babybaji❦ (25)

she’d been preparing for this since she was twelve, (you know because you helped her put together the scrapbook in her hands) and you and hina assist her with picking between some of the old, replacing certain things with more in-date styles. 

she decides the theme to be soft and pink, and it fits her really well, you decide, when she shows you bridesmaid dress options, and you and hina are there when she picks out her wedding dress style. mitsuya, mikey’s friend and fashion designer, takes it upon himself to create and design and fit emma’s dress to her perfectly, and when she twirls around in it, you can’t help the swell of pride that blooms in your chest at how much she’s grown, at how happy she is. 

she asks you to be one of her bridesmaids, with shinichiro being one of draken’s groomsmen. mikey is his best man, to no one’s surprise, 

your boyfriend -  yes, boyfriend, shinichiro helps in any way he can to give what little advice he can offer on the subject, and for the next few months makes it a point to ignore the way you imply being surprised that the two are getting married before you and he. 

“i just think it’s so cute they’re getting married so early in life.” you begin, laying in bed beside him, and shinichiro knows where the conversation is being directed from your tone alone. 

“it is,” he agrees, “very cute.” 

“kinda amazing, too, huh? they’re so young and so in love.” you hum out, arm wrapping around his waist with your head falling against his shoulder. 

“mhm.” he hums out, rubbing your back, “pretty amazing.” 

“can’t believe it’s all happening tomorrow,” your fingers drum against his stomach, wiggle their way under his shirt and leave goosebumps in their wake, “you excited?” 

“‘f’course,” he presses a kiss to the top of your head, “super excited.” 

“d’ya think our wedding will be as nice?” you mumble out, fingers stopping their dance as you await the answer. 

“even better,” you can feel his smile against your hair, “but don’t tell emma.” 

the wedding is, as you’d expect, beautiful. emma’s dress fit her perfectly, draken cleaned up nicely, and everything went even better than anyone could have hoped. 

during the party, hours later, emma and draken are tipsy as they dance with one another. most of their friends have left, either to get back to their home lives or to keep the party going at a nearby bar, but you and shinichiro stay at the venue, watchung as the two newlyweds sway back and forth to a soft song playing on the speakers. 

you sip on your wine, just over the line of tipsy, with shinichiro pulling you into his side, fingers pressing into your hip. you think he might be further gone than you, from the way he sways with the music as well, but he’s hardly drunk any from what you’d witnessed. 

“let’s dance.” he whispers in your ear, pulling you from your assigned seat before you have time to protest, and soon you’re a good two meters away from draken and emma, lost in your own world when he pulls you close and rocks you back and forth in tandem with the music. 

“love ya lots,” shinichiro is still whispering as he pulls you impossibly closer, arms at your lower back to keep you against him. 

your own wrap around his neck, head tilting up with that smile he just adores, absolutely eats up, on your lips, “i know ya do. i love you too.” 

“just don’t think i say it enough,” he continues, forehead bumping softly against your own as his eyes close, “don’t think i’ve ‘ver loved someone as much as i love you.” 

the words have a flush creeping its way up your cheeks, but you scrunch your nose at him, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, “s’good to hear. don’t wanna have to split that love with anyone.” 

he laughs a little, pulling away from you slightly and digging into his pocket. your brows furrow at the loss of contact, pausing your dance (if you could even call it that) to question him instead. 

“you can’t smoke in here, you know? s’a private building-” 

“i know that,” he laughs again, cupping your face in with the hand not digging in his pocket. his thumb runs against the bone, looking at you with such an admiration that leaves you melting into the touch, eyes fluttering closed for only a second until he’s moving again. placing the opposite hand between you as if showing you something so top secret, so confidential, it has your eyebrows furrowing and head tilting out of his touch. 

“i wa’na spend the rest of my life with you,” he starts before you can ask, and your brows furrow even further at the implication, “was gonna wait for us to be back home, but you look so pretty right now, ‘nd i really don’t think there’d be a more perfect moment than now.” 

