Fic: MxD - Don't Panic Baby!
Title: Don't Panic Baby!
Pairing: MorixDaiki (which is a first)
Summary: This is entirely butterfly_eli's fault for putting the idea of the *pnish* boys babysitting in my head. The first part isn't worksafe (well it starts with Eiji and Daiki in bed) but after that it descends into silly small-child inspired cuteness and is utterly harmless (apart from Tuti's attempt at baking cookies). Oh and I've unashamedly swiped images and fleeting ideas from the guys' blogs, Nacchi's art and Eli's ancedotes. *nods*
Under normal circumstances Daiki never used to like being the first one awake. He hadn’t been one to enjoy lie-ins, much less those enforced by someone else, and had always used to resent being forced to stay still when he could be up and doing things instead. But he’d learned how to appreciate them and so on a day like today, when for once he could look forward and see a blissfully empty day of nothing stretching out ahead of him, there was very little that could tempt him to leave his nice warm bed and the equally warm, softly snoring pillow sprawled on its side beside him.
It was nice to actually be doing nothing for once, to be able to listen to the rain pattering against the window and not be thinking about what a nuisance it was. Instead it was like an extra guarantee, a promise to ward off any unwanted visitors the day might try and bring, and so when the splattering noises from outside grew louder, Daiki could do nothing but grin and hug the pillow beneath him harder.
He was sprawled on his front, head resting on his folded arms with the blanket pulled up to just below his shoulder blades. The arm thrown across his bare back made him feel warmer still and the semi-drowsy state he was in was probably as much down to the sleeper beside him as anything else. A semi-conscious nuzzle of forehead and nose against his bare arm from the head that shared his pillow preceded a rough and clumsy kiss to his shoulder that brought a grin to his face even the layer of stubble that scratched at his skin couldn’t stop. A slide of movement as the hand on his back moved lower, tracing the line of his spine with a precision born of plenty of practice, ignoring the slight resistance the underwear he’d pulled on late last night offered and giving a faint squeeze of his arse as another kiss, just as rough and ungainly as the first, was bumped against his upper arm.
This, Daiki had to admit, was the real reason why he’d learned to love waking up before Eiji. Ever true to his stage-born alter-ego the other man was almost entirely single-minded first thing in the morning, when lingering sleep kept the barriers of politeness and decency down and the dream world was so close to reality they could bleed into one another. Not that this kind of thing didn’t happen plenty of times while they were both fully conscious, the fact they’d both been forced to have an extra shower last night before settling down to proper sleep was testament to that, but there was something sweet about the almost blind movements Eiji made at this time of day. Sweet and tender, demanding and arousing all at the same time.
Which was precisely why Daiki liked to be fully awake to make the most of it.
Right now, making the most of it consisted of shifting slowly onto his side, pulling the other body towards himself as the hand beneath his underwear refused to relinquish its hold. Eiji was fully relaxed and consequently as malleable as a soft toy, allowing Daiki to slide both arms round his torso with a breath and bring them together properly, skin pressed against bare skin as he was infused with a warmth no blanket or heater could replicate. Both Eiji’s hands were on his back now, running over his skin to paint awkward invisible shapes across his back. Daiki let himself respond in kind, fingers tracing idle words and squiggles over Eiji’s back and sides, dancing up the back of his neck to seize a fistful of messy hair just as Eiji nuzzled his neck. Daiki could feel Eiji’s mouth moving over his skin, pressing ever gentler kisses along his jaw as sleep began to tiptoe away. Eyes still peacefully closed, Eiji finally found Daiki’s mouth and covered it with his own, stubborn instinct making him try to couple it with a squirm that was probably supposed to push Daiki onto his back. It might have worked too if it weren’t for the fact that as the more alert of the two, Daiki was encouraging the movement the other way.
After a moment of sleepy tussling Daiki got what he wanted and Eiji’s hands were in his hair as he began marking a line down the other’s neck. He’d just managed to inspire a little moan from his sleepy boyfriend though when he was rudely interrupted.
Sitting up abruptly and blinking in the direction the noise was coming from it took Daiki a moment to realise what he was hearing. Somehow it was Eiji, now propped up on his elbows, who was able to ask ‘Why is your phone ringing?’ when all Daiki could do was stare.
