Songs for Daddy- Chapter 33: The Answer (part 2)
Back to part 1: here
Several hours later, long after Emiko should had been in bed, a tired, ruffled Hiruma returned to his apartment. Cleaning things up with Anezaki had been awkward and then there was the whole missed dinner thing and needing to eat that resulted in him getting home at a pretty damn late hour. The apartment was pretty quiet, only a little noise coming from the living room. So Hiruma had taken his time taking off his shoes and walked slowly into the living room, hiding most of his tiredness.
Priceless was the expression Hiruma found himself wearing when he saw what had become of Juumonji’s evening. The poor man had, for some reason, been forced into a pair of Hiruma’s favorite pants, ones that were pretty tight on Hiruma and Juumonji was several sizes bigger than him. The security officer also had a Devil Bat mascot crudely painted on his forehead in... lipstick? And the final insult was that he’d been tangled (or was it tied poorly?) in baby pink yarn. Emiko, on the other hand, was shirtless and bouncing up and down on the couch very quickly, her arms flailing rapidly, and her face smiling in a very satisfied way. All this while Chizue, the dog, was hiding underneath the coffee table whimpering about something or another.
So much for paying Juumonji and going to bed quietly.
“Help?” Juumonji asked, looking desperate. Considering his current predicament, he probably was.
Hiruma simply signaled him to wait. “Emiko, what did you eat today?”
“Oh hi Papa!” Emiko squealed, noticing her dad for the first time, “Juumonji-san got us ‘pizza’ and he let me have one of his ‘cinnamon stix’ with extra frosting and he let me play dress up and we got to draw and we watched a football game and I got to stay up until you came home!” The last part of that was uttered in one breath.
Sugar. He gave her sugar.
Fuck.
“Emiko, I need you to wash up, okay?” Hiruma asked her gently.
“Okay Papa!” Emiko smiled and ran down the house, laughing as she went.
“S-sorry…!” Juumonji apologized, expecting that Hiruma was going to kick his ass now.
“You weren’t firm with her,” Hiruma observed as he started in on the yarn, “you gave her sugar, you let her stay up late, and somehow you got into my pants....” The last part probably involved breaking the laws of physics.
Juumonji just laid down there and took it, knowing that Hiruma was more than right. Working quickly, Hiruma finished removing Juumonji from the yarn in silence. He wanted Juumonji to reflect on all the stupid shit he’d gotten handed to him because he couldn’t follow Hiruma’s instructions.
“Now I’m going to try and put Emiko to bed. You have that time to clean up and get back into your own clothes.” Hiruma left an unspoken remark about the consequences of not listening to instructions now. It was better left unspoken because it involved a lot of swearing and choice words about certain parts of Juumonji’s anatomy and what Hiruma planned to do to them with his guns and the knives in the kitchen.
Juumonji only nodded once and waddled as best as he could into Hiruma’s bedroom to retrieve his own clothes. On the other hand, Hiruma went into the bathroom to check on Emiko. She had just finished brushing her teeth and was now rinsing when Hiruma came in. Her entire form was shaking up and down, jittery because of the sugar. Sugar had always had a strong effect on Hiruma and, he had physical scars to testify to this, it also had had an amazing effect on Chizue. This was why Hiruma tried to avoid giving Emiko sugary things; it always resulted in her being jittery and jumpy.
Not that Juumonji had known that. Something Hiruma didn’t blame the man for, he probably thought the sugar was just to try and keep her from developing a sweet tooth or something. No, the no sugar was to keep Emiko’s already somewhat hyperactive behavior down at a minimum.
“Papa!” Emiko smiled at him. She did it all by herself! She’s a big girl now!
“Emiko.” Hiruma smiled and pulled his girl into a hug. She was getting so big on him, it was scary. Despite her jitters, she was happy in that hug with him. Hiruma pulled away gently and looked at Emiko.
“It’s time for bed now.” Hiruma told her. Emiko only frowned.
“But I’m not tired.” Emiko protested.
“You’ve been up an extra three hours, you need to go to bed or you won’t grow up to be big and strong.” Hiruma told Emiko firmly. “We have an early day tomorrow.”
“Papa!” Emiko frowned. She didn’t want to go bed, it didn’t make any sense. Papa was here now; couldn’t she spend some more time with him?
With a sigh, Hiruma shook his head and picked Emiko up. She squirmed, not really wanting the contact at this time. Having gotten more than used to Emiko’s squirming, Hiruma expertly carried her into her bedroom where he set her down on the bed.
“Emiko, I’m not happy with what I found when I came home.” Hiruma told his daughter seriously. “Juumonji is an old friend of mine and I found him tied up and wearing my clothes. He was looked really unhappy and in pain.”
Emiko’s frown only deepened. “But Juumonji-san wanted to play dress up with me and there aren’t any other clothes here that fit-!”
“-Emiko you didn’t ask me if you could use my clothes to play dress up.” Hiruma told her.
“But you weren’t here!” Emiko protested. “I can’t ask you if you’re not here!”
“Then assume the answer is ‘no’.” Hiruma told her. “I did not like that Juumonji was wearing my pants. He doesn’t fit into them and now they might have stretched or broke so that they don’t fit me anymore.”
Emiko felt horrible. She knew Papa really liked those pants too.