“shin . . .” 

“i love you,” he repeats, voice still just above a whisper, “so very much.” 

and when you look down at his hand between the two of you, you can make out the small, velvet box sat in the middle of his palm. 

your heart jumps in your chest under the intensity of his stare. hanma’s lips curl up into a grin, one that could be considered friendly if you were ignorant of his dangerous lifestyle. you aren’t though, and the smile gives you the impression that he’s found something—someone—he has interest in playing with.

“here for this little lady, i assume?” he asks, grin still pulling at his lips as he jerks his head in the direction of the box. your eyes flit over there momentarily to catch sight of the puppy curled up in a ball with her eyes closed before they dart back to hanma. he’s still crouched down near the ground and doesn’t look as though he plans on moving. you gawk at him for a little while longer before realizing you hadn’t answered his question.

“yeah, sorry.” the apology falls past your lips as you take a cautious step into the alley. “i didn’t realize anyone else came here.”

hanma hums. “i don’t. i was just feeling unusually benevolent today.”

his statement isn’t very comforting but you nod in understanding anyway, nervously chewing the inside of your cheek. you wish you knew why he was hanging around, why his gaze continues to bore into you. you feel like a specimen under a microscope being examined by his honey eyes.

his eyes narrow but a grin lingers on his lips. “i know you.”

it’s not a question, it’s a statement. his words make your skin prickle; you didn’t think he would recognize you, much less care to point it out. the worst part is that you aren’t sure whether his familiarity is a good or a bad thing. you shift your weight between your heels and clear your throat. “really?”

“i never forget a pretty face,” hanma tells you, lithe fingers toying with the curly tufts of fur on the puppy’s head. both his declaration and his gentle gesture unknowingly lower your guard. you breathe out a clumsy, awkward laugh at his vocalization, the hand at your side fiddling with the hem of your sweater. out of all the things he could have said, you never would have guessed it would be that.

“um, well, thanks,” you stiffly acknowledge his compliment and try your best to ignore the gradually growing heat in your cheeks. your reaction startles you—you shouldn’t be so easily flustered over a little silly flattery, and especially when hanma shuji is the one showering you with it. besides, you didn’t come here to be on the receiving end of some flirting. “i’d love to talk more but i should probably get the puppy inside.”

“of course.” he nods, finally standing up from his crouched position and taking a step back. a few minutes ago, you would have been nervous to approach him—be in such close proximity with such an intimidating guy—but as far as you’re concerned, hanma’s actions thus far have proven to be harmless. so, you close the gap between you, taking his previous spot near the ground so that you can pick up the puppy. you carefully scoop the dog up in your arm, holding her close to your chest as you come to stand. 

hanma hasn’t moved and his eyes have yet to leave your figure. the best option now would be to tell him goodbye and hope that any future encounters of yours are confined to the campus but, it seems as though being in hanma’s bubble has exposed you to his impulsive influence. it’s a bad idea, you’re sure of it, but before you can even think about what you’re doing, the invitation is already in the air. “do you want to come dry off? my place isn’t far from here.”

hanma’s eyebrows raise, if only slightly, at your unexpected suggestion. you had been so wary of him just a moment ago and while hanma was trying to break down your defensive walls, he wasn’t sure it would take such little effort. it would be a waste for him not to take you up on your offer.

he smiles, beads of water dripping off the ends of his hair. “lead the way.”

you never imagined walking to your apartment with hanma in tow would end up being part of your night. despite being the one to have made the friendly proposal, you have no idea what to say. so a heavy silence blankets the two of you, hanma taking hold of your umbrella so you can comfortably cradle the shivering puppy in your arms. you keep your eyes forward most of the way but you’d be lying if said you didn’t feel hanma’s gaze locking on to you every now and then. strangely enough, it doesn’t make you as anxious as it had earlier.