Cursing under his breath as both boyfriend and blanket had to be cast aside in order to locate the source of the irritating noise; Daiki forgot to check whose number it was before he angrily punched the answer button. The voice on the other end, clearly relieved and slightly strained, leapt into an immediate apology without bothering to make the usual polite preamble. Daiki blinked, removed the phone from his ear for long enough to check the display screen before returning to the profuse apology to ask, ‘Mizuki?’
‘I know I said we’d be on time but Hiroki had a nightmare and, well, you know what kids can be like. Anyway, just thought I should phone and say we’re going to be half an hour late. Forty minutes maximum. Gives you a bit of extra time before the little monster breaks down your door.’
Another moment of blinkered bewilderment was shattered when Daiki’s suddenly very alert brain decided to return to him a piece of information it had misplaced up until now due to poor filing.
Today was not a day of empty nothingness.
Today was the day he babysat his four and three-quarter year old nephew while his brother was occupied attending auditions and meetings.
Daiki grimaced at the phone in his hand. ‘Can’t wait.’
***
‘Daiki! DAIKI! Will you quit shoving me? They’re not going to be here for another ten minutes at least.’
‘You don’t understand. This is my nephew we’re talking about. The kid’s great but it’s best I do this on my own unless I…’ Daiki paused in the monologue he’d been conducting more or less nonstop since he’d hung up on his brother earlier. It was so tempting to let Eiji stay, to have another pair of hands to keep Hiroki in line (and eyes to watch the kid when his back was turned) but then again, ‘No, no, you should go.’ He threw a quick glance in the direction of the window as he piled hat, coat, bag and shoes into Eiji’s protesting arms. ‘And it’s still raining. Wonderful.’
‘Look, I don’t see why I can’t stay and lend you a hand, I like kids, I’m good with kids.’
‘This isn’t just any old kid, he’s the only grandson my parents have, he’s everyone’s darling, and if I screw this up I’m - ’
‘Daiki,’ Eiji spun round, dropping his belongings all over the floor so he could grab his boyfriend by the shoulders. ‘Daiki, calm down. It’s just a kid. One kid. You’ve looked after him loads of times before.’ Daiki opened his mouth to protest again but Eiji pressed a few fingers against his lips as he continued, ‘I know you’ve never had to look after him here or for a whole day for that matter. But it’s just one kid and you’re his crazy Uncle Daiki. There is nothing to screw up.’
Silenced, Daiki nodded, trusting in Eiji’s voice more than the words because he could have listened to anyone else say exactly the same thing and still he would have wanted to protest. But not with Eiji. The thought made a small, slightly sheepish smile creep across his face, ‘You’re right. It’s just Hiroki and he’s not that much of a handful.’
***
Daiki had wanted to believe Eiji, he really had, but life or to be more accurate a certain four and three quarter year old Sano Hiroki seemed to have other ideas.
It wasn’t the kid’s fault, not for a moment, because Hiroki was good-natured, bright and had an infectious laugh that echoed off everything (a lot like someone else Daiki could think of). But he was still a kid, a kid who was fairly used to getting the undivided attention of his relatives even if he couldn’t always count on it from his busy parents and Daiki definitely fell into the former category. So did Eiji, who’d been christened Uncle Eiji by the grinning child so quickly Mizuki hadn’t even made it back to his car and gave the three of them a peculiar half-grin as he paused with one hand on the door.
At first there hadn’t been any problems. Hiroki had been dispatched that morning with a rucksack full of books and toys that squeaked and beeped at each other along with a few healthy snacks and a message from his mother not to eat Uncle Daiki out of house and home. Naturally being a kid Hiroki had decided that Uncle Daiki’s toys (in the form of his TV, games consoles and stack of games, half of which belonged to Eiji) were far more interesting than anything he owned and an hour zoomed by as he “helped” Eiji lose a lot of races in various cities of the world before demanding a hybrid geography-history lesson to explain where the famous monuments they kept crashing next to really were.
It was at the precise moment that Daiki was called away by someone at the door that things very slowly began to slip out of Daiki’s control.