“And why did he have a Devil Bat on his forehead?” Hiruma asked.
“Make-up was part of dress up, Grandma said so.” Emiko explained. “So I put make-up on him.”
“Did he say it was okay?” Hiruma asked.
“Yes.” Emiko nodded. “Trouble?”
“Not for that.” Hiruma assured her. “And why was he tied up in yarn?”
“I was showing him my knitting.” Emiko answered. “Then Chizue started running around barking and uh, Juumonji-san fell and rolled around….” She was working really hard to tell Papa what happened. Hiruma ran a hand through his hair, tired.
“You’re not in trouble for that either then. But you still have to go to bed now.” Hiruma told her firmly.
“Papa!” Emiko’s eyes were watering slightly.
“You’re tried and cranky, I’m tired and cranky, we both need sleep.” Hiruma told her. “I’m going to bed in just a minute okay?”
“O-okay.” Emiko sniffled then started to put on her pajamas. Once she was in them she crawled into bed and Papa tucked her in and kissed her goodnight. Emiko shut her eyes and tried to sleep, but she couldn’t. So she sat there and daydreamed, hoping that would help.
Hiruma left Emiko’s room and came into the living room where Juumonji was now sitting, clean, dressed in his clothes, and looking like he was about to be executed.
“I heard all about your evening.” Hiruma announced as he stepped into the room.
“D-did you now?” Juumonji asked, sweating bullets. Emiko was a sweet girl, but she was definitely Hiruma’s child. And to think that Hiruma was probably wrapped around that little girl’s finger-!
“What possessed you to agree to playing dress up?” Hiruma asked, giving Juumonji a look that clearly expressed that Juumonji’s sanity was currently in question.
“Don’t you play that with kids?” Juumonji asked back. He’s not that familiar with kid games, so sue him.
“I don’t usually wind up with lipstick on my forehead and in pants several sizes too small when I do.” Hiruma retorted dryly. “You don’t strike me as the type to like girly games like that anyways.”
“Wait- did you just tell me that you’ve actually played dress up?” Juumonji was staring at Hiruma, a bit disturbed by the notion.
“It’s more her asking me to put on my old football uniform than me dressing up.” Hiruma clarified. “And besides that she doesn’t have a mom to play with.”
Though Hiruma had said it so casually, ‘mom’ was an extremely sensitive subject for him, Juumonji could tell. He had heard from Takekura and Kurita that Hiruma’s own mother had died when he was young and Hiruma’s late wife was probably another sensitive subject. So Juumonji didn’t blame Hiruma for not putting his heart into that statement entirely.
“So what were you doing?” Juumonji asked. He was pretty curious because Hiruma had been dressed extremely nicely and now his clothes were in a state of complete disarray.
“Anyone else would have given up on me with the shit I pulled.” Hiruma muttered, looking at the ceiling tiredly. Anezaki hadn’t held what happened against him. In fact he got kissed again a few times before their night was over, but it hadn’t made it any less awkward for him; mostly because Chizue’s presence was in the back of his mind again.
“Shit you pulled?” Juumonji frowned. Now that didn’t sound like Hiruma. “What happened?”
Hiruma shut his eyes. “Almost fucked her without birth control.”
Juumonji’s eyes widened. He knew exactly what woman Hiruma had gone and seen. Emiko had told him all about her new mom all evening and that her Papa was going to go see her.
“Almost did that once myself,” Juumonji confessed, earning a confused glance from Hiruma, “my girlfriend bit my dick pretty good for that….”
Hiruma looked away to hide his disturbed and scared expression. He’s trying not to remember the last time Chizue had gotten her mouth near his gentiles, there are scars there to this day.
“I don’t blame you for being a little hasty though,” Juumonji went on, “I mean, you haven’t gotten any action in six years. Baldy’s got a more active sexual life.”
“Rub it in and I’m going to hold what happened tonight against you.” Hiruma growled.
“Okay, okay!” Juumonji put up his hands in surrender. Hiruma remained slightly irritated.
“I came here to find some answers.” Juumonji admitted after a few moments.
“Did you find them?” Hiruma asked, knowing full well what Juumonji was thinking.
“Not any of the ones I had been coming for but,” Juumonji looked at Hiruma, “I found the answers I needed to know.”
Hiruma only raised an eyebrow.
“I understand why you wanted to protect her.” Juumonji explained. Emiko was insanely smart and just adorable. She’d grow into a brilliant and beautiful woman who would have complete control over her life if nothing bad happened along the way.
“And I know that you want to make everything work,” Juumonji added, “and just so you know, I’ve got your back if you need me to.”
Hiruma turned and looked at Juumonji carefully. The man had been in security a long time and a lineman even longer. He still trusted Hiruma as a leader after all of this.
“Here’s your money.” Hiruma handed Juumonji a small sum of cash. “And be safe on your way back.”
Juumonji was shocked to hear Hiruma wishing him to be safe.
“What fucking good is a protector that gets himself into trouble?” Hiruma asked Juumonji with an annoyed look. Obviously his reasons for saying such things should be obvious.
“Not much.” Juumonji admitted sheepishly. “Goodnight then, Hiruma.”
“Goodnight.”
_=_=_=_=_
Done. Holy crap. It’s done.