by the time you make it to your apartment, any reluctance you once had to be around hanma has faded. you let him in easily and kick your shoes off as though you’re welcoming an old friend into your home. you turn to him. “wait here, i’ll bring you a towel.”

after quickly settling the puppy in your room, you rush to your linen closet and grab the first towel within your reach. when you return to the entryway, hanma is in the very spot you left him, hands stuffed in his pockets and a bored expression on his face. though, when he catches sight of you, his grin is restored. and instead of your heart jumping in fear, it flutters in your chest at the sight.

you muster up a smile of your own as you step forward to hand him the towel. his grin widens upon taking it and he mutters a quiet “cute” under his breath while he unfolds the fabric to dry off his hair. you initially think he’s talking about your smile until you see the towel on his head—brightly colored and printed with flowers. 

you would be embarrassed if the scene playing out before you wasn’t so endearing. something about seeing someone regarded as so harsh and cold covered in something that embodied the opposite puts a genuine smile on your face. it’s much too soon to say, but maybe there’s another side to hanma—a softer one that he isn’t so keen on sharing with everyone. 

as you watch him towel off, you decide that you want to stick around long enough to see if you’re one of the few people that hanma will let in. 

“is this where you tell me you’ve had a secret kid this whole time and you’re finally ready for us to meet?”

your comment shocks him enough to leave him sputtering out a cough, inhaling from the cigarette far too quickly from gasping. he waves away another cloud of smoke, and paired with his fit of coughs leaves you to move away from him with a laugh until he fully recovers. 

“no,” he says with a little more emphasis than necessary, clearing his throat and putting out what remained of the tobacco onto the cement steps at his side, “not mine at least.” he added after only a moment, and that has your eyebrows shooting up in surprise. 

“who’s then?” 

he stands and stretches, offering you his hand in favor of answering, “let’s go visit ‘em.” 

shinichiro parks his bike in front of an orphanage, to your surprise. 

he helps you hop off the seat, fingers tangling in yours as he leads you up the steps of the brick building with a comfort that tells you he’s visited it on multiple occasions. he greets the person at the front desk with a nod, signing in on the sheet she provides for the both of you while she says something about it being good to see him again. 

“you come here a lot?” you ask when he’s guiding you down the hall, though you can guess the answer from the way he knows exactly where to go. 

“when i can.” 

left, right, right at the rainbow colored trash can in the hall, up the stairs, third door on the left. 

the door number is 292, the name izana carved into the plastic just under it in a small font. 

shinichiro knocks, once softly, then another time with a bit more gumption when he decides the first time wasn’t loud enough. 

“one second!” someone calls out from behind it. there’s some shuffling, the sound of cursing as something falls, a small argument about who’s at fault, before it’s being pulled open just a crack. 

orchid eyes meet your own first, naturally wide as they take you in, before shifting to your boyfriend. the boy's head tilts, eyes trailing down where both of your hands meet. 

“hi izana,” shinichiro smiles, nodding his head towards his room, “can we come in?” 

izana’s head turns to look into his room for a second, taking in its state of disarray and his friend who stands dumbly in the middle of the mess, before he nods and pulls the door open. 

“thought you’d come next week.” he explains as you and shinichiro carefully step around clothes and balled up pieces of paper that you can assume are parts of his homework from the numbers that stare at you from the crevices. 

he makes space for you to sit on his bed, messily pulling up the blankets to make a nice spot, and you and shinichiro plop yourselves down while izana and his friend push some stuff away on his floor to make room for themselves. 

“wanted to surprise you,” shinichiro says with a shrug, “i can still come next week, if you want.” 

izana’s friend leans over to him, nudging his side and whispering something you can’t quite make out from behind his hand, but if you could guess you’d say whatever it was is about you from the way their eyes never leave your form. 

“who’s this?” izana asks after a moment, head tilting. 

you mock his tilt, “'m shinichiro's partner. who’re you?” 

“his brother.” he says easily. the response has you straightening, looking at your boyfriend with furrowed brows. 