The caller was Tuti, which wasn’t really a problem in itself, and he claimed to have left some unnamed invisible thing lying around after their last *pnish* meeting had dissolved into yet another wine-tasting session, this time courtesy of some group who’d decided the best present to give Tuti was a bottle of wine three times the size of the man’s own head. Except that on entering the room where Hiroki was rolling around laughing as Eiji made his car do some over the top spins and crashes, Tuti had pulled off such a bad pretense at surprise that Daiki felt like sacking him on the spot from their so-called theatrical group. Hiroki pounced on the new audience so fast he’d have left an idol to shame and within five minutes Tuti had discarded his damp shoes and rain-splattered coat worryingly close to Daiki’s new(ish) couch so that he could play some game that moved too fast for Daiki to follow but seemed to bear a horrifying similarity to the Seigaku Game. Eiji was laughing, controller discarded and no one paying any attention to the slow, steady beeping coming from the TV as Daiki collected Tuti’s things and resigned himself to playing host to another guest. The game came to a shuddering halt though when Daiki suggested snacks and it brought a grin to his face that there was no discernable difference between the expressions on Hiroki and Tuti’s faces. His grin stayed in place when Eiji followed him into the tiny kitchen to “lend a hand” as he put it, even if the hand ended up on the back of Daiki’s neck to encourage a brief kiss.
The devouring of snacks somehow led into an arm-wrestling competition (Tuti’s leaps of logic managed to baffle even Daiki sometimes) enabling Hiroki to claim Tuti’s flower print-bedecked shirt as his “prize” for winning the bout of three battles, whereupon Tuti tied it round the boy’s neck like a cape and saluted him. Minutes later and the tiny front room was echoing to the bumps and shouts of silly laughter as Tuti and Eiji launched into a basic dance and acrobatics lesson, each trying to out do the other and then telling Hiroki he was the best of the lot as they held his flailing legs steady in his first attempt at a handstand. After this it was decided that cookies were required and seeing as Daiki’s cupboards were suffering due to “The Great Cookie Shortage of 2006” Tuti took it upon himself to organise a military expedition in search of supplies. This, it appeared, was to be done with a full complement of imaginary tanks armed with ground-to-air missiles, a 5,000 strong cavalry (someone had clearly been watching The Lord of the Rings again) and a dog called Wotsit. Hiroki was given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Tuti was a self-appointed General while Eiji was a lowly Private and Daiki was named “The Almighty Leader-san”. Somehow this meant that Tuti was soon scrambling to get his shoes on as Daiki tied Hiroki’s laces for him, making off-hand comments about the weather and asking Daiki if he could borrow an umbrella big enough for two.
Only once the whirlwind of activity had vacated his hallway did Daiki feel able to catch his breath, Hiroki’s only recently departed presence adding a manic quality to life that even Tuti didn’t usually possess.
The fact was he’d originally had plans, pretty detailed ones too, back when he’d first suggested taking Hiroki for the day to give his sister-in-law a break and seeing as Mizuki would have to come so close to the part of the city where Daiki’s apartment was anyway… Back then he’d been looking forward to a day mucking about with his rarely seen nephew. What he knew of the kid reminded him of himself at that age and the thought of having an excuse to go see a kid’s movie without getting funny looks from the gaggles of mothers had got him so excited he’d had to concede that Eiji had a point and he really was still an overgrown child himself.
But the work had got in the way, just as it always did, until somewhere between his last conversation with his brother (some ten days ago or more) and yesterday evening he’d forgotten about his nephew and the day of silly activity he had planned. Not that it really mattered now, none of his plans would have worked in this downpour and while nipping out for cookies was one thing, dragging a bored kid round a bunch of soaked streets was hardly Daiki’s idea of a fun time.
Eiji was grinning at him when he half-staggered into the kitchen, his hands lost in soapy water and a reassuring sentence already on his lips. ‘Relax, it’s going fine, Hiroki’s hasn’t stopped laughing once.’
Hiroki was still laughing when he came back, hand gripped tight by Tuti’s as their matching mud-splattered faces turned to greet Daiki with triumphant grins. The presentation of the bag of cookies that had been “rescued” from an attack by rampaging Romans on pandas was brief because Tuti was sneezing and Daiki was beginning to realise how his own mother must have felt on the occasions when he’d come home dripping wet and unaware of the mess he was in (Tuti’s explanation for the mud was that Wotsit had tried to stand up to seventeen pandas all on his own and had been given a hero’s burial in the park round the next block).
