little leg across Jin’s stomach. Then, his thumb found its way to his mouth.
“So cute”
“…we’re never going to leave”
“…I want a baby”
* * *
The good thing about children that young was that they didn’t find it strange at all to have adults there already after they woke up from sleeping. It was as though children that young thought it was normal to have their parents, grandparents, great uncle twice removed, or whoever else standing there possibly watching them as they slept.
Which, luckily for Kusano and Uchi, was probably the reason Jin never got into the habit of calling them ‘weirdos’ each time they babysat.
When his eyes opened, Jin sat up blearily and then fell back onto the bed again when he realized there was a leg on his stomach. Then he looked over in confusion and smiled when he saw that Kazuya was using him as a teddy bear in his sleep. A small fist was even clutching at Jin’s shirt.
“Kazu-chan” Jin whispered.
Kazuya made a whimpering sound, “No wakey” he mumbled, burying him face deeper into Jin’s side, “Too early. Go ‘way Ju-Ju”
Neither adult had any doubt that Kazuya had learned those words and picked up his reluctance to get up from Tatsuya.
“Kazu” Jin whined, trying again.
Ears perking up at the voices, Kusano and Uchi quickly made the way over to the bunk bed, “Kazu-chan” they joined in on Jin’s wheedling.
“Go ‘way!” Kazuya muttered irritably, “Ju-Ju no wakey Kazu”
“It’s not Junno, Kazu-chan” Uchi tried to point out. Kazuya rolled over in his sleep, eyes scrunched as he tried to stay asleep but failing. Letting out a cross between a frustrated cry and an angry wail, a little fist shot out in the direction of what was waking him up.
And thus, hit Uchi right on the nose.
“Ow!” Uchi couldn’t help but cry out. Little fist or not, it hurt to be hit on the nose.
Kazuya’s eyes fluttered open reluctantly at the loud shout. Jin’s eyes widened in surprise and he looked between Kazuya and Uchi. Uchi stumbled back, holding his nose. Kusano blinked. Then, Kazuya blinked as well, before his eyes widened in shock as he stared at Uchi.
Then there was a loud noise as Kazuya burst into tears two seconds later, “Kazu sorry Roki-Roki!” he wailed, “Kazu sorry! Kazu sorry!” he cried, rubbing his eyes as he apologized.
“It’s okay” Uchi managed to say, although it was a bit muffled as he had a hand clamped on his nose. It wasn’t as though the baby could hit hard yet but any blow on the nose would still hurt, as Uchi found out quickly.
“KAZU SORRY!” Kazuya cried in distress at hurting Uchi, “KAZU REALLY SORRY!”
Jin, seeing Kazuya cry, began to hug the baby and started sniffling out of sympathy too.
“Kazu is sorry Roki-Roki, don’t be mad at Kazu?” Jin said loudly as he hugged Kazuya tighter.
Kazuya gave an incomprehensible wail.
“Kazu didn’t mean it!” Jin added, obviously interpreting Kazuya’s wail correctly for the baby nodded with a hiccup. Despite the crying, Kusano couldn’t help a feeling of amusement rush through him. Jin, the Kazuya translator. Then it was followed by panic, “Oh crap - I mean…oh…no…Kazu’s crying Hiroki!”
“I...” the older man had a hand clamped over his nose still, “Know. Crap - I mean…ughh, it hurts and Kazu’s crying! And it - Notti, do something” Uchi cried in panic as the baby’s cries grew louder.
“What do I do?” Kusano asked frantically.
“I don’t know - calm him down!”
Kusano picked Kazuya up easily. Jin began climbing down from the bunk bed in concern at his crying best friend.
“Don’t cry Kazu-can, don’t cry” Kusano pleaded, bouncing the baby up and down in his arms. Kazuya wailed. Neither adult could understand what he said.
“Kazu said he’s sorry that he hit Roki-Roki; he didn’t mean to. It was an accident” Jin piped up, “Kazu-chan, no cry. Notti says Roki-Roki not mad!”
Another incomprehensible wail.
“Yes, JinJin is sure!” Jin said crossly, “Roki-Roki not mad! Roki-Roki’s being like Pi-Pi and not knowing what to do when Kazu cries”
Kazuya’s wails began to fade, turning into sniffles.
Unbeknownst to that, the two adults were still panicking, “He’s crying - I don’t know what to do” Kusano wailed in a manner very similar to Kazuya, “Hiroki, do something!”
Before Uchi could retort, there was a tug on Kusano’s leg. Kusano looked down to see Jin peering up at him.
“JinJin made Kazu-chan stop crying. Kazu-chan’ll want cookies now after crying. Can we get cookies?”
The two men stared in bewilderment at each other, at Kazuya who had indeed stopped crying, and at Jin who was blinking curiously up at them.
“…oh…” Kusano said weakly, “Good job Jin”
Uchi, with his hand still clamped over his nose, remarked, “Now I know why Ryo wanted a rotating schedule of babysitters instead of just two people when we suggested that we’d babysit”
“Because you and I are absolutely useless when they cry?”
“Yeah, that…”
“Cookies!” Jin squealed, which was followed by Kazuya giggling.
“But they’re so cute”
* * *
It was at nine o’clock that night that the two adults collapsed onto the couches in the living room.
“They’re asleep?” Uchi asked, mumbling into Kusano’s shoulder.
“Yeah”
“I didn’t know kids could have that much energy” Uchi muttered, “No wonder Ryo-chan always beats me at tennis”
Kusano couldn’t help but laugh, “I don’t think that’s the reason why”
“What’re we doing tomorrow then?”
Kusano shrugged, “Take them to the mall?”
“…you do remember the last time we did that”
“…right, not the mall then. I don’t want Ryo and Tat-Tat yelling ‘cause we lost them when they ran off by themselves to look at something pretty”
“Let’s…” Uchi was cut off by a yawn, “Just wing it”
“Yeah…” Kusano agreed, yawning as well. They tiredly made their way back to their bedroom and quickly changing into pyjamas, collapsed onto the bed.
“Hiroki?” Kusano’s voice broke the silence.
“Hmm?”
“I still want a baby though”
Uchi laughed softly, hitting the younger man with a pillow, “Just go to sleep. Then you can tell me about any possible illegitimate grandchildren you might have. I might forgive you if they’re young enough to be cute” he teased.
“Hmm, I was hoping you were the one with illegitimate grandchildren”
“You wish”
“Oh, I do wish. I wish for a cute grandbaby”
“Too bad Tat-Tat would kill us if we tried to kidnap Kazuya”
“Yeah, and Ryo would maim us and then kill us if we tried to kidnap Jin”
“Plan B?”
“You mean Plan: baby-sit as much as possible even if we suck at calming them down when they cry?”
“Yeah, that plan”
“I like that plan”
“Me too”
“…I still want a baby...”
“Oh, go to sleep” Uchi said but he was grinning, “You know they’re gonna exhaust us tomorrow”
Kusano grinned back, knowing Uchi was right. It was going to be a long and exhausting week, if today was anything to go by. Kusano had no doubt, however, if today was anything to go by, there would be a lot more ‘awww’ moments, which was why they always volunteered to baby-sit at every chance they got.
“Great, can’t wait” he announced. It wasn’t long before the exhaustion caught up to him and he fell asleep, a grin on his face.
Uchi was almost asleep when he felt Kusano’s hand grab his in his sleep, holding it tightly. A content smile was on his face as he fell asleep.
The adults would be very amused later in the morning when they went to check on the children to find Kazuya in Jin’s bed in this exact position, the children’s hands clasped together just like theirs were right now.
--- END ----