“half-brother,” shinichiro adds as explanation, but izana is just as quick. 

“semantics,” he waves off easily, the short attention moving from shinichiro back to you, “this is kakucho. he thinks you’re pretty.” 

you feel yourself flush at how blunt he is, and kakucho seems to be just as unaware to what his friend was going to say, because a blush fights its way onto his own cheeks as he shoves at his shoulder. 

“i do not.” kakucho defends, in the process of putting his hand over izana’s mouth to stop him from saying anything more incriminating. 

“so you don’t think they’re pretty?” shinichiro pipes in, arm coming around your shoulders protectively. ever the instigator - you can see now how the two are related. 

“n-no!” kakucho, mortified and cherry red, looks at you, “you are very pretty b-but not in a weird way!” 

izana pries his fingers from his face with a scrunched nose, “that’s what i said. you’re the one making it weird.” 

“it wouldn’t of been weird if you could keep your big mouth shut-” 

their argument is cut short by your laughter, covering your mouth with your hand to muffle it. kakucho seems to glow brighter at the sound, while izana’s shoulders square with pride, looking at shinichiro. 

“they are cute.” 

you and wakasa’s laughter was the only sound that filled the garage, shinichiro basically pouting in the corner at your relentless teasing. he completely stopped working on the bike he needed to be finished with if the two of you were going to go on your date tonight to sulk at the fact that wakasa was pulling such a pretty sound from you - at his expense, no less. weren’t you supposed to be at his defense? 

“did he ever tell ya about the time mikey hit him so hard he was practically bedridden for a week?” wakasa asks, popping the dango stick out of his mouth and using it to gesture towards your boyfriend. 

“he didn’t.” another giggle passes your lips, but you stand to comfort him despite the teasing being light-hearted, “wanna tell me ‘bout it?” you lean into shinichiro’s shoulder to ask, barely able to see his expression from the angle. 

“we were sparring ‘nd he kicked me in the nuts so hard i thought i’d never breathe normally again.” he explains with a pout, turning his head to meet your gaze. 

you stand fully with a small smile, running your hands through his messy hair, “s’not too bad. mikey’s always been strong, hasn’t he?” 

shinichiro clicks his tongue at this, but leans into your touch, head hitting your thigh. 

wakasa can only grin. leader of the toughest delinquents in japan, his captain and best friend, being coddled by his partner after light teasing. truly, you’re babying him. 

the jokes die down at this, shinichiro practically melting into your side while you and wakasa find new things to talk about. upcoming events for mikey and emma that collide with things they’d planned to do with the black dragons, small dinners between his friends, even smaller dates for just you and shinichiro, until shin’s decided he’s sulked enough and begins working on the bike again. 

it leaves you and wakasa to continue talking, while he listens half-heartedly - too focused on finishing so wakasa will leave his garage and the two of you can have some well earned alone time. when he’s finally finished, he’s putting stuff away and gesturing towards wakasa to help, and like clockwork wakasa turns his nose and hops from his place on shinichiro’s toolbox, suddenly becoming the busiest man in the world and needing to leave immediately to attend to whatever other duties he was ignoring up until this point. 

and like clockwork, wakasa exits the garage with a wave, which leaves you to help shinichiro put away and clean up whatever miscellaneous things he’s dragged out to use to fix the bike. when you’re finally finished, standing from a bent position after sliding some tools into their proper place, shinichiro steps behind you and wraps his arms around your waist. 

you lean into his embrace with a small smile, placing your hands on top of his own with your head hitting his shoulder. 

“i adore ya, y’know?” he mumbles into your ear, hooking his chin over your shoulder and closing his eyes when you offer a small laugh in return, “really, really love ya.” 

you don’t stiffen at the admission like he thinks you will. you don’t do anything at all, for that matter, and somehow it makes the anxiety from saying the words out loud swell to settle somewhere deep in the pit of his chest. 

almost a year of being together, and neither of you have said those damning words. shinichiro wonders if maybe it’s still too early, or maybe you - 

he’s pulling himself from you before he can stop himself, thinking the space necessary as you process what he’s said, ready to carry the weight of the words back with him as he moves, but your grip on his own hands tightens to keep him from going too far. then you’re turning to face him, keeping yourself in his embrace and wrapping your own arms around his neck with your head tilted as you take in his still-faced expression. 