Cookies deposited on a plate and left with Eiji who swore to guard them with his life, Daiki shoved Tuti into the kitchen and threw some clean clothes in after him before sweeping Hiroki into the bathroom as tidily as possible. The kid had managed to get dirty in places well covered by saturated clothing and only cleansing by full immersion seemed likely to do the trick so the bath was filled and Daiki let Hiroki throw two LUSH bath bombs in because the first one had made him laugh so much (at which point he was slightly grateful to Tuti for his single-minded obsession with the brand that had led him to buy everyone’s Christmas presents from there). The scents and the bubbles kept Hiroki entered as Daiki rolled up his sleeves and attempted to get the boy clean. He decided he didn’t really want to know how Hiroki had managed to get dirt underneath his upper arms so he let the babble about battles for the sake of the cookies’ freedom and the bravery of Wotsit before the cavalry charge saved the day wash over him until Hiroki was forced to splash him to get his full attention. The bathwater battle only ended when Eiji knocked on the door to ask what the noise was about and if anyone was drowning, which led to Hiroki jumping out the bath and pulling the door back to announce that they’d been trying to catch mermaids.
Daiki left Hiroki, Eiji, a now clean Tuti and the plate of cookies in the front room so that he could prepare something for lunch, his conscience forcing him to turn away from the kind of pre-prepared food he ate when he was on his own because he didn’t want to picture the look on his sister-in-law’s face when Hiroki told her that Uncle Daiki had let him eat cookies and ice cream all day. He took his cue from the snacks she’d sent Hiroki off with that morning (adapted due to what he had in his own cupboards) and was just getting going when Hiroki ambled through, cookie crumbs dusting his chin and announced he wasn’t hungry.
Saving Daiki from having to think of an immediate response to this was the doorbell which chose that moment to ring a little louder than it had been doing for the last five minutes and so pulled Daiki to the door to admit a very wet Wasshi. The fourth *pnish* member took one look at Daiki’s rolled up sleeves and the chopping knife in his hand and asked where he was intending to dispose of this body?
And despite the fact that the last thing Daiki had been thinking he needed was yet another person in his already cramped apartment, Wasshi showing up made life so much easier because *pnish* somehow worked better as four people in a way it couldn’t quite manage with just three. Wasshi dragged Tuti into the kitchen to help him prepare something edible that would keep until later and Eiji found a movie that wouldn’t either bore or traumatize Hiroki and from then on everything went so much smoother. Granted Tuti nearly burnt the kitchen down in an aborted attempt to make more cookies and Daiki’s permanently crotchety neighbour on the floor below stomped upstairs to complain because apparently their game of superheroes was making her ceiling shake. But she didn’t get very far when confronted by the sight of four grown men and one boy with a range of novelty pants on their heads and towels tied round their necks. Instead she gave them nothing more than a horrified look before beating a hasty retreat muttering something about it not really being a problem and turning slightly green when Daiki offered her one of the cookies that hadn’t been too badly damaged in Tuti’s cooking experiment. Possibly the finger-painting had been a step too far but by that stage Daiki was having as much fun as Hiroki seemed to be and didn’t spot the yellow smudges on the side of the table until several weeks later.
It was only when the phone rang and Eiji yelled across the room that it was Mizuki that Daiki sat up and actually looked at the state of his front room. The paints were still out and a selection of the best masterpieces they’d produced were spread out to dry in front of the window. Half-empty plates were strewn everywhere along with two empty bottles of coke and an open one that was probably flat by now. The costumes from their superheroes game had been screwed up and dumped in a corner of the couch, the games and DVDs were out of their cases, the batteries had fallen out of the TV remote and in the middle of it all lay his nephew, a streak of red paint smeared across his forehead, his hair sticking up at angles even Tuti’s couldn’t manage very often and dressed in one of Daiki’s old t-shirts and a pair of shorts that had shrunk in the wash about four years ago and had since lurked at the back of a drawer. It was a strangely impressive sight and Daiki couldn’t help grinning as he took the phone from Eiji’s outstretched hand and was asked by his brother if he’d had a good day.
‘Yeah, it’s been ok,’ was all he felt able to give, the wide, beaming grin he was then receiving from his untidy nephew making even the grandest answer a vast understatement.
Mizuki sounded relieved and tired and Daiki assured him that twenty minutes was plenty of time to get Hiroki ready to go home.
And somehow, despite the clutter and the paint and the fact that Hiroki’s few belongings had scattered themselves into every corner of the apartment, it was enough time. Freshly scrubbed, back in his own clean (if un-ironed) clothes and wearing a smile so wide it made Daiki’s jaw ache to look at it, Hiroki was there standing at the door when his father arrived, his rucksack on, his coat in place and swinging on Eiji’s hand as he held it.
Mizuki laughed as his son launched himself forward for a hug and kept laughing as he took in the sight of Daiki, Eiji, Tuti and Wasshi, paint splattered, untidy and grinning.
‘I guess it’s pointless to ask if you all had fun. So… want to take him next weekend?’
