Creating a new family (Chapter 8)
Previous Chapters: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7
Nagase put his magazine down when Satoshi and Judith came back and smiled at the boy before he frowned when he saw the red rimmed eyes of Satoshi.
“Is everything alright?” he asked and stood up. He was a little surprised when Satoshi went to him and put his arms around him without speaking. “Satoshi?”
He got down on his knees and put his arms around the young boy. He rubbed his back when Satoshi began crying and looked a bit confused at Judith before he concentrated on the boy in his arms to calm him down a little.
When the cries subdued to little hiccoughs Judith leaned down and looked at the boy. “I will burn your clay and give you the figurine next time, okay?” she asked and Satoshi nodded thankfully.
“Thank you,” he whispered but she waved him off.
“It’s yours. I’ll see you next week and thank you for telling me.”
Satoshi nodded rubbing his red eyes. They were really itchy. Nagase looked from one to the other and stroke the cheek of the boy.
“Shall we go home?” he asked and Satoshi nodded.
“Yes, please.”
Nagase stood once more and helped Satoshi outside and into his car to drive them both home. They didn’t talk for the next hour till they were eating their dinner. It didn't look like Satoshi wanted to say anything yet and Nagase respected that.
“I told Judith about my parents and what happened,” Satoshi mumbled and Nagase nodded.
“I see.”
“Don’t you want to know about what I do when I’m there?” Nagase smiled and put his cutlery down.
“Of course I’m curious. But Satoshi, this talks are about you and for you. I won’t try to pry into you. I listen to everything you want to tell me but I’m fine with everything you won’t tell me, too.”
Satoshi thought about it for a while before he smiled thankfully at the man and resumed eating feeling more relaxed now.
“So your friend, Sho, is coming tomorrow?” Nagase asked changing the topic.
Satoshi nodded excited. “Yes! His parents allowed him to, since it’s weekend and he doesn’t have to do homework for the next day.”
“That’s nice. What do you want to do?”
“Would it be okay if we go to the playground or the park? And do you have a ball or frisbee or something like that? Sho and I are really good at playing soccer,” Satoshi asked further and a little hopeful. He loved playing soccer with Sho and other kids in the parc. Nagase laughed a little amused and nodded.
“I have a few games for kids here. Don’t worry. Even if most of the things are for playing inside. And even if I wouldn’t have those things I would get them before tomorrow afternoon. Don’t worry. You can have a fun afternoon with your friend.”
“Will you come outside with us?”
“Yes, of course. I can't let you go outside without me now, can I?”
Satoshi grinned thankfully and ended his meal in a happier mood now.
“Any homework left?” Nagase asked and Satoshi nodded with a pout before he sighed and left to get them. As he left school earlier he wasn't able to go into the afternoon classes where they would do homework together so he had to do more today than normally. Nagase watched the boy while cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes. When he looked at Satoshi's work he hid a little smile when he realised that Satoshi had began to doode while he was thinking about a more complicated problem.
He decided to not comment on it and just tousled his hair softly when Satoshi closed his books a while later. They watched a little TV before it was time for bed and Nagase wished the boy a good night.
--
The next day Nagase found himself standing in front of two very anxious boys and he couldn’t help himself but to be amused. They looked just too cute.
“Come on then. Let’s get you home.” Satoshi nodded and tugged Sho with him to the car to get inside while he began babbling about what they would do.
"First I'll show you the room I'm staying in. It's nice. And then we'll eat lunch. Tomoya said he would make pasta for us, since I told him that you like it. And afterwards we'll go to a park to play soccer. Tomoya got us a ball and perhaps there will be others so we could play a real match-"
“But we have homework to do, first," Sho interrupted
“Even today?” Satoshi pouted and Sho nodded. “But we don’t have school at all tomorrow. We can do them then all alone. Today we should play!"
“We will finish soon,” Sho promised and he nodded beaten. He knew better than to argue with Sho when it’s about school.
“Okay…”
“You can do them while I make lunch for us. After that we can go out and you can play.”
“But if we can’t finish it in time?” Sho asked and Nagase shrugged.
“I think you don’t have to do all of them today, Sho. Your parents will understand. They wouldn’t have allowed you to come otherwise. And besides: We should go outside as long as there is daylight. Otherwise you won't see the ball.”
Sho kept silent for a moment before he nodded a little unsure. Satoshi smiled happily since doing homework all day wasn’t his kind of fun day but playing soccer was.
After lunch they packed a few things to be able to spend the rest of the day outside and Nagase sat on a bench when they arrived to leave the kids alone.
Satoshi left with Sho after ensuring that Nagase would stay there and hold onto his ball.
"Let's play there. In the sand it's hard to run," Sho mumbled and tugged Satoshi along with him to a little space that was seperated by a fence with a little door from the rest of the playground. It even had two little goals so Sho thought it was for playing soccer and the like so that nobody would hit the smaller kids playing in the sand with flying balls. So it was perfect.