“you love me?” you ask, chin tilting upwards, eyes not leaving his. 

“s’not obvious?” he sounds almost offended as he asks, brows furrowing and chin tilting downwards to keep his face even with your own. 

“never said it outloud.” you counter, fingertips dancing at his shoulders and tap tap tapping, almost in tandem with his own erratic heartbeat. “not sober, at least.” you add after a moment of thought, and his eyebrows shoot upwards in surprise. 

“that so?” you give a small nod in reply, “when’d i say it ‘not sober’?”

he can see the ghost of a smile beginning to form on your lips as you pause to think, “when we celebrating wakasa’s birthday two weeks ago, when we went to that bar in roppongi a few months ago, when we snuck into the abandoned warehouse-” 

“that was when we first started dating!” 

he actually pulls away from you slightly at this, completely and utterly shocked from learning these details, “i wasn’t even that drunk those nights!” 

your arms around your shoulders keep him from moving too far from you, scrunching your nose as you recall having to drag him back into his room with a hand over his mouth each time because he was just so loud as he stumbled around the house. 

“drunk enough that you don’t remember me telling you i love you back.” you counter with instead, deciding the teasing you and wakasa put him through previously was more than enough to tide you over for the passing day. 

he freezes at this, “you did?” 

“i did.” you confirm with a nod, standing on your toes to press a kiss to his nose, “i” a kiss to his cheek, “love” another to the opposite cheek, “you.” a final one to his lips.

he smiles into the kiss, pulling you impossibly closer so you’re molded perfectly against him, until you're pulling yourself back with him chasing after your lips. one more soft kiss placed to his cupid's bow, then you’re unwrapping yourself from him while he almost pouts at the loss.

“c’mon, we’re gonna be late for our reservations.”

you’re really too good to him. 

and like clockwork, he watches you give emma and mikey their own sandwiches as you disappear in the distance, taking mikey’s backpack from him as well so he can walk and eat. you spoil the lot of them - anymore and he fears mikey will grow a complex. 

one morning he decides enough is enough. there’s been too much take and not enough give from his end.

surely the garage can stand one morning without him opening at the ripe hour of seven. so when you press the quick kiss to his lips, the sandwich into his hands, moving to walk away, he’s quick to grab your wrist and intertwine his fingers in yours. 

you make a small noise of confusion, brows furrowing while looking up at him. “what’re you doing? we’re gonna be late for the bus.” you laugh out, trying to tug your hand from his grasp. 

he doesn’t relent, adjusting emma’s backpack further onto his shoulder to keep you from pulling yourself away from him. 

“‘m gonna walk with you guys today.” he says as if it’s the most obvious thing ever, tugging you forward when you don’t immediately start moving with him. 

“but the shop?” your steps are hesitant as you glance behind you to the still closed garage, but mikey’s pushing at the small of your back to keep you moving. 

“niisan said we can go to school late today!” he says excitedly, not pausing his efforts to press you forward despite it barely doing anything, “said we could all get breakfast together and he’d walk with us!” 

your eyes find your boyfriend’s, who’s too busy grabbing mikey by the upper arm to get him to stop shoving you with a huff, “it was supposed to be a surprise mikey.” 

“surprise for what?” you hum out, taking emma’s hand when she locks pinky’s with your own, “is it a special day today? anniversary i don’t remember?” 

“shinichiro said he missed you lots and wanted us all to eat together.” emma explains before her brother can, “was almost crying at the dinner table last night because you’ve been working too late to come visit.” 