End
Pairing: MorixDaiki (which is a first)
Summary: This is entirely butterfly_eli's fault for putting the idea of the *pnish* boys babysitting in my head. The first part isn't worksafe (well it starts with Eiji and Daiki in bed) but after that it descends into silly small-child inspired cuteness and is utterly harmless (apart from Tuti's attempt at baking cookies). Oh and I've unashamedly swiped images and fleeting ideas from the guys' blogs, Nacchi's art and Eli's ancedotes. *nods*
Under normal circumstances Daiki never used to like being the first one awake. He hadn’t been one to enjoy lie-ins, much less those enforced by someone else, and had always used to resent being forced to stay still when he could be up and doing things instead. But he’d learned how to appreciate them and so on a day like today, when for once he could look forward and see a blissfully empty day of nothing stretching out ahead of him, there was very little that could tempt him to leave his nice warm bed and the equally warm, softly snoring pillow sprawled on its side beside him.
It was nice to actually be doing nothing for once, to be able to listen to the rain pattering against the window and not be thinking about what a nuisance it was. Instead it was like an extra guarantee, a promise to ward off any unwanted visitors the day might try and bring, and so when the splattering noises from outside grew louder, Daiki could do nothing but grin and hug the pillow beneath him harder.
He was sprawled on his front, head resting on his folded arms with the blanket pulled up to just below his shoulder blades. The arm thrown across his bare back made him feel warmer still and the semi-drowsy state he was in was probably as much down to the sleeper beside him as anything else. A semi-conscious nuzzle of forehead and nose against his bare arm from the head that shared his pillow preceded a rough and clumsy kiss to his shoulder that brought a grin to his face even the layer of stubble that scratched at his skin couldn’t stop. A slide of movement as the hand on his back moved lower, tracing the line of his spine with a precision born of plenty of practice, ignoring the slight resistance the underwear he’d pulled on late last night offered and giving a faint squeeze of his arse as another kiss, just as rough and ungainly as the first, was bumped against his upper arm.
This, Daiki had to admit, was the real reason why he’d learned to love waking up before Eiji. Ever true to his stage-born alter-ego the other man was almost entirely single-minded first thing in the morning, when lingering sleep kept the barriers of politeness and decency down and the dream world was so close to reality they could bleed into one another. Not that this kind of thing didn’t happen plenty of times while they were both fully conscious, the fact they’d both been forced to have an extra shower last night before settling down to proper sleep was testament to that, but there was something sweet about the almost blind movements Eiji made at this time of day. Sweet and tender, demanding and arousing all at the same time.
Which was precisely why Daiki liked to be fully awake to make the most of it.
Right now, making the most of it consisted of shifting slowly onto his side, pulling the other body towards himself as the hand beneath his underwear refused to relinquish its hold. Eiji was fully relaxed and consequently as malleable as a soft toy, allowing Daiki to slide both arms round his torso with a breath and bring them together properly, skin pressed against bare skin as he was infused with a warmth no blanket or heater could replicate. Both Eiji’s hands were on his back now, running over his skin to paint awkward invisible shapes across his back. Daiki let himself respond in kind, fingers tracing idle words and squiggles over Eiji’s back and sides, dancing up the back of his neck to seize a fistful of messy hair just as Eiji nuzzled his neck. Daiki could feel Eiji’s mouth moving over his skin, pressing ever gentler kisses along his jaw as sleep began to tiptoe away. Eyes still peacefully closed, Eiji finally found Daiki’s mouth and covered it with his own, stubborn instinct making him try to couple it with a squirm that was probably supposed to push Daiki onto his back. It might have worked too if it weren’t for the fact that as the more alert of the two, Daiki was encouraging the movement the other way.
After a moment of sleepy tussling Daiki got what he wanted and Eiji’s hands were in his hair as he began marking a line down the other’s neck. He’d just managed to inspire a little moan from his sleepy boyfriend though when he was rudely interrupted.
Sitting up abruptly and blinking in the direction the noise was coming from it took Daiki a moment to realise what he was hearing. Somehow it was Eiji, now propped up on his elbows, who was able to ask ‘Why is your phone ringing?’ when all Daiki could do was stare.
Cursing under his breath as both boyfriend and blanket had to be cast aside in order to locate the source of the irritating noise; Daiki forgot to check whose number it was before he angrily punched the answer button. The voice on the other end, clearly relieved and slightly strained, leapt into an immediate apology without bothering to make the usual polite preamble. Daiki blinked, removed the phone from his ear for long enough to check the display screen before returning to the profuse apology to ask, ‘Mizuki?’