"Uhn", Satoshi nodded and glanced nervously at Nagase who stayed sitting leisurely at the bench with their backpacks and watching them.
"Or do you want to go to the swings or the monkey bars first?" Sho asked further when he realised that he didn't have Satoshi's whole attention and Satoshi blinked before he looked at the ball in his hands.
"No, soccer is good!" he said more loudly and let the ball fall to the floor. Sho nodded grinning and they began kicking the ball around. It was a little boring to play just as the two of them - more so since nobody wanted to stand in the goal just to stop the balls. So that they were more running around laughing and trying to get the ball.
"Can we play with you?" he heard a voice and looked up. Satoshi picked up the ball once again and watched the two boys and one girl in front of the door, clearly waiting to be allowed to come inside, too. His eyes went to Nagase once again, relieved that he was still sitting where they left him and was now talking with a woman with a baby sitting in front of them. He looked at Sho who shrugged and smiled.
"It would be more fun, ne Satoshi?"
"Yup!" he decided and took a deep breath when the kids cheered loudly and ran into their zone.
"Mary can play in your group," one of the boys shouted and Satoshi nodded smiling at Mary before he let go of the ball and they were chasing it once more. Three more times they were asked to join them and each time Satoshi nodded a little faster till they had two teams and could try to play a game.
"My dad says he would play as a referee, if that's okay?" a boy said when he joined them and Satoshi looked at the man for a long moment before he nodded.
"Okay."
Nagase watched the kids playing in the field and smiled when he realised that Satoshi seemed to have forgotten he was there. He knew that the boy would panic if he really left but it was nice to see him playing without a care in the world. Just the way kids should be. He watched the shouting and laughing boy and thought that Satoshi was smiling a lot brighter than he had the past few days.
After two more hours though he went to the game and signaled the father who was playing as a referee to sign for a little break. "Satoshi, Sho," he called them and waited till they were in front of him. He tousled Satoshi's hair and reminded them to drink something. "Do you want to stay here a little more?"
"May we?" Satoshi asked and Nagase nodded humming. "But just half an hour more. Then we should get back eating dinner and you can watch a movie till your parens arrive?"
The boys nodded and gave back their bottles before they ran onto the field once more.
When Sho’s parents came in the evening to fetch Sho, Nagase closed the door to the living room for a moment to be able to talk to them without Sho or Satoshi listening in.
“Thank you for allowing Sho to come,” he said politely and Miss Sakurai nodded.
“He begged us to come and we agreed after a while. After he promised us you were great and he would call if anything happens,” she explained carefully and Nagase nodded. He could understand the distrust of Sho’s parents. They didn’t know him because they weren't really able to meet before today. And a short telephone call was never enough.
“Satoshi can come visit us anytime he wants. Even directly after school. Sho and him met regularly before to do their homework together. His mother approved.”
Nagase nodded looking at the door to ensure that it was still closed and that the movie was still playing.
“I will talk to him about that. It would be nice if they could meet more often even if it’s only for an hour or two.” It would be easier for his work, too, if he was able to fetch Satoshi a little bit later on some days.
“I will tell the school that you can take him with you then. I’m sorry I can’t do that for everyone who takes Sho because I have to know who takes him and I don’t have the time to get to know every parent in the next days or weeks,” Nagase said afterwards and the woman nodded understandingly.
“That won’t be a problem. I work from home so I can get them whenever Satoshi wants to come visit us.” Nagase nodded thankfully and brought them to the living room.
"Hello, dear," Sho's mother said and smiled at him.
"Mom, dad," he greeted and looked at the screen a little bit sadly. The movie wasn't finished yet. Nagase smiled amused and sighed.
"I'll get your things ready. The movie should be ending soon." Sho nodded eagerly and went back to watching the last few minutes till the ending credits were rolling.
“Goodbye, Satoshi,” Sho waved at his friend, when he got his things, who grinned and waved back.
“I’ll see you on monday.” Sho nodded.
“Goodbye, Mr. Nagase.”
“Goodbye Sho, Mr. and Mrs. Sakurai,” Nagase said and accompanied the family out. Then he came back and tousled Satoshi’s hair who was still lounging on the sofa.
“I would say you need a shower or a bath, mister,” he grinned and Satoshi giggled before standing up.
“Yes, sir,” he saluted and ran laughing into his room to get his things and afterwards into the bath. Nagase rolled his eyes amused and began cleaning up the living room.
“I’m ready,” Satoshi called and he looked up.
“Sleepy?”
Satoshi nodded yawning and Nagase stood up to accompany him to his bedroom to tuck him safely in his covers.
“Then good night, Satoshi. Sleep well.” Satoshi nodded smiling sleepily before he closed his eyes and fell asleep even before Nagase were able to leave the room. Nagase chuckled a little and shook his head.
“Just a little tired, eh?”, he asked himself and left the room to enjoy his calm evening with a good book.
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Hope it was okay xx LJ was giving me troubles posting this.