#uncle!hq

“Nightmare,” she whimpers, voice warbled slightly from suckling on her stuffed dog’s ear. “S-scared…”

Immediately, he rises on his elbows to look at her wide, glimmering eyes. “Oh, sweetheart,” he hums, voice rasped with sleep. “I’m sorry you had a scary dream.” His legs swing out from the bed and he grabs a discarded shirt from the floor. After he slips it on, he opens up his arm for her to crawl into and snuggle, which she does needily. “What’s gonna help put that smile back on your face, hm?” He prompts his question with a soft pinch of her cheek, and she giggles and ducks her face away.

“Uhm…” wide honey eyes roll in thought. “Can I have s’me chocolate milk?” She asks, spitting out the dog ear to give Osamu the biggest, sweetest begging eyes he’s ever seen.

He lets out a deep sigh and a chuckle, “you are definitely my niece,” he says, laughing softly. “Alright, yeah. Let’s go have some chocolate milk.” He rises from the bed and scoops Hisako up and into his arms, drowsily walking through his home to the kitchen.

He plops her down on the counter with a soft hum and a kiss to her head, only parting to grab two glasses- one mug with his college mascot on it, hers a plastic cup with an ocean scene on it- and shuffle to the fridge.

“Uncle ‘Samu?” Hisako asks, voice muffled around the dog’s ear.

“Yeah baby?”

“What do growed-ups dream about?” She asks, honey eyes blinking up at him curiously. Osamu hums in thought as he pours the milk and grabs the chocolate syrup, pouring more than a hefty amount in each cup like she and him like.

“Well,” he sighs, grabbing a spoon and stirring the chocolate vigorously. “We dream about… lots of things.”

“Like?”

Osamu snorts, “like,” he passes her the milky spoon for her to lick clean. “I dream about your dad a lot; sometimes it’s normal things, like him coming by and asking for a huge bowl of miso soup-“ at his emphasis, Hisako giggles around the spoon, and he smiles at the sound. “Other times, he’s a super secret spy with a pen that shoots lasers, and he rides a motorcycle with Uncle Bokuto’s face on it.” This, thankfully, has Hisako cackling, and he chuckles himself as he passes the milk to her tiny hands, murmuring a soft “two hands” to remind her how to hold her cup steady. “Even tonight, I had a dream with Uncle Shin, and he… well, I don’t really know what we were doing to be honest.”

She takes a sip and looks up at Osamu with excited eyes and a milk mustache, “does that mean no more nightmares?”

“Well,” he sighs, taking a sip of his chocolate milk. “Not necessarily, babyface.” She deflates, and Osamu kicks himself. “They certainly don’t happen as much, but when grown ups have nightmares…” he pauses to think, and when he looks down at her still intrigued face, he smiles and wipes her lip with his thumb.

“We’re able to think of the things that make us feel better.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” he rolls his eyes around in thought. “Like you make me feel better. And I’d fight every monster in the world if it meant I could see my bestest friend.” Hisako nods as she takes a long sip of her milk, hanging onto his words. “Or… the doggie I passed on the street-“

“I like doggies!”

“-I know stinky,” he chuckles. “And I think about how soft its fur was.” He polishes off the rest of his milk with a sigh of refreshment. “Maybe that’s something you could do; think about all the things that make you happy. Then no monster stands a chance against the good dreams you’ll have.”

She beams up at him before discarding her glass of milk to the side, reaching her arms up to have him lift her. “I take it you’re done?” Osamu asks, to which she nods happily. “Alright then. Let’s get you back into bed. Gotta get some sleep if you’re gonna help me at Onigiri Miya tomorrow yeah?”

“Yeah!” She says excitedly, popping the dog’s ear back into her mouth and resting her head in the crook of Osamu’s neck. “I like your chocolate milk more than when daddy makes it, Uncle ‘Samu,” she mumbles, and Osamu can hear the bliss in her voice as he carries her to his bedroom to hopefully ward off any more nightmares that dare want to plague her mind.

He snorts, “‘cause I make it right.”

He puts her body on one side of the bed before climbing into his side, and when he’s finally able to settle back in, he smiles as Hisako is nearly back to sleep, her doggies ear in her mouth and fingers gripping the corner of Osamu’s pillow for comfort.

“Good night, Hisako,” he says softly, turning back on his stomach and nuzzling into his pillow, careful to avoid her tiny fingers.

“Night uncie,” she mumbles, voice light with sleep and head nuzzling into her own pillow on her side of the bed.

Lovingly, he moves a lock of hair out of her face, watching her lips rise and fall with the sleepy breaths falling from them, and despite knowing he’s going to be a wreck getting up in the morning, he can’t be mad about the memories he’s making with his favorite person.