‘I know I said we’d be on time but Hiroki had a nightmare and, well, you know what kids can be like. Anyway, just thought I should phone and say we’re going to be half an hour late. Forty minutes maximum. Gives you a bit of extra time before the little monster breaks down your door.’
Another moment of blinkered bewilderment was shattered when Daiki’s suddenly very alert brain decided to return to him a piece of information it had misplaced up until now due to poor filing.
Today was not a day of empty nothingness.
Today was the day he babysat his four and three-quarter year old nephew while his brother was occupied attending auditions and meetings.
Daiki grimaced at the phone in his hand. ‘Can’t wait.’
***
‘Daiki! DAIKI! Will you quit shoving me? They’re not going to be here for another ten minutes at least.’
‘You don’t understand. This is my nephew we’re talking about. The kid’s great but it’s best I do this on my own unless I…’ Daiki paused in the monologue he’d been conducting more or less nonstop since he’d hung up on his brother earlier. It was so tempting to let Eiji stay, to have another pair of hands to keep Hiroki in line (and eyes to watch the kid when his back was turned) but then again, ‘No, no, you should go.’ He threw a quick glance in the direction of the window as he piled hat, coat, bag and shoes into Eiji’s protesting arms. ‘And it’s still raining. Wonderful.’
‘Look, I don’t see why I can’t stay and lend you a hand, I like kids, I’m good with kids.’
‘This isn’t just any old kid, he’s the only grandson my parents have, he’s everyone’s darling, and if I screw this up I’m - ’
‘Daiki,’ Eiji spun round, dropping his belongings all over the floor so he could grab his boyfriend by the shoulders. ‘Daiki, calm down. It’s just a kid. One kid. You’ve looked after him loads of times before.’ Daiki opened his mouth to protest again but Eiji pressed a few fingers against his lips as he continued, ‘I know you’ve never had to look after him here or for a whole day for that matter. But it’s just one kid and you’re his crazy Uncle Daiki. There is nothing to screw up.’
Silenced, Daiki nodded, trusting in Eiji’s voice more than the words because he could have listened to anyone else say exactly the same thing and still he would have wanted to protest. But not with Eiji. The thought made a small, slightly sheepish smile creep across his face, ‘You’re right. It’s just Hiroki and he’s not that much of a handful.’
***
Daiki had wanted to believe Eiji, he really had, but life or to be more accurate a certain four and three quarter year old Sano Hiroki seemed to have other ideas.
It wasn’t the kid’s fault, not for a moment, because Hiroki was good-natured, bright and had an infectious laugh that echoed off everything (a lot like someone else Daiki could think of). But he was still a kid, a kid who was fairly used to getting the undivided attention of his relatives even if he couldn’t always count on it from his busy parents and Daiki definitely fell into the former category. So did Eiji, who’d been christened Uncle Eiji by the grinning child so quickly Mizuki hadn’t even made it back to his car and gave the three of them a peculiar half-grin as he paused with one hand on the door.
At first there hadn’t been any problems. Hiroki had been dispatched that morning with a rucksack full of books and toys that squeaked and beeped at each other along with a few healthy snacks and a message from his mother not to eat Uncle Daiki out of house and home. Naturally being a kid Hiroki had decided that Uncle Daiki’s toys (in the form of his TV, games consoles and stack of games, half of which belonged to Eiji) were far more interesting than anything he owned and an hour zoomed by as he “helped” Eiji lose a lot of races in various cities of the world before demanding a hybrid geography-history lesson to explain where the famous monuments they kept crashing next to really were.
It was at the precise moment that Daiki was called away by someone at the door that things very slowly began to slip out of Daiki’s control.