“i wasn’t,” shinichiro leans forward to glare at emma, who mocks his movement and sticks her tongue out at him in response, followed by a small was so from mikey, “but i do miss you. just thought it’d be nice for us all to eat together.” 

“and what about these sandwiches i slaved over this morning?” you hold the paper bag containing the rest of them up, tilting your head when shinichiro doesn’t falter. 

“we can give ‘em away. we’re goin’ to that diner you’re always talkin’ about.” 

he takes the bag from you and puts the sandwich you’d previously given to him into it, and true to his word, offers it to some homeless people you happen across on the way to the diner. 

when you make it to the diner, the four of you slide into a booth, with emma to your right and mikey and shinichiro across from the two of you. and while mikey and emma bicker about whether to get chocolate pancakes or strawberry covered waffles, you lean across the table and tangle your fingers with shinichiro's, offering a small smile when he places the menu he was looking at down to look at you instead. 

“thank you, shin.” your smile widens when you see the blush that decorates his cheeks, but he grins with equal enthusiasm. 

“of course,” he squeezes your fingers, “i’d do anything for ya.” 

shinichiro leans forward to bring your fingertips to his lips, pressing small kisses to each digit and giving a small laugh when you giggle and blush in return. the moment is only ruined when mikey and emma’s argument falters to gag at the mushy-ness going on between the two of you. 

but shinichiro doesn’t stop at their complaints, going further to stand and lean across the table to cup your cheeks, peppering kisses all over your face - to the tip of your nose, your cheeks, your forehead, until he finally stops on your lips. 

tonight is no different with his grandpa being out of town, mikey requesting sleepily that you tuck him into bed while shinichiro carries an already sleeping emma from the living room to her own bed, and when you both meet back with each other in the hall, he gives a tired sigh. 

“they’re a lot.” he groans, leaning most of his weight into you when you pull him towards you for a hug. 

“but they’re cute and you love them.” you argue, standing on your toes to place a kiss against his jaw. 

he stiffens at the feeling. 

it’s been a while since the two of you had any alone time. 

and the way your fingers are dancing against his sides is driving him wild. 

“don’t start something we can’t finish.” he nearly groans, though he’s the one pulling you towards his room. 

“i can finish.” you hum out with a smile that has him faltering for only a second, and once he has you behind the safe confines of his door, he pounces on you with a kiss that’s all teeth and desperation and love. it leaves you wanting, craving, needing more with a whine while your fingers tangle in the front of his shirt. 

ten minutes is all it took to get you into his bed, fifteen for you to be on top of him, and twenty for a small knock to sound on his door, before it’s being pushed open quietly. 

shinichiro never knew he had such quick reflexes, flipping the two of you over and shoving a hand over your mouth to stop any sounds from escaping your lips. he uses the blankets and his arm to shield your very nude bodies from whoever’s standing in his doorway, looking over his shoulder to acknowledge them. 

emma, he realizes from the small sniffles coming from her. 

“hey emma, what’s wrong?” 

“had a bad dream,” she whimpers out, clutching the stuffed teddy bear he gave her two years ago, “i asked mikey if i could sleep on his floor b-but he said no,” another sniffle, “a–and you and (y/n) always have sleepovers so i wan’a join.” 

he can’t see it from the way he’s positioned, but he can feel the look she’s giving him. full of sadness and fear from what he can only assume is the scary movie the four of you watched earlier. he regrets letting mikey pick the movie from tonight. 

“okay, um . . .” he looks down at you, mouth still covered by his hand and eyes wide as saucers. like the mattress could swallow you whole and that still wouldn’t be enough to save you from the embarrassment, “go grab your blankets and stuff and we’ll make a big pallet in the living room.” he settles for instead, the fear of emma trying to climb into his bed with the two of you still naked very real when she hesitates by the doorframe. 

“okay.” she says finally after a moment, taking a step from the door and closing it behind her as she leaves. 

you let out a breath you didn’t even realize you were holding, while shinichiro falls onto his side to your right, deflated and defeated that he can’t have an hour alone with you. 