The caller was Tuti, which wasn’t really a problem in itself, and he claimed to have left some unnamed invisible thing lying around after their last *pnish* meeting had dissolved into yet another wine-tasting session, this time courtesy of some group who’d decided the best present to give Tuti was a bottle of wine three times the size of the man’s own head. Except that on entering the room where Hiroki was rolling around laughing as Eiji made his car do some over the top spins and crashes, Tuti had pulled off such a bad pretense at surprise that Daiki felt like sacking him on the spot from their so-called theatrical group. Hiroki pounced on the new audience so fast he’d have left an idol to shame and within five minutes Tuti had discarded his damp shoes and rain-splattered coat worryingly close to Daiki’s new(ish) couch so that he could play some game that moved too fast for Daiki to follow but seemed to bear a horrifying similarity to the Seigaku Game. Eiji was laughing, controller discarded and no one paying any attention to the slow, steady beeping coming from the TV as Daiki collected Tuti’s things and resigned himself to playing host to another guest. The game came to a shuddering halt though when Daiki suggested snacks and it brought a grin to his face that there was no discernable difference between the expressions on Hiroki and Tuti’s faces. His grin stayed in place when Eiji followed him into the tiny kitchen to “lend a hand” as he put it, even if the hand ended up on the back of Daiki’s neck to encourage a brief kiss.
The devouring of snacks somehow led into an arm-wrestling competition (Tuti’s leaps of logic managed to baffle even Daiki sometimes) enabling Hiroki to claim Tuti’s flower print-bedecked shirt as his “prize” for winning the bout of three battles, whereupon Tuti tied it round the boy’s neck like a cape and saluted him. Minutes later and the tiny front room was echoing to the bumps and shouts of silly laughter as Tuti and Eiji launched into a basic dance and acrobatics lesson, each trying to out do the other and then telling Hiroki he was the best of the lot as they held his flailing legs steady in his first attempt at a handstand. After this it was decided that cookies were required and seeing as Daiki’s cupboards were suffering due to “The Great Cookie Shortage of 2006” Tuti took it upon himself to organise a military expedition in search of supplies. This, it appeared, was to be done with a full complement of imaginary tanks armed with ground-to-air missiles, a 5,000 strong cavalry (someone had clearly been watching The Lord of the Rings again) and a dog called Wotsit. Hiroki was given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Tuti was a self-appointed General while Eiji was a lowly Private and Daiki was named “The Almighty Leader-san”. Somehow this meant that Tuti was soon scrambling to get his shoes on as Daiki tied Hiroki’s laces for him, making off-hand comments about the weather and asking Daiki if he could borrow an umbrella big enough for two.
Only once the whirlwind of activity had vacated his hallway did Daiki feel able to catch his breath, Hiroki’s only recently departed presence adding a manic quality to life that even Tuti didn’t usually possess.
The fact was he’d originally had plans, pretty detailed ones too, back when he’d first suggested taking Hiroki for the day to give his sister-in-law a break and seeing as Mizuki would have to come so close to the part of the city where Daiki’s apartment was anyway… Back then he’d been looking forward to a day mucking about with his rarely seen nephew. What he knew of the kid reminded him of himself at that age and the thought of having an excuse to go see a kid’s movie without getting funny looks from the gaggles of mothers had got him so excited he’d had to concede that Eiji had a point and he really was still an overgrown child himself.
But the work had got in the way, just as it always did, until somewhere between his last conversation with his brother (some ten days ago or more) and yesterday evening he’d forgotten about his nephew and the day of silly activity he had planned. Not that it really mattered now, none of his plans would have worked in this downpour and while nipping out for cookies was one thing, dragging a bored kid round a bunch of soaked streets was hardly Daiki’s idea of a fun time.
Eiji was grinning at him when he half-staggered into the kitchen, his hands lost in soapy water and a reassuring sentence already on his lips. ‘Relax, it’s going fine, Hiroki’s hasn’t stopped laughing once.’
Hiroki was still laughing when he came back, hand gripped tight by Tuti’s as their matching mud-splattered faces turned to greet Daiki with triumphant grins. The presentation of the bag of cookies that had been “rescued” from an attack by rampaging Romans on pandas was brief because Tuti was sneezing and Daiki was beginning to realise how his own mother must have felt on the occasions when he’d come home dripping wet and unaware of the mess he was in (Tuti’s explanation for the mud was that Wotsit had tried to stand up to seventeen pandas all on his own and had been given a hero’s burial in the park round the next block).
Cookies deposited on a plate and left with Eiji who swore to guard them with his life, Daiki shoved Tuti into the kitchen and threw some clean clothes in after him before sweeping Hiroki into the bathroom as tidily as possible. The kid had managed to get dirty in places well covered by saturated clothing and only cleansing by full immersion seemed likely to do the trick so the bath was filled and Daiki let Hiroki throw two LUSH bath bombs in because the first one had made him laugh so much (at which point he was slightly grateful to Tuti for his single-minded obsession with the brand that had led him to buy everyone’s Christmas presents from there). The scents and the bubbles kept Hiroki entered as Daiki rolled up his sleeves and attempted to get the boy clean. He decided he didn’t really want to know how Hiroki had managed to get dirt underneath his upper arms so he let the babble about battles for the sake of the cookies’ freedom and the bravery of Wotsit before the cavalry charge saved the day wash over him until Hiroki was forced to splash him to get his full attention. The bathwater battle only ended when Eiji knocked on the door to ask what the noise was about and if anyone was drowning, which led to Hiroki jumping out the bath and pulling the door back to announce that they’d been trying to catch mermaids.