“we can never have sex here again.” you’re saying with such certainty it has him sinking further into the mattress while you are moving to pull on your discarded clothes. you throw his underwear at him as you tug on your shirt, and he grumbles about how his little siblings are such cockblocks unknowingly. 

and when the two of you meet emma in the living room, dragging blankets and pillows behind you, she already has a nice area set up for the three of you. he can’t even find it in himself to be really upset when the pink princess blankets and pillows and miscellaneous stuffed animals take up most of the space, leaving you and shinichiro to set your own items on top of everything. emma smiles when you settle beside her with shinichiro on the other side, curling against you when you make it known that you’re comfortable, and she’s back asleep in less than ten minutes. 

shinichiro leans over her to give you a soft kiss, all desperation left in the doorway of his bedroom, before he lays down and is out cold soon after.

“can we just rent a different one?” your fingers find purchase in his hair, helping to ease any tensions that remain in his shoulders with your touch alone. 

“the only other one available for the day is a pink princess one. mikey would throw a fit if they pulled up with that.” 

“is there another company we can order from?” your fingers pause when his eyes flutter closed, not wanting him to just fall asleep there. 

“maybe one other one, but i don’t know if they have a dinosaur themed one like he wanted.” he nuzzles into your palm like a cat, wanting more than just the feel of your fingertips against his scalp. 

“he’ll be lucky to even have a bounce house at this rate.” you hum out, “are you sure we can’t just take him and his friends bowling or to that new movie theater and to the park after or something?” 

he opens one eye and gives you a look that tells you all you need - a simple have you met mikey said with his glance alone. 

“i can try asking again.” he says with a sigh, closing the eye when you return to brushing your fingers through his hair, “but i make no promises.” 

and to both of your amazements, he relents. 

shinichiro is excited as he relays the conversation back to you, “he said he was fine with whatever. manjiro sano, fine with us picking something to do with his friends for his birthday!” 

“so what’re we gonna do with them?” you ask with a small laugh, patting his thigh as he sort of . . . deflates at the question. 

“y’know . . . i haven’t really thought about that.” 

you only offer a giggle, head hitting his shoulder gently, “i might have an idea or two.” 

the weekend of mikey’s party rolled around, and the boy was practically buzzing with excitement. draken and baji were already at the house helping set up, having stayed the night before, and shinichiro gave them firm instructions on what to do with what - balloons, streamers, and other miscellaneous party supplies was set out in the backyard while you and emma helped prepare the snacks you’d gotten. 

one by one, other members of mikey’s group arrived - first mitsuya, who had to pry himself out of one of his little sisters arms because she wanted him to stay home and play with her so bad, then pah-chin, who holds a very big gift bag in his hands the second he’s walking past the foyer. following close behind him is kazutora, sliding out the backdoor with a laugh when baji jumps on his back and points in shinichiro’s direction to help set up tables. 

wakasa walks in with benkei, bags of chips and bottles of beer in their hands that have you raising an eyebrow and reminding them that this is a party for ten year-olds, to which  wakasa replies ‘you’re never too young to start drinking’. this earns him a smack from shinichiro, who’s come inside for a split second to have a break from the boys. the last to show is takeomi, a plastic bag in hand as his two siblings run past his legs to greet their friends. 

takeomi looks at everyone outside, raising an eyebrow when he realizes he’s the only one in a swimsuit. 

“did everyone else change already?” 

“hm?” you’re wiping your hands on a dishtowel when he sets the bag on the counter, “oh, no one else needs a swimsuit.” 

he tilts his head at the confession, and you gesture towards the dunking booth sitting pretty in the corner of the yard, filling with water. 

his brows raise as he processes the implication, “no . . .” 

you scrunch your nose, “yes . . . “ 

“you don’t want me to . . .”

“i actually need you to . . .”

“please.” he’s almost begging, pleading with you to have some amount of mercy on his soul. 

but you can only shake your head, click your tongue, and push a towel towards him, “sorry . . .” 

you’re not sorry. not in the least bit, actually, when takeomi climbs into the dunk tank with shinichiro’s help, only to be locked in soon after when your beloved boyfriend places the stepladder he used to boost takeomi into the tub in front of the door. if takeomi realizes he’s trapped, he voices no complaints, only pouting while he clambers to the seat, folding his arms over his chest while mikey makes a line with stray streamers to indicate how far back everyone needs to stand. 

amazingly, none of the kids can hit the small target to the left of takeomi. being athletically inclined seemed to stop at mikey’s feet, since the baseball he was throwing would only go a meter before dropping onto the grass. 

his friends follow in suit after him, taking turns, and the only one who comes close is draken, who is just excited to have thrown the ball the farthest out of the group, while emma gives him heart eyes from the sidelines. 

takeomi’s taunts are light-hearted, sticking his tongue out at each child as they try and fail to knock him off his pedestal, and it’s only when shinichiro grabs the ball that his teasing falters. 

“this is a kids party, no?” he gestures to mikey, who’s egging his brother on to throw the ball, “let the kids throw, this doesn’t seem very fair-” 

in one fell swoop, takeomi’s dunked into the water. he comes up sputtering, wiping water from his face and tossing a glare at your boyfriend, who only laughs at his friend. he looks like an angry cat, hissing at the prospect of being drenched to the bone. 

and instead of stopping there, instead of letting the kids go back to having their fun with their tosses, the other men seem to have found joy in seeing takeomi soaked and shivering despite the sun shining bright in the sky. 

you go inside to prepare the cake while wakasa and benkei take their own turns tossing, each man hitting the target spot, each time dropping takeomi from his seat, leaving him to come up heaving and glaring. this goes on only for a few minutes until the kids grow bored of just watching - they want to be the ones dunking him! they want to be directly part of the chaos. 

watching the three adults seemed to fill them with confidence, but . . . their tosses still fell just short of the target - even with the new amount of vigor coursing through their veins from seeing takeomi previously submerged. 

takeomi relaxes at this fact, easily going back to simple teases, blowing raspberries at the kids, until baji leans into mikey’s side and whispers something into his ear. the blond’s eyes light up at the idea, and he ushers everyone else into a small huddle to relay whatever plan baji’s put in his head. 

takeomi doesn’t even have time to question it before the group of ten year olds are rushing forward and slamming each of their hands on the target, effectively dropping takeomi, and retreating just before he comes out of the water with giggles leaving each of their lips. 

you peek your head out the door just in time to see takeomi trying to splash water over the top of the dunk booth while the kids almost tumble to the floor in fits of laughter. 

“time for cake!” you call out, before retreating back into the house to avoid being trampled by sugar-inclined kids. 

takeomi, you find out, did not realize he was locked in the booth, if the way he tries to push the door open is anything to go by. you watch from the window in the kitchen as he tries again. and again. and again, just for good measure, before he’s banging on the plastic surrounding him and shouting something at your boyfriend, wakasa, and benkei, who don’t bat an eye to him and come inside to sing to the birthday boy. 

bonus: 

takeomi is only let out of the tank when all the cake is gone and most of the other kids have left. 

he’s pruney and pouting, even though he was given one of the beers wakasa’s brought and promised leftover ice cream. 

the remaining kids, emma, mikey, draken, sanzu, and senju, all lay in the living room in a heaping pile. crashed from the busy day and the sugar slowly dissipating from their veins. you lean against shinichiro on the couch, feet in his lap while he nurses a beer in the hand not holding your thigh.

“we did good.” you hum out, almost as tired as the kids from all the running around and planning and watching. mikey’s come out of this with a good amount of stuff - legos and other miscellaneous toys you’re sure you or shinichiro will be cleaning up after. some cash, too, but he wouldn’t let you count how much. 

shinichiro squeezes your leg softly, giving you that dorky smile you adore with his eyes half-lidded. 

“we did.”