Daiki left Hiroki, Eiji, a now clean Tuti and the plate of cookies in the front room so that he could prepare something for lunch, his conscience forcing him to turn away from the kind of pre-prepared food he ate when he was on his own because he didn’t want to picture the look on his sister-in-law’s face when Hiroki told her that Uncle Daiki had let him eat cookies and ice cream all day. He took his cue from the snacks she’d sent Hiroki off with that morning (adapted due to what he had in his own cupboards) and was just getting going when Hiroki ambled through, cookie crumbs dusting his chin and announced he wasn’t hungry.
Saving Daiki from having to think of an immediate response to this was the doorbell which chose that moment to ring a little louder than it had been doing for the last five minutes and so pulled Daiki to the door to admit a very wet Wasshi. The fourth *pnish* member took one look at Daiki’s rolled up sleeves and the chopping knife in his hand and asked where he was intending to dispose of this body?
And despite the fact that the last thing Daiki had been thinking he needed was yet another person in his already cramped apartment, Wasshi showing up made life so much easier because *pnish* somehow worked better as four people in a way it couldn’t quite manage with just three. Wasshi dragged Tuti into the kitchen to help him prepare something edible that would keep until later and Eiji found a movie that wouldn’t either bore or traumatize Hiroki and from then on everything went so much smoother. Granted Tuti nearly burnt the kitchen down in an aborted attempt to make more cookies and Daiki’s permanently crotchety neighbour on the floor below stomped upstairs to complain because apparently their game of superheroes was making her ceiling shake. But she didn’t get very far when confronted by the sight of four grown men and one boy with a range of novelty pants on their heads and towels tied round their necks. Instead she gave them nothing more than a horrified look before beating a hasty retreat muttering something about it not really being a problem and turning slightly green when Daiki offered her one of the cookies that hadn’t been too badly damaged in Tuti’s cooking experiment. Possibly the finger-painting had been a step too far but by that stage Daiki was having as much fun as Hiroki seemed to be and didn’t spot the yellow smudges on the side of the table until several weeks later.
It was only when the phone rang and Eiji yelled across the room that it was Mizuki that Daiki sat up and actually looked at the state of his front room. The paints were still out and a selection of the best masterpieces they’d produced were spread out to dry in front of the window. Half-empty plates were strewn everywhere along with two empty bottles of coke and an open one that was probably flat by now. The costumes from their superheroes game had been screwed up and dumped in a corner of the couch, the games and DVDs were out of their cases, the batteries had fallen out of the TV remote and in the middle of it all lay his nephew, a streak of red paint smeared across his forehead, his hair sticking up at angles even Tuti’s couldn’t manage very often and dressed in one of Daiki’s old t-shirts and a pair of shorts that had shrunk in the wash about four years ago and had since lurked at the back of a drawer. It was a strangely impressive sight and Daiki couldn’t help grinning as he took the phone from Eiji’s outstretched hand and was asked by his brother if he’d had a good day.
‘Yeah, it’s been ok,’ was all he felt able to give, the wide, beaming grin he was then receiving from his untidy nephew making even the grandest answer a vast understatement.
Mizuki sounded relieved and tired and Daiki assured him that twenty minutes was plenty of time to get Hiroki ready to go home.
And somehow, despite the clutter and the paint and the fact that Hiroki’s few belongings had scattered themselves into every corner of the apartment, it was enough time. Freshly scrubbed, back in his own clean (if un-ironed) clothes and wearing a smile so wide it made Daiki’s jaw ache to look at it, Hiroki was there standing at the door when his father arrived, his rucksack on, his coat in place and swinging on Eiji’s hand as he held it.
Mizuki laughed as his son launched himself forward for a hug and kept laughing as he took in the sight of Daiki, Eiji, Tuti and Wasshi, paint splattered, untidy and grinning.
‘I guess it’s pointless to ask if you all had fun. So… want to take him next weekend?’
End